LIFTON’S Finley Arscott made his Bennetts British Superbike Championship debut at Donington Park, Leicestershire over the weekend.

Friday saw Finley, 17, given the chance to have a 20-minute practice session to learn the track and get the bike set-up before finishing 24th out of 40 riders in qualifying.

On Saturday there were two races due to one being cancelled at Thruxton, and after a long battle with two other bikes, Finley (pictured below) improved his lap time to finish 29th.

As the second race came around, Finley started 29th on the grid and got a good start, making up lots of ground.

However, on the third lap he came into the Melbourne loop with no brakes and had to bail off the bike. Thankfully he was okay and the bike wasn’t badly damaged, which allowed his dad and George Northam to be able to fix it for Sunday’s race.

Due to his crash, Finley had to start 34th on the grid, but again had another ultra-competitive drive, battling with eight other riders, with arguably the best race he’d ever been in.

A couple of smart moves on the last lap saw him drop his time by another second and finished 23rd.

Reflecting on his weekend, Finley said: “My first wildcard at a Bennetts British Superbike round was a great experience and a good learning curve.

“Overall it was a fantastic experience being in such a paddock and hopefully in the coming year we will do more rounds.

“A special thank you to George Northam for his continued support helping me improve and setting the bike up for me. And another big thank you for all my family and friends who came up to watch me.”