Ben Wilson disappointed with his Oulton Park haul

Gutted Ben Wilson came away from Oulton Park with just ten British Supersport Championship after another problematic weekend.

The Kirton racer crashed his Gearlink Kawasaki in the sprint race on Sunday, before once again finishing in sixth place in Monday’s feature event.

Qualifying didn’t go quite to plan for the 33-year-old Wilson, as he was forced to start the sprint race from a third row grid position.

He got away to a good start and was sixth at the first corner. The top seven pulled clear of the following pack, with Wilson moving up to fifth when he passed James Rispoli at the last bend on lap three.

But Rispoli got a second wind and went past again, with Kyle Ryde following in his tyre tracks to relegate Wilson back two places.

The action was fast and furious, with the frontrunners consistently running on lap record pace.

But it all went wrong on lap six when, after passing Ryde once more, Wilson was involved in a three-bike crash after Rispoli crashed right in front of him taking Jake Dixon down with him.

Wilson was right behind the pair and had nowhere to go, so joined them in the kitty litter and his race was over.

Unhappy at being taken down, Dixon aimed a slap at Rispoli – but Wilson intervened and pushed him away. However, the race director had seen the incident and gave Dixon two penalty points.

Wilson regrouped and began the feature race from the middle of the second row – but there was a problem with the lights and the start was aborted. The riders were given another warm-up lap before getting under way.

Again, he made a lightning start and moved up into fifth place on the first lap, but soon dropped back to sixth and completed the race in that position once again.

Amazingly, Wilson has recorded a sixth-place finish in every race he’s completed this season – scoring ten championship points each time. That brings his total to 50, which place him in joint sixth places in the rider standings.

Wilson said: “I am gutted with my results.

“Sunday was unfortunate. If I could have avoided the crash I would have finished on the podium, but it wasn’t to be.

“Because of the long delay with the lights at the start of the second race I fried my clutch and sixth was the best I could do.”

The championship now takes a break to make way for the North West 200 and the Isle of Man TT races and the riders will reconvene at Snetterton in Norfolk over the weekend of June 19-21.

Wilson will make his debut at the North West 200 next week when practice begins on Tuesday, May 12 ahead of racing on Thursday and Saturday.