Australian champion Luke Styke is knocking on the door of a maiden top 10 finish in the MX2 World Championship following a promising performance at Matterley Basin in the UK.

Styke was a solid ninth during Saturday’s qualification race, marking his best finish to date for 2014. However Sunday saw him drop to 15th in both motos, resulting in 16th overall.

His qualifying form has Styke confident he can crack the top 10 in an upcoming round for KEMEA Yamaha, as long as start permits front-running form in the early stages of the motos.

“I sure hoped for a little better results after the qualification on Saturday,” Styke said. “I had a good start and I felt good on the track. Once I got in my rhythm my lap times were consistent and I got my first top 10.

“On Sunday things went wrong right from the start – I had two bad starts and then it’s hard to make up ground. In the first moto I could hang on to a group of four or five riders, but I couldn’t make any moves. After Saturday I can say now that a top 10 is possible if my start is good, so that’s an important lesson to remember.”

Team manager Marnicq Bervoets – himself a former grand prix great from the ’90s – also has hopes of Styke building form as his confidence grows during the mid-stages of the season.

“After the qualification results on Saturday we must say this was a bad GP,” he reflected. “Luke was riding quite good this weekend, but the results weren’t there. He showed on Saturday that it’s possible to get a top 10 with a good start, so that’s positive.”

Styke now sits 17th in the world championship standings after the eighth round of the season.