Newport's Tom Booth-Amos shines to secure his best World Supersport finish

The sixth round of action took place at Donington Park and saw Newport speedster Booth-Amos compete in the World Supersport Championship for Motozoo Me Air Racing on board a Kawasaki ZX-6R.

And the 27-year-old had cause for celebration after an impressive weekend of racing saw him register two top 10 finishes.

Friday's first free practice session took place in damp conditions and was red-flagged with nine minutes remaining when Bahattin Sofuoglu crashed at the Foggy Esses.

That stopped Booth-Amos from improving on his lap time after clocking the fifth fastest time of 1.30.529s, just 0.352s behind the quickest time set by Stefano Manzi.

The majority of the riders, including Booth-Amos, decided to sit out the free practice two session as track conditions deteriorated.

Saturday's Superpole qualifying session took place in dry conditions and and after showing promise on Friday, Booth-Amos started the 20-minute session strongly. But, unfortunately, halfway through the session he fell at turn 10 after losing the front of his bike.

He re-joined and took his bike to the pits but he was unable to set another representative lap time after repairs had been completed, which meant he qualified in 13th, 1.452s behind Nicolo Bulega who took pole.

The opening 19-lap race of the weekend saw Booth-Amos made a steady start as the riders entered turn one.

Booth-Amos managed to hold on to his starting position and as the race progressed he started to move through the field.

By mid-race he found himself at the back of a five-way battle for seventh position. He eventually battled his way through the group and finished ninth.

The second race of the weekend took place on Sunday afternoon over 19 laps. Booth-Amos got off to a good start and had progressed to ninth by the end of the opening lap.

Going in to turn one for the second time, he passed Niki Tuuli for eighth and by the end of lap four he had caught and passed seventh-placed Lucas Mahias.

Championship contender Stefano Manzi cashed at the Melbourne Loop, although he was able to remount and continue, which promoted Booth-Amos to sixth.

Unfortunately, two laps later Manzi had caught and re-passed the Newport racer. Further drama saw Manzi issued a long lap penalty for irresponsible riding on lap 11, which promoted Booth Amos back to sixth.

After serving his penalty, Manzi again passed Booth-Amos dropping him back to seventh.

But there was still time for more drama as Marcel Schroetter high-sided out of the last corner, which resulted in Booth-Amos moving back up a place and crossing the line in sixth.

It was his best finish to date in the World Supersport Class and also the first time a British rider has finished in the top six of a World Supersport race in 10 years.

The next round of the World Supersport Championship is at Imola in Italy, between July 14-16.