Motorcycling: Market Rasen rider Crowe makes flying start to new season

The weather for qualifying was mixed with damp patches on the track and Crowe took it steady to secure a seventh place start to his first race.

He made a good start to Saturday’s race and moved up to second on the first lap, but he soon took the lead on lap two.

John Ingram closed him down and on lap six snatched the lead away. Crowe remained within less than half-a-second of his rival, but could not mount a challenge and followed him home in second.

On Sunday the riders were greeted with a dry track and Crowe began the 14-lap affair from the front row.

This time he took the lead and kept his rival at bay to secure the win with a 1.3secs advantage over Ingram.

As in the first race the two BMW riders were in a class of their own and pulled well clear of the rest of the field, more than 26 seconds ahead of the third-placed rider.

As the final race of the weekend got under way, Ingram took the lead and despite his best efforts Crowe could not pass him.

The pair were separated by 0.2secs at the flag, but again were out on their own, more than 25 seconds clear of the next rider after lapping almost half the field.

Crowe said: “I had a mint weekend at Donington; all the work I put in over the winter months is paying off now.

“I have taken another big step forward in my racing and was consistently under my personal best times by a good amount on almost every lap, battling with Ingram all the way.

“This is going to be a strong season for me and I have to give a big thank-you to all my sponsors that make it happen – croweperformance.com, JCR Racing, handtrans.com, fleetwoodgrab.co.uk, appleyardpressurewashing.co.uk, Truelove racing, Martyn Scott, Agri Wash Farm Hygiene, racerubber.co.uk - Holbeach mc Tyres, Export Packing, leejacksonac.co.uk, gbracing.eu, Heritage Inns, Dunlop Tyres, tracktanium.myshopify.com, B&C Express, Mel Hand, Luke Hand,Lorraine Royles, Ben Appleyard, John Chapman, Des Fleetwood.