A MAIDEN podium finish in the National Superstock 600 Championship let Mason Law banish the mental demons he had hanging over him from last season.

The Benfleet rider broke his collarbone in the British Superbike support series in 2013 and suffered a big crash in the last round at Silverstone.

He had worked off most of the hangover from that crash in winter testing on a road bike in Spain.

But he admits to still being stressed at the start of this year’s season at Brands Hatch.

“I got a bit stressed on the first day and rather than look at times and what other people were doing I would concentrate on my racing,” the teenage rider said.

“A massive part of racing is in your head and that crash at Silverstone had put my head down.

“I felt stressed out and felt under a lot of pressure, but I sat down with a few people in the team and it chilled me out.

“I set a decent time in qualifying and despite getting held up in traffic and it gave me confidence going into Sunday’s race.”

Law qualified his Trik-Moto Kawasaki second on the grid after finishing 0.342 seconds behind Yamaha rider Andy Reid. The Essex racer made a good start but the race was red flagged following an accident at Druids hairpin.

Law lost a place but put the hammer down to get the place back. He briefly led after the second place rider attacked race leader James Lodge, but the Huddersfield rider regained the lead at Paddock Hill Bend. Law finished the 14-lap race 0.50 seconds adrift of the Moto-Breakers Kawasaki rider.

“It was great getting my first podium and showed I was mentally prepared and stronger than last season because nothing had changed mechanically,” Law added.

“It was also nice to be able to repay the faith that my dad (Graham), mechanic (Kevin Neal) and manager (Andrew Pitt) had placed in me.”