Salvestro collected fourth after making it through to the semi-finals of the Top Bike competition at the Western Sydney International Dragway last weekend.

Salvestro managed to make it past the opening round of eliminations before lining up against Chris Porter in the semi-final, where he was unfortunately robbed of a finals berth due to breaking the primary belt off the start line.

“I made a great start off the line in my semi-final run and then soon after that I lost my blower belt,” Salvestro said.

“It was certainly a finals spot gone begging as I felt I had the speed of my rival in the semi-finals as I had posted a better reaction time, and had I not encountered the problems it would have been a stronger pass going by what the data showed me.”

Despite not making the finals, the fourth place was Salvestro’s best in five seasons competing in the national competition.

“I was really nervous heading into the meeting as it was my first in six months and a lot of stuff goes running through your head. It was awesome to come away from the weekend with the result that we did,” he said.

“In qualifying we struggled with the setup as we had it ok for the daytime conditions, but when night came we were a bit off the mark.

“We ended up seventh in the qualifying and came up against Craig Bonwick and defeated him to advance through to the semi-final for the very first time.”

With only one round of the Australian Top Bike Championship remaining, next month’s Winter Nationals at Queensland’s Willowbank Raceway, Salvestro heads into that event with his confidence sky-high.