Norwich's bike racer Matt Layt came away from round seven of the British Supersport Cup with a pair of fifth place finishes to his name, after a solid showing at Brands Hatch.

Layt qualified the Close Brothers Formwise Racing Triumph sixth fastest.

The sprint race saw Layt make a significant improvement to his lap times, taking over a second and a half off his qualifying time. He took the chequered flag in fifth place.

The feature race came down to a six-lap dash, after the scheduled 16 lapper was red-flagged at half distance. Layt was fifth on the grid for the restart and remained fifth for the duration of the race.

Another two strong points-scoring finishes keep Layt fourth in the Cup standings, after seven of 12 rounds.

Layt: 'I would really like to be pushing for the podium, but we just weren't quite strong enough this weekend. However, I did lap Brands Hatch quicker than I have ever previously managed on a 600, so I have to be pleased with that.

'The Close Brothers Formwise team have all been working really hard to try and iron out the chassis troubles which we have had. We made some big changes after qualifying and they definitely seem to be taking us in the right direction.'

In the National Superstock 600 class, Norwich's Jake Newstead progressed through from 17th on the grid to finish 13th, securing his best result of the campaign.

'It's not quite the highs of last year, but a big improvement in speed this year,' said Newstead. 'We were only one second off 10th place. So we are confident we can push from this result and get the results we know we are capable of.

'The weekend was very productive – my pace improved every session as did my feeling and confidence with the bike. I'm now in a position to fight for top-10 results in the upcoming rounds.'

Layt and Newstead will both be back in action at Cadwell Park over the August Bank Holiday weekend.