Fleetwood rider Ryan weathers tough conditions at Donington Park

Riding in the Quattro British Supersport class, the Myerscough College motorsport lecturer will miss the final round at Brands Hatch as his engine is overdue a refresh.

With Donington a firm favourite of Garside’s, the first free practice session saw him put in increasingly fast times as the track dried out after initial damp conditions.

He ended it in ninth of the 45 riders in action but the second session was to prove more frustrating.

Garside struggled with a combination of gearing, a strong wind that had come in and completing the session on used tyres.

That meant sitting down with his laptop and spreadsheet to make changes and ensure the gearing could be more usable for qualifying.

Qualifying one saw Garside in the last of nine qualifying spots until he accidentally towed a fellow rider, whose time dropped him to 10th position and out of Q2.

TV timings meant Sunday’s first race was the feature event, which saw Garside battling with a group of riders for the first eight laps.

He eventually got through before eventually coming home in 24th overall and 18th in class.

The second event was a sprint race, held in very damp conditions.

Nevertheless, Garside made up a number of places on the first lap with other riders hesitating in the spray.

He finished 16th overall and 14th in class but, had he chosen it as a cup round, he would have had victory by 14 seconds over his rivals.