MOTORCYCLE racer Ben Grindrod is looking to surprise his rivals in the second half of the season after impressing on his return from four years out of the sport.

The Ainsworth ace continued his improvement with two top-10 finishes in his third race of the season in the British Superbike Championship at Snetterton 300 race circuit.

And he believes he will get better with more races.

After his ninth and eighth-place finishes at Snetterton he said: "We [Hollins Strategic Land Racing team] are learning more and more about the Ducati with every session on track.

"We’re not naïve about the fact we’re up against some teams who have been running these bikes for a few years and have built up so much data and set-up information.

"We’ll keep doing what we do and see if we can surprise a few people in the second half of the season."

Competing in the Ducati TriOptions Cup, the 28-year-old rider again showed he is not just there to make up the numbers despite his four-year absence.

He finished an impressive sixth in both practice and qualifying which earned him a place on the second row of the grid for the first race.

Grindrod held his own against much more experienced riders in sunny conditions with a dry track.

He started the second race the following day on the third row of the grid in similar conditions and believes he would have finished better than ninth had the 10-lap race not been cut to six due to one of the riders' bikes dropping oil on the circuit.

He added: "It’s been another really positive weekend for us and we carried the momentum on from Oulton Park.

"Only the third meeting back and to put the bike on the second row is what we were aiming for and that saw us get off to a great start to the weekend.

"At the moment what we are lacking is the ability to find that extra gear between qualifying and the race, but we are definitely bridging the gap to the front five riders, especially over one lap.

"That’s what we need to keep doing, making small improvements and constantly edging closer to the front. It’s a shame the second race got red flagged as I had the pace to move into seventh, but that’s racing.

"I’m already thinking about the Brands Hatch GP and for now I’m going to train hard to be in the best possible shape for then."