Teenager Finn Smart-Weeden finished his Pirelli National SportBike Championship campaign on a high at Brands Hatch.

After two non-finishes in the previous two rounds at Oulton Park and Donington, and a somewhat lacklustre practice and qualifying at Brands, Smart-Weeden, from Painters Forstal, near Faversham, found a change in pace for the races.

After an excellent sixth place in race one he was 10th in race two, before gaining an extra place due to a disqualification further up the order and earned a ninth-place finish in the final standings.

Having replaced his clutch, and with better conditions on Saturday morning compared to the Friday, Smart-Weeden qualified 16th - although rain saw the race red-flagged before it began. However the sixth-form pupil from Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School remained on dry tyres at the restart and it proved the correct decision, and his sixth-place finish put him on the second row for Sunday’s race.

The team knew it would be a challenge to maintain his sixth-place start, with rival riders now on the correct tyres, but Smart-Weeden stayed with the front pack for the first few laps and finished convincingly ahead of 11th place before later gaining another.

The 17-year-old reflected: “I would have liked to have finished higher in the championship and, without the technical challenges [this year], that might have been possible. It has definitely been a learning year and I look forward to doing better next season.

“I would like to thank my team, my crew chief Paul Fryer, my mechanics - Daren Savage, Steve Frizzell and, of course, my dad Steve Weeden - [and] my mum, Georgia, for keeping the team fed and clothed, and Dave Hewson and Rob Farmer at Obsession Engineering Ltd.

“As always LS2, Scott Leathers and Knox Armour have kept my body in one piece. I’d also like to thank all of my other personal sponsors.”