THE LATEST rounds of the Ducati Trioptions Cup took place among the natural contours of the Cheshire countryside over the bank holiday weekend - writes Tim Crisp.

The 2.96 mile International Circuit at Oulton Park was the venue and it proved to be a good weekend for motorbike riders Leon Morris and Jake Archer.

Stockbridge rider Morris was back at a track that he knows very well.

He finished first and fifth when the series visited the same venue last year.

On Saturday morning, under overcast skies, Morris, on the Carl Cox Motorsport 899 Ducati, took to the track for his first practice session.

At the end of the 20-minute run, the Ducati was in 18th position.

However, with work done and a plan in place, he headed out for the allimportant late afternoon qualifying session.

On the last of his seven laps, Morris picked the perfect moment to record his fastest time, posting 1min 55.074sec.

This was a time fast enough to put him on the front row of the grid, taking third place.

On Sunday, the first of the two Ducati races saw Morris make a lighting start and he quickly took the lead.

This set up a ding-dong battle with Marty Nutt, with Morris first losing the lead, before regaining it again, all within the space of a few corners on lap five.

Battles continued behind, but Morris went about building a lead.

He did a good job, taking the chequered flag to pick up 25 points and his first race win of the season.

The second race was scheduled to be run on Monday, but it was cancelled due to an oil spillage that the organisers were unable to clear in time.

This was a disappointment to Morris, who felt that he was in a good race groove and could have been in contention for another race win.

To make up for the loss of the second race, there is a plan to run a third race at the Donington Park meeting at the end of May.

Donington is another track where Morris has stood on the top step of the podium in the past.

Given his form at Oulton Park, he will be confident of claiming another race win later in the month.

Jake Archer’s fine run of form also continued at Oulton.

He finished fifth on his RS Racing Honda 250cc, a result that leaves him 13th in the championship.

Archer’s next outing will be at Snetterton towards the end of June.