Mallory Park British Superbikes: Lucky escape and seventh heaven for Simon Andrews

Lloyds British Jentin Yamaha rider Simon Andrews had one of his best ever British Superbike showings this weekend at Mallory Park.

The 24-year old scored two seventh place finishes at the sixth round of the championship, and spent four laps of race two in second position.

But the Evesham rider was lucky to ride in the second race after nearly having a massive off in race one at Gerard’s.

After the first race he said: “Coming into Gerard’s I was holding such a tight line I was over the rumble strip and was using the concrete part near the lake.

“I had the bike cranked so far over I caught the top of my knee on the concrete and it nearly ripped me off the side of the bike – I don’t know how I managed to save it?”

Andrews was one of the real shock performances of race two, barging through the field early on in damp conditions.

The top Yamaha rider in the championship at the moment was rueing not pushing harder at the start when his intermediate tyres were working better than the competitions slicks.

“The track dried so fast,” added Andrews. “I should have pushed harder in the damp.

“I didn’t have the best start anyway because there was so much going on with people with their hands in the air on the grid I was still looking at my crew on pit wall when the lights went green.

“I still got up to the top three though, and it’s been a long time since I was in the top three!”