Donington delight

GOING FOR IT: Ashley Beech in full flight at Donington Park.

MOTOR SPORT: 

OLDHAM racer Ashley Beech secured an impressive fifth-place finish at the opening round of the 2015 National Superstock 1000 Championship at Donington Park.

Beech arrived at the circuit full of confidence after the Jones Dorling Racing team successfully completed a four-day test in Spain last month. Several technical issues were found during the trip abroad, including an electrical fault which might have scuppered any chance of a good result at the season opener.

In qualifying, Beech managed to improve his lap times and finished ninth fastest to start from the third row of the grid.

He started well though dropped back to 11th place at the end of lap one before fighting his way back up to seventh. Beech pressed on to pass two more riders and crossed the line fifth.

Beech said: “On the last lap I had a scary moment when I became a bit too throttle happy: the bike flicked me into the air and I landed on the tank. I decided to settle for a safe fifth.”