GRAEME Gowland was back on the box in Sunday's only MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship race at Oulton Park, less than an hour after a big crash during the warm-up.

The Allendale rider had been seeking his second victory of the year in the Mirror.co.uk BSB-Evo Championship after winning race one at Snetterton two weeks ago, but almost saw his hopes wiped out completely when he highsided his WFR Honda in the ten-minute familiarisation session.

Gowland had dominated Saturday’s qualifying shoot-out, upsetting some of the main BSB teams with an impressive lap in qualifying one, and finally ending up 16th on the grid overall with pole in the Evo class ahead of Sunday’s fist race at the notoriously difficult Cheshire circuit.

But it almost ended in complete disaster after the former Spanish CEV champion crashed in the warm-up.

“It was my second lap and I highsided it,” he said.

“Luckily for the bike but not particularly lucky for me, it landed on top of me which drastically reduced the damage which could have been done.

“The thing was, there was only about 45 minutes until the start of the race so it was a quick dash to get it out and ready. We made it, but it was a bit of a mad rush.”

After a morning of rain, the race was delayed for almost half an hour and as the riders headed out on wet tyres it was to form the grid for a reduced distance of 15 laps. And it soon became clear that it would be a battle to see who could stay on track, just as much as who had the fastest pace.

At the green light, Gowland got a good start but soon fell into the clutches of team-mate Glen Richards, who was also flying. Richards hit the front with Gowland charging behind him in second place.

But neither of the WFR riders were prepared for the race pace of Scott Smart on the Moto Rapido Ducati. After emerging third fastest Evo bike during qualifying, he was on a charge in the wet race and was soon past Gowland and up to P2.