JOE Talbot will be hoping for less drama than of late when he tackles Silverstone this weekend.

The 20-year-old took to the track ill in the sixth round of the Pirelli National Superstock class in the Bennetts British Superbike championship at Brands Hatch, while on his previous outing a crash in qualifying resulted in urgent repair work needed to get his JR Performance Racing Honda Fireblade back in race condition.

However, the former Lymm High School student goes into the latest racing, which is a support event at the British Moto-GP round, second in the championship having narrowed the gap to leader Davey Todd to just 10 points.

His third and fourth place finishes at Brands Hatch were impressive considering he had been poorly from 48 hours before the meeting.

Joe Talbot with his dad Andy at Brands HatchJoe Talbot with his dad Andy at Brands Hatch (Image: Colin Port Images)

“These weekends are making me dig deep that's for sure,” said Talbot.

“I arrived at Brands Hatch on Wednesday and couldn’t move from bed until Friday. I came down with something and I was really ill, suffering all weekend.

“Friday was a write-off due to the sickness and just spanned some laps to accumulate some data.

“Saturday we qualified in second place on the grid due to getting a fast lap in early.

“In race one I was in a battle with championship leader Davey Todd and Scott Swann when Swann made a move on Todd and crashed out, taking Todd out with him.

“This gave me the lead but I couldn't keep it until the end so hung on to third place. I was happy with this due to feeling very weak.

“In race two on Sunday I managed to finish fourth so I’m content with the result. I had good pace but I just struggled within myself.

“Overall it was a fairly good weekend for myself considering all the things that got thrown my way.”