ROYAL Wootton Bassett Academy pupil Elliot Pinson enjoyed a surprising rookie weekend at Donington Park.

The 2015 Cool-Fab Racing Metrakit MiniGP70 British champion had already made a good start to the 2016 season, defending his title at round one of the 2016 Cool-FAB British Championship at Llandow.

In a last minute decision, after hearing the news that a Kawasaki Ninja 300 came up for sale, the 12-year-old’s grandparents offered to put up the money to buy it. Pinson sold his MiniMoto to pay for the entry fees and entered the first round of the Kawasaki Team Green Junior Cup (TGJC) to give him some experience on a bigger bike on a full-size Grand Prix circuit.

The TGJC, run by the British Motorcycle Racing Club, was held at Donington and not knowing what to expect, Pinson quickly got to grips with the new bike and the new circuit.

In a wet qualifying session on the Saturday, the youngster surprisingly took pole position of a mixed grid of 30 junior and senior Ninja 300 bikes.

He went on to continue his success by winning all three races over the weekend, putting him at the top of the table of the TGJC championship after the first round, where he was awarded the TGJC Junior Rider of the Day prize.

Austin Hatching a plan after after Brands struggles

ROB Austin is looking make some big gains in the second round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season at Donnington Park this weekend.

Racing for Swindon’s Handy Motorsport, Austin had difficulties in qualifying last time out at Brands Hatch due to an erroneous set-up choice, compounded by retirement from the championship curtain-raiser as a result of contact from two rivals, but he bounced back superbly in rounds two and three with some excellent racing.

Carving his way through the field from 30th on the grid into 14th, the multiple BTCC race-winner went on to mount a strong challenge for the overall top 10 in round three before taking the Swindon team’s best ever result in touring cars with 11th position.

Not only that, Austin’s pace at the wheel of the striking No.11 Toyota Avensis was a match for that delivered by the podium-finishers in race two.

“Rob did a great job on his first race weekend with the team and we’re all feeling very confident of much more at Donington”, said Simon Belcher, team principal, “Everyone worked incredibly well together at Brands and it’s just unfortunate the way things went in qualifying.

“We know a lot more was possible. The car is fast and so is Rob. We aim to get it right from the start this weekend.”