FRASER Rogers ended a tumultuous weekend of racing at Silverstone with a third-place finish in round eight of the British Superbikes National Superstock championship.

A sixth-place result in the first race pushed the IN Competition Aprilia Racing Team rider into fifth overall in the championship before his podium spot moved Rogers up to fourth on 157 points.

The weekend started out with damp track conditions thanks to some light rain, and it appeared to unsettle an unusually cautious Rogers as he completed six laps with his best time clocked at three seconds behind the leaders.

The second free practice session was yet again hampered by varied weather conditions, but the rain managed to stay away just long enough for Rogers to put in 26 laps on the 1.6 mile circuit - his fastest good enough for third place thanks to a 54.915, less than four hundredths of a second behind the leader.

Rogers’ form continued as he planted the Aprilia RSV4 on the front row of the grid alongside Australian rider Billy McConnell and Tim Neave with a 54.762 ready for race one later that afternoon.

In race one, the Swindon man made a good start but was pushed back by Taylor Mackenzie in the opening moments before regaining his place on lap four.

Rogers fell victim to contender Tom Neave who slid past him on the second to last corner on lap 14, but after digging deep he took the chequered flag in sixth.

Determinded to improve on his opening result in race two, Rogers started on the second row of the grid but almost saw his race ended on the second lap following a coming together with Levi Day.

Rogers survived the incident and, while fighting his way back through the pack, broke the lap record on his way up to third.

The Swindon man remained there by fighting off Billy McConnell and Lewis Rollo to cross the line on the podium, punching the air in delight on his cool-down lap.

Having secured more valuable points, Rogers entered round nine last weekend at Oulton Park. That report will feature later in the week.