Oulton Park next up as Joe Talbot closes in on leader David Todd

For the Warrington 20-year-old will head into action on his local course Oulton Park between September 13 and 15 having closed the gap on championship leader David Todd to just one point by the end of the last round.

That is a result of the successes he had at Cadwell Park in late August.

In the previous round at Thruxton, the former Lymm High School student did not get the results he would have liked as he finished the races in sixth and fifth places, but neither did Todd so Talbot left there just four points adrift in the standings.

The gap had been as high as 30 points in mid-July, and after Talbot crashed in the second race at Knockhill in June he admitted he would be a difficult task to claw back into contention but he has done exactly that.

At Cadwell Park, Talbot qualified on pole position – his first P1 of the year - for the race the next day.

After a race-long battle with Todd and Tim Neave, he secured the win by 0.238 of a second.

"I felt good all weekend and I’m glad I kept chipping away,” said Talbot.

“I didn’t get the best start dropping to third place in the opening laps.

“I stayed calm and picked my places to pass as it’s very hard to make a move around Cadwell.

Joe Talbot in Parc Ferme after winning the race (Image: Colin Port Images)

“I managed to get to the front with 10 laps left and I tried to get away.

“I put consistent laps in but the rest of the field was hot on my heels. I had to ride defensively in the closing stages but I managed just to hang on to the lead.”

He added: “Absolutely over the moon with the win. A few things that I learnt and minor mistakes I made but I’m sure I can fix them for Oulton in a few weeks when I look forward to keeping the momentum we have going.”