Kent’s Jake Dixon had an excellent second place finish in the Japanese Grand Prix at the weekend.

It is the Dover riders fifth podium of the season, and given he started from the second row he was able to work his way through even with the chance of train.

Track conditions were dry for Sunday’s Moto2 race with temperatures a hot 26 degrees when the race kicked off at 12.15 local time.

Starting from sixth, Jake enjoyed a strong start and gained one place on the first lap. The Kent born rider then made neat moves on David Alonso, Diogo Moreira and Tony Arbolino to sit second by lap 10.

Once there, the 29-year old was the fastest rider on track. In the race’s second half he reduced the deficit to race leader Dani Holgado’s from 4.4s to 1.3s.

It means a second podium in the past three races sees Jake remain fifth in the championship standings with 172 points.

Speaking after the weekend a delighted Dixon said: “It’s a good result but I’m left wanting more! We must do better in qualifying because I’m sure that if I was starting on the front row the result could have been even better today.

“Once I got to second and into clear air, I was able to close the gap to the rider ahead. But it was too little, too late. Dani (Holgado) rode a great race to create that gap at the beginning and he could control it from there. But I must do better.

“The last two races I’ve been fast. But it was embarrassing how slow I was in Misano. Here, we were so much better off. I’m so grateful to the team, who’ve given me a great bike now for the past five races. 

“Today the bike was good enough to win, but I just didn’t finish the job off. Now we’ll go to Indonesia, regroup and put the hard work in from Friday so we’re fighting at the front again.”