DANNY Buchan finished a creditable seventh in the opening round of the British Superbikes Championship at the legendary Silverstone race track.

The 22-year-old from Basildon started the first practice session on Friday and encountered setbacks, scraping into Practice Two after an exhaust problem.

In Practice Three, the track conditions affected him as he crashed out and could only manage the 12th fastest time, but was only able to finish on the fourth row of the grid in qualifying for Race One.

As the race started, Buchan gained several places and climbed to seventh after lap one.

He then passed Christian Iddon but, on lap four, was overtaken by Luke Mossey and Peter Hickman to fall to eighth position which he held until lap nine.

Hickman retired because of a technical issue and Buchan held of Lee Jackson and John Hopkins to take seventh overall.

Race Two saw Buchan placed on the fourth row of the grid in sixth due to his fastest lap times in the previous race and he held this position for several laps until his engine experienced more exhaust problems and he lost a lot of power.

This caused him to have to retire prematurely on lap seven.

"Technical problems in practice cost us a lot of time so we were on the back foot going into qualifying," said Buchan after the race."

"I enjoyed Race One, it was a great result but, had the tyre lasted a little longer, I think we could have finished a little higher than P7.

"We had a small problem with the engine in Race Two which lost power and forced us to pull in and retire. It is just a shame as I had got up to fifth and felt very happy."