Former champion Craig Coxhell has been making progress for Demolition Plus GAS Honda Racing.

Former Australian Superbike Champion Craig Coxhell says his podium finish in race two at Barbagallo Raceway’s Australian Superbike round comes as a massive confidence boost at the halfway point of the season.

Demolition Plus GAS Honda Racing’s Coxhell suffered from tyre troubles in race one and was forced to settle for sixth, however come Sunday’s second race he was back to his best, leading half the race and finishing third directly behind factory Honda rider Wayne Maxwell.

Ahead of a capacity crowd alongside the V8 Supercars, Coxhell got off to a flyer leading the pack into turn one and after battling for the lead for most the race he settled in third where he crossed the line to take the team’s first podium finish of the year.

“I’m really happy with the result in race two – it’s great to be back up the pointy end contending for race wins,” Coxhell said. “It’s just a shame that we had a bad rear tyre in race one and had to settle for sixth.

“The team has worked really hard to set the bikes up the way I like and I now feel really confident and excited heading to the next round in Queensland.”

Teammate Cole Odendaal, riding the NSW Compensation Lawyers-backed GAS Honda, raced to 9-10 results in another breakthrough performance.

“We have been treating this year as a learning year and we are finally starting to land on our feet,” Odendaal said. “The team has given me an awesome bike and each time I get on the bike I gain more confidence.

“I had a tough weekend in Perth as I didn’t know the track and we had limited practice time. We improved as the weekend progressed which was a positive. The next round is at my home track in Queensland and I know that we will be a lot stronger there.”

Coxhell now sits a solid fourth in the series while Odendaal is seventh after four of eight rounds.