Ellison's injury keeps him out of Superbikes (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Ellison's injury keeps him out of Superbikes

12:03pm Friday 29th August 2008 in Sport By Gazette Sports

KENDAL'S James Ellison sat out round nine of the Bennetts British Superbike season on Monday after losing his battle to be fit.

The 27-year-old injured his wrist endurance racing in Spain last week but had hoped to continue his bid for a top-three finish in the BSB championship at Cadwell Park this weekend.

However, after struggling in practice, the Hydrex Bike Animal Honda star opted to put his long-term fitness first and ensure he is at his best when round ten gets underway at Croft Park in early September.

But after watching the leading championship trio of Shane Byrne, Leon Haslam and Tom Sykes dominate in Lincolnshire, Ellison admitted the day's racing had made for difficult viewing.

"I thought I was going to be OK but when I started to get out on the course at Cadwell it was just too painful," he said.

"Rather than getting any better the injury just got worse and worse with every lap and so I had to make the decision to pull out.

"It's a nightmare for me because I've really got my eyes on finishing in the top three in the standings at the end of the year.

Brother Dean (pictured above) also endured a frustrating weekend crashing out on just the second lap in race one.

And after a weekend littered with bike troubles the 30-year-old failed to take the grid in the second race after his Co-ordit Racing team decided his bike was not fit to ride.

On the track Haslam continued his amazing record at Cadwell Park grabbing his second and third victories of the season to close the gap on Championship leader Byrne to 115.

Sykes grabbed two second place finishes, while a frustrated Byrne had to make do with two third place finishes.

n Tune into Eurosport Two for Bennetts British Superbikes coverage on Sunday, September 14, from Croft or for updates head to uk.eurosport.yahoo.com