Leon Hunt is having to pinch himself.

The Brighton bike racer continued his swift progress in the National Superstock 1000 Series in the latest round at Silverstone.

It was the first time Hunt had raced at the new Silverstone circuit.

He also found himself up against some seasoned British Superbike riders who took the opportunity to ride in this one-off Moto GP round.

But the 21-year-old, who is in his first season in the Superstock 1000 class after switching from 600cc racing, refused to be daunted by the opposition as he produced another accomplished ride.

He took advantage of wet conditions in qualifying to claim eighth place on the grid, which was his best of the season.

Hunt said: “Silverstone have spent millions on their new circuit which is four miles long whereas it used to be about two miles.

“Half the field were up there the week before testing. We turned up having never seen the new circuit before and got on with free practice.

“That went really well. It was wet but that helped me as it slowed everyone down a bit.”

Superbike riders Josh Brookes, Michael Rutter, Martin Jessopp, Simon Andrews and Peter Hickman were in the field but Hunt was sixth after first qualifying and eighth after the second, out-qualifying his more experienced team-mate Scott Smart in the progress.

Then the Moto Rapido rider got a great start in the race itself.

He said: “The problem for me was that qualifying was in the wet but it was dry conditions for the race which meant we just had to guess at the gears and the set-up of the bike.

“Normally I don’t start that well but I got a bullet start and was fourth going into the first corner.

“Then coming down the back straight I was fourth or fifth with Josh Brookes, Glen Richards and Michael Rutter in front of me. I remember watching them on television when I was ten years old and now I was trying to pass them. It was really cool.”

Hunt’s lack of experience at this level eventually cost him as he dropped back and eventually finished 12th which matched his best result of the season.

However, he took plenty of positives from the weekend.

He said: “I was really pleased with 12th considering I had never seen the track before.

“There were 60 riders there and I had gone into the weekend thinking I might struggle to get into the top 15.

“Everything is going really well, I am getting more confident and results are getting better all the time. The next step from his level is Superbikes. This is where next year’s Superbike riders come from and I am getting closer and closer to them.”

Hunt travels to Scotland next weekend in preparation for the next round of the series at Knockhill near Dunfermline.