SWINDON’S Charlie Nesbitt tagged 12 more points onto his British Superbikes championship tally at the weekend following a trio of tough races at Snetterton.

Having failed to score a point in a nightmare weekend at Donington in the previous round, Nesbitt hit the reset button quickly and returned to form in Norfolk.

Over the course of the three free-practice sessions, 22-year-old Nesbitt carved over two seconds off his best times and moved into Saturday’s qualifying stints feeling confident of a strong grid position.

A brilliant Q1 time of 1:48.651 saw the Swindon racer claim fifth as he soared into Q2, but even better was to come as he nailed a 1:48.162 – his fastest time of the weekend.

While Nesbitt performed admirably, his rivals also kicked their efforts up a notch and pushed the 22-year-old down to ninth for the first outing, among far more experienced riders.

In race one, Nesbitt immediately climbed to seventh but was reeled back in among a gaggle of tightly-bunched bikes. Although there was disappointment over a lack of place progression, the Swindon talent was pleased with seven more points as he crossed the line in ninth.

The battle in the first race cost Nesbitt the chance to lay down a competitive lap time, and as a result, he began the second run in 12th – at the back of the fourth row.

Following an early red flag due to a crash involving Danny Buchanan, the second race restarted from scratch but – due to time constraints – was limited to just eight laps.

Much like the opening battle, Nesbitt made some early progress but ultimately ended back in his original grid position of 12th after a short and hectic race.

And once again, a competitive tussle did now allow for a particularly fast lap time, and the Swindon man would have to make do with starting in 13th for the final race of the weekend.

After edging up to 12th initially, Nesbitt successfully passed another rival before the end to snatch 11th and secure five further championship points to leave him 13th in the standings.

Meanwhile, fellow Wiltshire racer, Tommy Bridewell, claimed his first ever triple win in British Superbikes to move first in the overall standings – 25 points ahead of BeerMonster Ducati teammate, Glenn Irwin.

Speaking to his team at the end of the weekend, Nesbitt said: “It was a physically-challenging weekend, but I’m really happy to have three top-15 finishes against some very established racers out there.

“As always, many thanks for the support from my sponsors and my team, it makes my job so much easier to know that there are people behind me all the way.”