Last weekend saw the latest round of the NG Road Racing championships at Donington Park near Derby where Street motorcycle racer Damon Smith contested in the Stock 1000 class on board the DS Racing Kawasaki #23.

The Donington Park 1.96-mile National circuit is fast and flowing with a series of high speed sweeping corners opening out onto the fast and undulating Dunlop straight. Donington is all about high corner speed and smooth riding.

Spectators will see high speed overtaking as well as bravery in the braking areas. Racing at Donington dates back to 1931 and the track has hosted every type of bike racing including Moto GP, Endurance, British and World Superbikes.

Damon said: "I arrived late on Thursday night after finishing work and set up for Friday's test day.

"The test day went well getting up to speed swiftly in the fine and dry conditions, and finding a good 'dry' suspension set up thanks to constant input from Steve Whitear at Hel Performance.

Overnight rain meant the track was damp and tyre choice was a lottery on Saturday morning ready for practice and qualifying where I qualified a disappointing 10th in class on the grid.

"For most of the weekend, the whole race paddock seemed to be constantly checking weather apps and studying cloud formations and wind direction to try and predict when the rain would fall.

"In race 1, I managed to get a good start among the madness of 41 other riders in damp conditions and carved my way through the pack settling in fifth position in class but in the last two laps of the race I was passed by two riders and although I battled with them, I missed a gear on the final lap allowing them to escape and gain a gap that was too much to close down again, crossing the line in seventh place.

"In race 2, I started from 10th on the grid but got a bad start and got swallowed up into the mid pack. This held me up and I could see my rivals getting further away.

"The race was stopped after three laps due to a three-rider accident which gave us a five-lap mad dash on the restart but I only managed eighth place.

"Race 3, I should've started from 13th on the grid but the bike suffered a battery issue and the failed to start. Finally after a lot of pushing we managed to bump start the bike but I missed the grid formation and warm up laps meaning I had to wait for the rest of the field to finish their warm up lap and line up 32nd and last at the back of the grid with cooling tyres.

"I managed to get a good start gaining 13 places by the end of lap 1 and battling with a very quick BMW ridden by Ade Walbridge, who I passed going into the final chicane on the last lap but the speed of his brand new bike pipped me to the finish line meaning I had to settle for 10th place."

All in all, dealing with the constant changes to weather conditions and the battery failure it was a 'damage limitation' weekend for Damon but he still broke his personal best lap time and gained good points.

He is now joint fourth in the championship but with four circuits still to visit this year including his home round at Castle Combe in a couple of weeks, it is still all to play for.

Damon said: "As always massive thanks to Simon Lane and Steve Whitear from HEL Performance, Andy Forbes-Buckingham at AFB Motorcycles, Dan and Lou Howley of Twosixfit Gym and Fitness Centre, Mark Hawks of MPH Telecom, Paul Redmore and Judith Redmore of P J Parcels, Roger Stacey of RA Stacey Plant Hire, Carl Woodward of Woodward Mortgage and Insurance Services, Julie Williams of Ambrosini Construction Group, Adi Sully of Vehicle Life Support, John Holdsworth of R&T Fish Bar, Nigel Eddleston-Dike of EDP Photo News, Opie Oils, Matthew Parsons at ParSigns and all at Club 23, without you all it wouldn't be possible.

"Thanks also to my amazing partner Cat Barnstable for all your help and support over the weekend."