ccident Advice Solicitors supported rider Johnny Blackshaw had his first major challenge of the season at Brands Hatch this weekend. Having riding in the Superstock 600 class for a number of years the youngster has moved up to the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 class for the 2013 season on the Accident Advice Solicitors sponsored Kawasaki.

Johnny has only managed a short amount of testing before the season and despite being very excited about his new prospect he knew it was going to be tough from the outset. It was difficult on Friday morning to get any set up on the bike as the track temperature was around four degrees.

The first time he had some good track time was during the first qualifying session on Friday afternoon, he was 19th in his group, in the combined qualifying session he was 27th with Group A and Group B combined and taking 2 seconds off his first qualifying time he knew he was making big improvements and slowly adapting his riding style.

The race was always going to be hard especially starting mid pack but Johnny has always been a better racer than qualifier and as soon as he settled down his lap times were dropping and he was able to work his way through the field up to 20th place as he crossed the line.

Johnny Blackshaw - "It was a really good weekend and despite not being in the points it was such good fun and I was really enjoying riding a bike again. I knew this year I had to step up to the 1000 class and really pleased now I have made the move - I have to thank David and Tamara at Accident Advice Solicitors for making this possible for me.

I was really nervous about going into my first Stock 1000 race. I managed to have a chat with current Stock 1000 Champion Keith Farmer before the race about my starts and he gave me some really good advice which I took on board. I slowly worked my way up through the field until Simon Andrews went down causing he pack I was in to be split up.

I slowly closed the five second gap down but unfortunately used up my entire rear tyre grip in the process so I had to settle for 20th. I have come away from Brands feeling really positive and learning a lot of new things which I need to build on for the remainder of the season. I was only 0.3 off the leaders with my lap times during the race so I know I can certainly improve and have a lot more to give, I can't wait for Thruxton this weekend and getting the full power out of my Accident Advice Solicitors Kawasaki."

2013 Johnny Blackshaw Personal Sponsors

Accident Advice Solicitors - Forcefield Body Armour - SLP  - Rock Oil - DP Brake Pads - Daytona