Hayfield race ace Christian Iddon crashes on brave early return from broken arm

It was only made worse after a crash on Friday, but he did pick up points as he tries to keep his hopes of making the end of the season Showdown for the Buildbase Suzuki team.

Starting 16th for the sprint race he finished 10th, but only lasted two laps of race two after a crash due to a missed gear.

He was on course for another top 10 in race three, made all-the-more impressive after starting 24th, but dropped a couple of positions in the closing laps to finish 11th.

“This weekend was always going to be difficult,” he said.

“In FP1 I just got through it but started loosening up in the second session before another crash.

“I hit the wall pretty hard and battered myself about a bit and wasn’t feeling it Saturday and was off the pace. We started 16th but managed to climb to 10th in race one which wasn’t too bad, all things considered.”

He added: “I made a mistake in race two and missed a downshift: I looked at the dash and I was in third and not second so I rolled around the corner, ready to backshift after I’d got round.

“But I didn’t realise the bike had dropped into neutral so as I knocked it back a gear it went into first and it just came round on me and dumped me down.

“It meant we had a poor grid for race three, and started 24th. It was never going to be easy so to finish 11th, I was reasonably happy with that.

“It’s points, at least, and keeps us in the hunt for the final Showdown spot. There are nine races to go until it’s decided so we’ll keep pushing on.”

Buildbase Suzuki team mate Richard Cooper took a victory

Cooper, who won the 2019 championship for the Buildbase Suzuki team, was returning to the series after suffering a serious injury at the start of the 2020 season.

On his comeback to the British championship paddock he qualified on the front row, and narrowly finished second in a red-flagged race one. He went one better in race two, taking victory after a last lap move.