TEENAGER Chrissy Rouse is taking comfort from the fact he was on course for his maiden podium in Sunday's Sunoco British 125GP Championship race after crashing out from third place.

The 15-year-old from Burnopfield, Gateshead, was one of a number of riders who fell victim to the torrential rain which lashed Oulton Park, in a race weekend which was then cut short because of dangerous track conditions.

Rouse’s last visit to the Cheshire circuit had ended in disaster when his wheel exploded in a freak accident in May.

And so he had been hoping to get a solid result in his second outing on the SP125/ChrissyRouse.com Honda at the weekend.

After crashing last time out at Snetterton, Rouse arrived at Oulton feeling confident, and eased his way into the action by working on his set-up and getting fully to grips with his distinctive blue machine.

Ending first qualifying in fifth in the wet, he wound up 13th on the grid after Q2 on Saturday afternoon when the track had dried out, but was certain he could push his way into the top ten during the race.

But things took a nosedive during Sunday afternoon’s warm-up session when his crank broke, leaving him stranded in pit lane and unable to get out. However, the team fixed the problem in time for him to get out for the race later on.

The hard rain was already causing problems to the scheduling with various delays, and the race was reduced to eight laps when it finally got under way under a heavy downpour. At the lights, Rouse got a stunning start, jumping up to sixth at the first corner and then picking off a couple more riders to settle into fifth by the end of the lap.