RAF Reserves Kawasaki team boss Lee Hardy has heaped praise on rookie rider Ryan Vickers after he secured a brace of top-ten finishes last weekend at the Oulton Bennetts British Superbike round/

It was only Vickers' second round in the blue riband class after moving directly from Superstock 600 and the no-bullshit Hardy cannot say enough good things about his charge.

"We didn’t really expect the weekend to go as well as it did but Ryan showed good pace at the test last month and brought that form with him getting quicker in each session," said Hardy.

His lap times were really strong and although we used two tyres in Q2, to make it through to Q3, to finish ahead of some ‘big’ names was a really superb effort and the whole team were ecstatic. It was especially pleasing to see Ryan do the lap times on his own which is a huge credit to him.

"He looked comfortable and smooth on the bike and to say we’re very happy with how race day went would be an understatement! In both races, he put in performances beyond his age and it’s great to see such a young talent mixing it with established race winners and champions.

"His progression is exceeding all our expectations but he’s doing it in a really controlled manner and he dealt with the challenge of Oulton Park exceptionally well.

"It’s been a great start to the season and Ryan’s only going to get stronger so we’re already looking forward to round three.”