There were mixed fortunes for FFX Yamaha riders Ian Hutchinson and Andy Reid at Brands Hatch over the Easter weekend.

Hutchinson, representing the Folkestone-based team in the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, used the weekend as his first circuit race experience since returning from injury. He gained momentum throughout the sessions despite being hampered by the wet conditions on Sunday for qualifying.

The TT legend continued to build lap-by-lap and finished race one outside the points in 23rd. In race two, Hutchinson was making further steps forward when he was forced to retire with a technical problem.

He said: "It was a tough weekend for me and I had to keep reminding myself that this was my first race back in a couple of years, so it was always going to be a learning weekend.

"The fact that we had qualifying in different conditions also made it more difficult as we ideally wanted another dry session before the races, but we still worked hard as team ready for Monday.

"The first race I was settling back into it and then in race two we had a technical problem that meant we didn’t finish, but we have the first round under our belt now and Oulton Park is a totally different track so it should be a different story."

By contrast, Reid made a sensational start to his Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship debut, scoring a pole position under the existing lap record. The Northern Irishman was hit by illness on race day but despite this, he fought his way to a fourth-placed finish on his debut weekend.

Reid said: "We had a good start to the weekend, setting the pole position under the lap record and I felt really comfortable and ready for the race.

"But when I woke up Monday morning I really didn’t feel good and at one point I considered not racing. I didn’t want to miss out so I just got on with the job and for my first race on a 600 on the Indy circuit I felt happy to score some solid points as you can’t win the championship at the first round but you can sure lose it!

"We have some ideas on what we can work on now so I am happy with the progress we have made already."

The season continues at Oulton Park on the weekend of May 3.