MOTORCYCLING Victor Cox took his new mount to a 10th-place finish in the final round of the British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park.

Bradford on Avon's Cox was astride the Yamaha R1 entered by the leading Carlisle retailers J&L Motorcycles and changes made throughout practice and qualifying produced favourable results.

For some time during qualifying he was battling for fourth and fifth position before dropping back to a still creditable 10th place.

Race day arrived and the rain stayed away as the riders came to the grid, although there were some fears regarding tyre choice.

When the flag dropped Cox made a better start than of late and held his position for the opening lap. He was soon in a group battling for fourth position but was closed down after three laps, losing two places in the process.

Unable to stay on the pace of the lead bunch he dropped back, engaging in a battle for position with Dan Heggarty which lasted throughout the race.

The R1 has a standard stock engine and lacks the straight line performance to enable Cox to slipstream and pull out to overtake on the straights, leaving every move for position to be undertaken during braking.

Despite these shortcomings he finished in the points, beating the vastly experienced John McGuiness, third in the championship and fastest around the Isle of Man TT course, to the line.

Cox's team owners are pleased with the results he has attained and he hopes to have done enough to be retained for a championship tilt in 2010.