RAF Reserves Kawasaki's Jake Dixon narrowly missed out on a rostrum finish in the final MCE British Superbike race at Snetterton, after finding some extra pace after switching to the softer rear Pirelli tyre.

The team have not completed a race run on the SC0 and their gamble certainly paid off on Sunday. Dixon usually opts  for the SC2 front and SC1 rear compounds, and as usual stuck with the harder front option.

But his crew made the switch from the SC1 rear to the zero in race two and the change worked. The young-gun was unsure if the softer rear tyre would last race distance, and it did.  In the final laps Dixon was able to overtake Moto Rapido Ducati's John Hopkins and was so close to making it to third place, but was unable to reach Honda Racing's Jason O'Halloran at the finishing line.

Dixon is now only four points off the top six in the overall standings. The team would use the SC0 again, but only if the track temperature gets above 40 degrees.

"We did make a change for race two we went for the zero tyre instead of the SC1. So straight away from the start we had a stronger pace than in race one," said team boss Lee Hardy, speaking to bikesportnews.com.

"He was a little bit unsure of how long he could keep that pace for as we haven't done any race runs on the zero and everything has been done on the one all weekend. He said at the end of the race that the tyre felt good and that he did a 48.2 on the last lap so  strong ride to the end and finished fourth.

"I think in hindsight if we would have gone for a zero in race one I think what cost us was starting from row three really in race two, if we would have been further up the grid in race two we could have hopefully got a podium or better.

"For us if it is above 40 degrees track temp then we can spend a bit more time working with it because ultimately it does give you the edge grip. I think we will try and work more with the  zero but the track temperature has got to be where we need it to be."