Happy ending for Coutts at 125 double-header.

After suffering non-finishes in both the previous Oulton Park round and then in the first of the two 125 races run at Cadwell this weekend, Padgett's rider Danny Coutts finally saw his luck change as he stormed to fifth place in an incident packed second leg.

After a freak chain failure ended his race at Oulton Park two weeks ago, Coutts was eager to get back amongst the points and the weekend got off to a promising start when he was immediately among the pace-setters in first qualifying. Things went rapidly downhill, however, when the gearbox locked up just as everyone was setting their fastest times, leaving the Horsham youngster well down the timesheets.

During second qualifying the bike failed to perform to its full potential resulting in the 2001 BMCRC Champion having to start from the fifth row. The cause of the lack of performance became apparent in race one when the primary drive gear failed on lap seven.

The team pulled out all the stops to get the bike ready for race two and Coutts was delighted to find himself back on the pace. A text-book start saw the sixteen-year-old move quickly into twelfth place, 4.5 seconds behind race leader Chris Martin.

By lap eight Coutts had moved into ninth place and was catching the leaders at the rate of half a second every lap. With less than two seconds covering the first nine riders after twelve laps, Coutts concentrated on staying out of trouble, a tactic which paid off when lap thirteen proved unlucky for Paul Veazey as he high-sided half way around the 2.17 mile Lincolnshire circuit.

Thomas Bridewell found himself with nowhere to go and was taken out by Veazey's bike. As the rest of the pack scattered to avoid the stricken riders, Coutts took to the grass but managed to re-join in fifth place.

The leading pack then completed the lap before the red flags came out, ending the race with the results declared from the last time the leaders crossed the line.

Happy to be going home with a top-six finish, Coutts is now focussing on ending the year on a high at Brands Hatch and Donington: "Once we'd got it sorted the bike was awesome, I have to thank Clive (Padgett) and my dad for all the hard work they've put in this weekend to make sure I made the grid for both races.

"It's been a pretty difficult year, one way and another, but racing for the lead with nine other riders makes it all worthwhile. If we can keep the bike going as well as it did today for the last two rounds, I'm sure I can at least match my second place at Thruxton."