ENGINE problems in free practice forced Jon Railton into a last-minute engine swap in the latest round of the Metzeler Superstock 1000 Championship at Cadwell Park at the weekend.

ENGINE problems in free practice forced Jon Railton into a last-minute engine swap in the Metzeler Superstock 1000 Championship at Cadwell Park at the weekend.

Despite performing well in Saturday’s free practice, he ended the session with his engine on two cylinders and missed first qualifying as his team changed the engine.

The only spare engine was on a team bike in London, which had to be transported to Cadwell Park to allow Railton to race. When it arrived, the team spent several hours removing the new engine from the spare bike and transferring it to Railton’s race. The swap was completed in time for Sunday qualifying.

In changeable conditions, he set his best time early in the session and despite another problem with his lap timer ended up 24th fastest – his best qualifying of the year.

He made up two places to finish the first lap in 22nd place, but as his rear tyre lost grip he lost the two positions to take 24th at the flag.

Railtons father David said: “All in all it was a good weekend, despite missing the first qualifying session. A big thanks go to the team for their monumental efforts to keep Jon racing.”