AMESBURY based Mark Piper suffered a crash in second round of the British Superstock 600 Championship, after being hit by another rider at Brands Hatch, writes CRAIG HOBBS.

On board his Pied Piper Racing Yamaha R6, Piper took to a cold damp track Friday morning for the first practice session of the second round

The track conditions were far from ideal but the 23-year-old put in more laps than any other rider that session seeing him finish seventh fastest.

Later that afternoon and with conditions improving Piper set out for free practice two but despite knocking over six seconds off the morning's lap times he slipped to 12th fastest.

Qualifying on Saturday lunchtime saw clear skies and good track temperature for the first time during the weekend and Piper once again put in the laps seeing him qualify in 14th position and knocking nearly a second off his time.

Sunday morning saw a cloudy start to the day and a cold track for the quick warm up session in the morning with track times slower than the previous day.

Race commenced just before lunch time on a dry track with the sun trying to break through but after just two laps disaster struck.

Piper, heading towards druids corner, was struck by another rider causing the pair to crash out of the race.

Both riders got up unhurt but after a positive start to the weekend the team were disappoint to go away not crossing the line.

Piper said “We had a good weekend; We were always improving and looking forward to picking up some points from the race. Unfortunately I was taken out and it was out of my hands. I want to thank my sponsors and fans for their support."

Piper and his team are next in action in round three of the championship at Oulton Park on May 5-7.