MOTORBIKE ace Alec Wright made a solid start in the British Superbikes 125GP section when he finished 18th at Brands Hatch on Bank Holiday Monday.

The 17-year-old from Blackwell finished three places out of the points in the opening round of the season.

However, he was one of the most impressive of the young riders competing and is sixth in the Youth Academy Championship.

Alec said: "I wasn't too pleased with the result because I wanted to finish in the points. Still, considering it was my first race on the track it was a pretty good start.

"Racing at such a famous track was brilliant, its set up is a lot more professional.

"If I had a bit more practice on the track I would have known the best places to overtake but I know it's a learning process and I'm getting there."

The gifted young rider, who is sponsored by chart toppers UB40, started well and gave himself a chance of winning some points by finishing 15th in the first qualifying round.

Disaster struck in the second qualifying round when he crashed off while taking a corner, which led to him dropping to 21st on the starting grid.

Despite the setback Alec started to weave his way through the traffic on his Honda but was denied a place in the top 15 because of stubborn traffic.

Now the teenager and his team will be aiming to increase his Honda's speed for round two at Thruxton this Sunday (April 15).

"I need to work on speed before the next race at Thruxton," said Alec.

"I got caught behind a couple of riders I had recorded faster times than before.

"I would line them up and try to catch them up in the slipstream but I didn't have the speed to do it, so that's something important to work on.

"I over-taking riders throughout but got caught in traffic, which was frustrating."