Alastair Seeley’s MCE British Superbike weekend came to an early halt yesterday when oil leaked on to his rear tyre and was highsided into the gravel at Donington’s Park Coppice Corner on the warm-up lap for race one.

Fluid from the clutch cover found its way on to the rear Pirelli and when the Ulsterman approached the fast, double-apex right-hander two thirds of a way round the lap, he was pinged into the scenery before turning a wheel in anger.

“It was a heavy crash and although nothing was broken, he was extremely battered and bruised whilst the bike was also considerably damaged. In light of that, we pulled out of the remainder of the meeting and will now look to come back stronger for the next round and make up for the disappointment of this weekend,” said RAF Reserves BMW team boss Lee Hardy.