The FFX Yamaha team battled hard at their home circuit of Brands Hatch for the fifth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship last weekend.

Ian Hutchinson narrowly missed out on point-scoring finishes in the two races, crossing the line 18th and 16th. Hutchinson had been battling in the early stages of the second race in the wet conditions before an off-track moment dropped him down the order.

He said: "I left Brands Hatch a bit frustrated, to be honest, as before the weekend I wanted to come away with two point-scoring finishes and it didn’t happen.

"I feel we have made a step forward with the bike at the past few rounds and we had made some changes after the first race which we thought would put us in a better position for race two. Unfortunately, the race was stopped and then it rained and we didn’t have a wet setting, so we had to go with what we had.

"It is a shame as we thought we could improve again at Brands Hatch, but we will try again at Thruxton."

In the Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship, Andy Reid overcame two bruising crashes earlier in the weekend to finish the race in sixth position and maintain a 24-point lead in the overall standings.

Reid said: "I have to say I am aching all over now after the two crashes during the weekend, but to be honest it was OK every time we were on the bike as the adrenaline just kicks in.

"The crash during qualifying was just a really odd one to be honest, as where I leant over, part of my leather caught the tarmac and it just pulled me off, so it was a really odd crash.

"It didn’t hold me back in the race, we just had a few issues, but we scored points and are still at the top of the standings which is the main thing.

"We will put it behind us and move on to the next race where I want to get back to winning again."