The sun shone on one local rider at Brands Hatch for the opening round of the British Superbike series over the Easter weekend. Colin Parks Parker from Hitchin took part in the supporting National Superstock Cup for the first time. He first qualified fo

The sun shone on one local rider at Brands Hatch for the opening round of the British Superbike series over the Easter weekend.

Colin 'Parks' Parker from Hitchin took part in the supporting National Superstock Cup for the first time.

He first qualified for one of the 40 spots on the grid out of 55 entrants with a consistent lap time of 1:34.3, which put him in 15th place and on the fourth row for the start of the race.

In front of a 42,000 crowd, 'Parks' got off to a blinding start aboard his Yamaha R1 and began the task of picking off the riders in front of him.

He worked his way up to a fantastic final position of 10th, with a personal best lap time of 1:33.2.

Due to a lack of sponsorship, he is unable to contest further rounds and stamp his mark on the series.

He said: "I would love to take part in future rounds. In fact, I'd love to do the whole season, but I just don't have the money. It was great to race in front of such a big crowd.

"I'm looking for sponsors all the time, but if nothing comes up for me, then I'll have to take a back seat and stay at club level, which is a real shame as I proved at Brands that I could compete with some of the best riders in the country.

"With some financial backing, I would be able to return to the BSB paddock.