ANDOVER teen motorbike racer Jake Archer claimed a podium place at Silverstone as his season got off to a bitter-sweet start at the home of British racing.

The 16-year-old finished third on the Saturday to claim a podium place in the opening round of the Motostar British Championship but his fortune dramatically changed on Sunday as he crashed out prior to the race.

The weekend started off with cloudy and damp weather at the Northamptonshire track on the Friday as Archer raced his FTR KTM 250cc for the first time since November last year.

On Friday free practice was delayed following an accident but the season finally got under way at around 1.30pm.

The track was drying after rain earlier in the day but despite the conditions Archer managed to finish second in the 20-minute session with a lap time of 2:42.181.

Conditions improved considerably for the first of the two qualifying sessions.

On a dry track Archer achieved a lap time of 2:22.431 which left him heading row two and just a quarter of a second off the front row.

The second qualifying session took place on the Saturday morning in wet conditions, giving the racers no opportunity to improve their lap time.

Due to delays caused by the weather the first race was reduced to eight laps.

Archer started well and was running in fifth position in the early laps as he closely followed the two riders ahead.

The Andover youngster bided his time intelligently and on lap five saw an opportunity to pass both riders as they focused on battling each other.

Having moved into third position Archer quickly opened a comfortable gap on the chasing pack to take a fully deserved third-place podium.

Archer’s fortunes changed dramatically on the Sunday as he encountered a problem on the second of the two out laps, causing him to crash out.

The cause was due to having lost heat in his front tyre while waiting to get out on track.

He was unable to make the starting grid but was followed by another eight riders who encountered the same issue.

Despite Sunday’s disappointment Archer left Silverstone with 16 Championship points.

Archer said: “I had a really positive Friday, brilliant Saturday, with my first podium of the year, but gutted on Sunday with my crash as I am sure I would have been fighting for another podium.”

Archer returns to action at Oulton Park at the end of April.