Challenging times for Swan Honda at Thruxton

The Swan Honda team have had a day of mixed emotions at Thruxton today as James Ellison crashed out heavily whilst setting the pace in the final free practice session, sustaining a broken right femur. Stuart Easton meanwhile was able to set the third fastest time in the Swan Roll for Pole ahead of tomorrow's opening race.

Ellison had ended the opening day of practice fastest and this morning looked set to remain at the top of the times when he crashed at Goodwood. Easton was then the lone Swan Honda rider on circuit and was challenging for the pole position in the final qualifying session, running second until he was nudged back in the final seconds into third place.

Easton said: "I honestly thought I had done enough to finish second in the final qualifying session, so to be third was a bit disappointing for me. I know we have a strong race pace though, so we just need to go out and put on a good show as the line rider for the Swan Honda team. I am obviously flying the flag for the whole team tomorrow so I want to go out there and win for James as he had been so fast until his crash and he was unlucky to be caught out."

Team Manager Shaun Muir said: "The whole of the Swan Honda team are desperately disappointed after James' crash this morning. He had been working well with the team and alongside crew chief Mick Shanley he was setting the standard on track. The early indications show that he will need to have a further operation to have the bone pinned and plated, but that is looking likely not to happen before Monday. We won't be making any long term forecast on a replacement rider until after that operation when we have a clearer idea on the situation. James is obviously feeling gutted right now but is in high spirits. We won't know when to expect him back until early next week but we are hoping for the best possible scenario where it could be as early as after Cadwell Park. The main aim for James is to get back to fitness and then hopefully we can still aim for the top six finish to put us in The Showdown over the final three rounds.

"Stuart did a good job to secure a front row start for the team this afternoon, normally I would be happy with third, especially considering the day we have had, but I am still disappointed. I am not wanting to take anything away from Tommy Hill as he has been fast, but he was tagged on to the back of Stuart for a number of laps so I feel he gained an advantage there, which obviously worked against Stuart. We are confident though that tomorrow Stuart can put on a good show for the Swan Honda team at Thruxton."