LEWIS Rollo is hoping the weather gods smile upon him as he looks to close the gap on the leading pack.
The racing star picked up an eighth-place finish in the first race of the National Superstock Series at Silverstone over the weekend.
That was followed by a failure to finish in the second race.
However, his preparations for the opening round had been hampered by poor weather in testing, which meant he was on the bike in dry conditions for the first time at the Northamptonshire circuit.
Rollo spoke to Courier Sport on Tuesday afternoon as he travelled south to Oulton Park for another testing session, hoping to clock up some laps in the dry.
He said: “The results do not look great but, from myself and the team’s point of view, the event went really well. We went into the weekend with no dry track time at all on the new slick tyres we are using this year.
“Up to the first round, we had only done wet testing and we were on the back foot with other riders having been in Spain and testing all winter.”
Rollo had qualified in seventh spot for the first race and got away with the lead pack, who took 0.7 seconds off the lap record.
The 23-year-old is back with IN Competition Aprilia having previously raced with the team.
He was full of praise for the team and how they progressed.
The former Knox Academy pupil said: “From the first session of the weekend to the race, we improved our lap times as I got more comfortable each session and with the bike.”
The testing on Wednesday and Thursday took place at Oulton Park, where racers will compete at the end of this month.
Rollo said there were a variety of technical aspects that the team could work on in a bid to find the perfect set-up for the upcoming races.
The Gifford racer said: “It is good because the team can work on certain things with the bike to make my life a wee bit easier but the main thing is getting as many laps as I can.
“It was a longer weekend for me than it was for the other riders I was competing against.
“Billy McConnell, a championship contender, spent the full winter in Australia doing track days and racing over there.
“While he is over there racing bikes in the sun, I was back here on building sites in the rain and cold.”
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