In his bid to win this year’s Ducati Trioptions Cup, Stockbridge rider Leon Morris was back in action at Brands Hatch.

This was the second time this year that the championship has raced at the Kent circuit, however, back in April, when Morris finished first and second in the two races, the event was on the short Indy circuit.

This time, the two races were held on the full 2.43 mile Grand Prix circuit.

Friday practice was dry and sunny, which is how it stayed all weekend, and Leon got back into the groove finishing the session in second place behind teammate and season-long rival Dennis Hobbs.

In the session, Leon was again the fastest on the track recording a speed of more than 144mph and later in the day, during qualifying, he had to settle for fifth place, 0.6 of a second behind pole man Hobbs.

In race one, Morris led from the start until on lap seven he was passed by Hobbs and a lap later passed again by Marty Nutt.

The 16 points and third placegave Leon a total of 151 points, 14 ahead of Hobbs in the championship. Race two on Sunday saw Morris starting from row two in fourth place, from where he went into the lead and stayed there for the entire race and won by 0.146 of a second from Rob Guiver.

The riders’ table now shows Morris first with 176 points, 23 points head of Hobbs.

The next race for the Ducati is on August 9/10 at Oulton Park – another track on which Leon rides well.

Form is temporary and class is permanent, and it is beginning to look like that of Leon Morris.

Words and picture by Tim Crisp.