MOTOR cycle race-ace Ben Grindrod has high hopes of breaking into the elite group of riders who regularly score points in the British Super Bikes National Superstock 1000 championship.

The 24-year-old Ainsworth contender has stepped up from the Superstock 600 championship to test himself at a higher level and after four meetings – including one at his home circuit Oulton Park and 10 days ago at Donington Park – he has yet to score a point.

But the former Elton High School and Holy Cross College student, who is also a business management graduate from Leeds Metropolitan University, is far from downhearted at the start made by Team Motocoat, comprising his dad Dave and fellow engineer John Butterworth.

“I am competing against riders who have stepped down from World Super Bikes who have much greater resources,” said Grindrod, who rides a Kawasaki ZX10. “To score points in the championship, you have to be among the first 15 finishers.

“If we can get a few points this season, that would be a big achievement, bearing in mind our small team.”

In the last outing at Donington, Grindrod suffered the consequences of a slipping clutch to qualify a disappointing 36th after setting a lap time in practice which put him 14th in class.

Butterworth worked on the bike until 9pm on the Saturday ahead of Sunday’s race to repair the clutch, and after starting towards the back of the grid, Grindrod was able to work his way through the field, finishing the race in a respectable 26th position.

“I was reasonably happy with the result, even though the bike was overheating from the early laps, which caused a drop in power and let the group in front creep away as the engine increasingly got hotter,” said Grindrod.

Grindrod will be aiming to build on his result in the next round over the weekend of June 14-16 at Knockhill in Scotland.