Round eight of the National Superstock 600 Championship at Cadwell Park provided a chance for motorcycle ace TJ Toms, from Puriton, to impress in front of what is traditionally the largest attended race meeting of the year.

The undulating Cadwell Park circuit is a real test for a rider’s fitness and in particular upper body strength.

What makes this circuit stand out from the rest is the spectacular mountain section which starts with a sharp left hand corner followed by a sharp right hand corner before a 30 degree incline that launches the bikes up and over the crest of the ‘Mountain’.

Toms said: "The Mountain is a great part of the circuit and riders attack it in different ways.

"Jump too high and the bike will lose momentum and jump too low will lose distance.

"I like to be somewhere in the middle so as soon as the rear wheel lands it is still accelerating."

In the first of two practice sessions on Friday, the early lap times were encouraging and he finished less than half a second down on his best time from last year.

In the afternoon session the weather deteriorated and after just a few laps he decided to pull in and not risk injury or damage to his bike.

On Saturday, after prolonged heavy rain the previous day, much of the rubber laid down on the track from previous racing had been washed away so there was less grip than ideal but not bad enough to prevent Toms from beating his personal best lap time and qualifying fifth quickest.

As the race started, Toms' team mate Kevin Keyes crashed heavily and, with debris on the track, the race was immediately red flagged.

When the race was restarted it wasn’t long before the red flags came out again when it started to rain heavily.

Returning to the pits the restart was declared but with the rain easing the track would dry quickly and all of the riders decided to go on dry tyres.

After a good start Toms was fourth into the first corner and on lap two of seven a mistake by Korie McGreevy allowed Toms to move up to third.

He continued to battle for the final podium step before McGreevy made a decisive move and retook third position.

As the dark clouds appeared and the sound of thunder could be heard in the distance the rain started but TJ battled to the end to claim fourth position.

Toms said: "On the penultimate lap the rain started and although it was just light rain drops, at over 160mph it feels a lot heavier.

"But I dug in and the 13 points have moved me up to sixth in the Championship."

Toms and the team will be back in action at Oulton Park on September 8.