Championship runner-up Jake Dixon says he’s wasn’t looking forward to today’s second race after binning it in the first of two final scraps.

And despite feeling sore after the Clearways crash earlier this afternoon, the RAF Regular and Reserves Kawasaki rider pulled clear of title rival Leon Haslam after a dice with he and a few other riders in race two to secure third in his final BSB battle for the foreseeable future.

Dixon had ended the first lap of the final race of 2018 in seventh place, but carved his way past Haslam, Jason O’Halloran and Christian Iddon and taken advantage of a crashing Michael Laverty to stick the Lee Hardy Racing bike in third and sign off with a podium finish.

But he admits it wasn’t easy after both soreness from race one and possible bike issues as the team scrambled to rebuild his bike in the four-hour gap between races.

“I wasn’t looking forward to it after my crash in race one today – that hurt,” he said. “I don’t know if the bike was completely straight or what, but the team did a fantastic job in the short amount of time they had.

“It was a great race, Coopes and Tommy were flying. It felt like I was leading the r ace at some point they were that far ahead, but I was just trying to stay on towards the end

“It seemed like the track temperature dropped and the grip got really really slick. I was trying to do the same lap times and I couldn’t do it, I nearly crashed trying to do them so I just backed it off and saw on my board that the gap was going up behind me.”

And while says he’s going to miss the squad with which he’s spent the last two and a bit season, Dixon says he’s excited to be headed for pastures new – with warmer conditions to boot.

“It was a great way to finish the season with another podium. I’ve had such a fantastic two years with the team, it’s going to be sad to leave them.

“I wish these boys all the best in the future – I’m off to Qatar in the heat and these boys will be in the cold.”