ELVINGTON motorbike racing ace Sam Holme is staying positive despite a tough start to the British Superbike (BSB) Championship.

The 23-year-old's chances of a good starting position in the BSB 600 Super Stock at a washed-out Donington dissipated with a 130mph crash in qualifying while his race at Brands Hatch Indy was ended by a collision with another rider.

But Holme remained optimistic, saying of the Brands Hatch race: "I think that could have been a good race and we could have got a decent result inside the points, but it wasn't to be.

"This is racing - if it was easy, every man and his dog would be at it, so it's just a case of having to work a bit more at it.

"But on the plus side, I think we've shown glimpses of the speed that we have, so now it is just a case of keeping it upright, staying out of trouble and proving to everyone that we can run with the fastest Stock 600 riders in the UK."

In qualifying on a wet Donington track, Holme struggled with his equipment but took himself to a respectable 12th place with four minutes to go.

However, as he looked to speed up with two minutes on the board, he lost the front going into Craner Curves and smashed up his bike at 130mph.

Holme's team did well to reassemble the bike for the race in which he got a good start, but his bike cut out exiting the Old Hairpin on the first lap.

The second round of the championship at Brands Hatch started with a free practice in equally inclement weather but Holme was still able to make strides with his lap times, improving them by half a second after 10 minutes.

But disaster struck again on the last corner of the final lap with Holme crashing out and incapacitating his bike for the second practice.

Holme got off to an acceptable start in the race but could have benefited from a more aggressive approach on the short circuit.

As he looked to push on, he made a hard move on turn two on the third lap and had his rear wheel clipped, taking both riders out.

Holme said: "Thankfully we were both okay, but frustrating at the same time because it's safe to say luck is not with us at the moment."