CHIPPENHAM’S Danny Kent finished inside the points as the MotoGP 2 race in the Netherlands was brought to a premature end due to rain.

The 22-year-old started the race in Assen in 18th place on the grid and despite a poor start, he was able to keep his position, stuck in the group battling for points.

In the final laps Kent put on a charge to get rid of Mattia Pasini and Xavi Vierge, catching up again with his teammate, Miguel Oliveira, after a mid-race dip in speed.

Three laps from the end the rain made its expected appearance and complicated matters as the two teammates battled for points.

Race leader Takaaki Nakagami raised his hand and the red flagged was brought out two laps from the end, the Japanese rider taking his first win while Kent took 14th spot, a place ahead of his teammate, to claim two points.

It was an unfortunate end to the race for Kent who fell as a result of another rider’s accident after the flag.

“It was not a bad race, probably one of our better races this year,” he said.

“The first laps I was too slow and everyone got away. My pace during the race wasn’t too bad but again it’s one of those what ifs.

“Next weekend we need to work harder for all the weekend.”

Kent now sits in 17th position in the overall standings and will next be in action at the GoPro Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland on Sunday, July 17.

Meanwhile, Etchilhampton rider Tommy Bridewell salvaged a top-10 finish from a tough weekend at round four of the MCE British Superbike Championship at Knockhill in Scotland.

After struggling with the settings of his his GSX-R1000, the Wiltshire ace qualified in 20th position for the opening race, but fought his way up to 12th.

Starting 16th for the second outing, he took the chequered flag in eighth.

Bridewell said: "It was a very difficult weekend to be honest, but I think we really showed our character to turn it around.

"We were a bit lost on Friday and I couldn’t get comfortable. We made some radical changes for FP3 and again for qualifying and they didn’t have the effect that we’d hoped, so we were really up against it for the races.

"After qualifying we went through everything in really fine detail, and just made some more changes for warm up, and I went out and went half a second faster which, around Knockhill, is a big chunk of time. But starting in 20th was always going to be difficult, and even though we got up to 12th that’s nowhere near where I want to be.

"In the wet race I felt really good and the bike was mega, and really justified us doing those laps at Snetterton in the wet because we used the map we developed there, and it worked so well. The chassis set-up was spot on, and I just felt like I could out-brake everyone.

"I got to ninth with a big gap in front, so I just kept charging forward, just racing my lap-timer really, and before I knew it I had caught and passed for eighth place and pulled a gap.

"It’s not the position we wanted, but it was damage limitation a little bit this weekend and I think to go from 20th to eighth by the end of the weekend, around here, shows how hard everyone’s worked.”

The next round is at Snetterton on July 8-10