A PROMISING start turned into a tough weekend for the Jentin/Lloyds British Superbike team at Snetterton.

High winds made the practice sessions and qualifying difficult for Evesham's Simon Andrews.

Andrews qualified his 04 Yamaha R1 in ninth place but was unable to capitalise on this position in race one.

Starting from the third row of the grid, he had a reasonable start but was pushed wide on the first bend.

Andrews had dropped back to 20th place by the end of the first lap.

Working the bike to its maximum, he was determined to recover the situation by picking off top riders and finally finished in 12th place.

In race two, Andrews had gained a couple places down the Revett Straight. But then Michael Rutter moved up on a tighter line, squeezing three machines together.

Rutter caught the front break lever which locked Andrews' front wheel, sending him and the machine down and ending the second race.

Andrews admitted: "I was cross that I was taken out and the air was blue inside my helmet but once you are off that's it, race over."

Team manager Bernard Toleman said: "It's a pity Simon was taken out in race two. We had a really good set-up, the chassis and the Dunlop tyres were superb.

"All of the engineers were expecting a top-10 result but sometimes you can't always get what you want in racing.

"This was the last race weekend for the 2004 bikes, we now have the first Mountune engines and we are preparing to test the new bikes."