ANDOVER’S Jake Archer produced a riveting recovery on the opening round of the Hel Performance Motostar British Championship at Donington Park last weekend.

The talented teenager finished with two fifth-placed finishes, despite starting race one in 16th after a slow qualifying round.

Archer initially struggled on the wet Leicestershire track, finishing qualifying with a best time of 1min 56.652sec.

This placed him 16th on the grid for race one, while his City Lifting teammate, Tom Booth Amos, placed second behind Irishman Richard Kerr, who was 5 seconds quicker setting a time of 1min 51.081sec.

As the weather improved, so did Archer, who made great progress in the early stages of race one.

The Andover youngster jumped from the sixth row to eighth position by lap four.

With the front three of Booth Amos, Taylor and Kerr pulling away from the pack. Archer pushed hard to keep up.

He eventually slipped into sixth with Lee Hindle and Joral Boerboom in tow.

Kerr crashed out on the penultimate lap, elevating Jake into fifth – a brilliant recovery considering his grid position.

The result moved Archer up the grid for race two on Sunday, where he started fourth with teammate Tom Booth Amos on pole.

The race proved eventful for Booth Amos, who had made the dream start to lead again only to retire on lap nine with a technical issue.

Archer had settled well into a cluster of riders battling for positions four through to eight.

Lap after lap the riders swapped places with Archer eventually settling into fifth position and bringing home a valuable haul of 11 points.

The Andover rider left Donington with 22 points from the opening round.

He now sits just seven points adrift of early championship leader Eugene McManus Junior.

After the race, Archer said: “I was disappointed with Saturday’s qualifying.

“We struggled a bit in the wet so I am happy to come away with two fifth positions and still be amongst the front runners.

“It shows that being consistent and finishing every race can still pay dividends.”

Archer now moves on to the iconic Brands Hatch Circuit for round two over the Easter Weekend.