FRASER Rogers suffered a horror weekend in the penultimate round of the Bennetts British Superbike National Superstock class season as his hopes for a podium spot took a severe dent courtesy of two poor results.

Heading into the final double-race weekend of the year, the Swindon man had accumulated 184 points but knew he would likely have to put his bike on the podium twice more if he was to close the 12-point gap between he and Billy McConnell in third place.

With the British weather out in full force at Donington Park, the IN Competition team prepared Rogers the best they could, but an unfortunate fall in race one set the foundations for an underwhelming weekend overall.

Friday’s free practice started off relatively well, despite Rogers having to navigate his way through very wet conditions and one of the lowest track temperatures of the season.

Nevertheless, Rogers guided his Aprilia RSV4 home in 12th position after a slight lull in performance towards the end of the session.

In the second practice outing, the Swindon racer really pulled out all of the stops and - with slightly better racing conditions - Rogers landed on top spot.

Flowing with confidence after a morale-boosting Friday, Rogers’ mood took a hit as Saturday’s qualifying session proved far more difficult, with the IN Competition lead racer set to start Sunday’s first race in 15th.

That desperation to reach the points positions and breathe new life into his championship chances, combined with more terrible weather conditions, saw Rogers slide off on lap five on Sunday’s first race and change his mindset still further on the second event.

Rogers started in no man’s land back in 16th place for the final race, again leaving him work to do with precious time left in the championship to make inroads into those all important podium positions.

Attempting to put a heroic race together, Rogers made it up into fourth position on lap seven before a mistake when battling with Tom Neave saw the Swindon man run wide and drop back down to sixth position where he would remain.

Rogers’ IN Competition racing team has just one round and once race left. It comes this weekend at Brands Hatch, with only 25 points up for grabs.