Catalogue of disasters hinders Cup's Pensavalle.

It was Team rider, 25 year old Michael Pensavalle's first visit to the Thruxton Racing Circuit last weekend, in his first season contesting the Bennetts British Superbike Cup Championship.

His weekend started with a catalogue of disasters before he had even turned a wheel on the bike, and continued throughout the weekend.

Having travelled from Bradford, the team arrived late on Thursday night and had to park up outside the paddock. His Dad decided to move their caravan into the paddock early Friday morning with Michael still asleep, when a gas regulator fell off the shelf giving him a black eye.

In first practice his engine blew up after only five laps and they had to borrow a standard Kawasaki engine. He promptly crashed out of the second practice, uninjured, with fortunately only "cosmetic" damage to the bike, after having completed only eight laps. Then, walking through the paddock he was hit by a scooter, receiving a grazed and bruised hand.

Another disaster was to follow for Saturday's first qualifying session when the Kawasaki ZX10 would not start.

It eventually did start, but Michael only managed to fit in 15 laps in the time left and he was also suffering handling problems. Things went better for second qualifying with the bike handling better after some suspension set-up changes and he managed to qualify on the last of the 27 laps he completed.

Michael made a good start in Race one and had a really good dice with Suzuki riding Chris Martin throughout the race, finishing just behind him, and in fifth place in the Superbike Cup. Race two wasn't such a good start and Michael pulled into pit lane after two laps, but went back out to ride a steady race and finish sixth in the Cup.

"I would like to thank my team for working so hard over the weekend, especially Ray and Rob," commented Pesavalle. "I didn't think I'd even be out there racing, let alone scoring points. It's great that I've managed to maintain my fourth position overall in the Cup Championship."