Andy Wignall is delighted after clinching sixth place overall in the BEMSEE club's Supersport 600 series in his first year of road racing.

It has been a hectic season for the Hove racer. It all started on March 9 and 20 rounds, 40 races, 14 different race venues, thousands of miles on the road, 27 nights sleeping in his van and two crashes later, the country's highest ranked Club National 600 Supersport Championship came to a conclusion at Brands Hatch.

With a background in motocross and supercross Wignall, 34 this month, went to the first meeting with his Yamaha R6 600 Supersport bike and got a bit of a surprise.

Mark Gibbs, Wignall's mechanic, said: "The opposition's outfit included a kitchen and a chef, while ours included a flask of soup in the back of our van.

"We really expected to finish mid-pack or towards the back of the 40 riders on the grid."

However, despite being a little daunted and having to start in 38th place, Wignall finished 11th overall after the first two rounds at Brands Hatch.

The championship was long and gruelling. Midway through the season Wignall was beating all expectations and was up to fourth overall in the championship with some stunning results, the best being a second place at Snetterton. However, things were about to get tougher.

Rivals were able to develop their engines or buy new ones, while Wignall was forced to struggle on as he was. Missing four rounds in France due to a lack of finance dropped him to seventh overall but some consistent performances kept him well placed in the top ten.

At the final meeting back at Brands Hatch, Wignall was lying sixth overall but he knew he could slip to ninth if things went wrong. However, that was not the case.

Wignall said: "We're absolutely delighted, we really didn't expect to be anywhere near to top ten at the start of the season. We nearly captured fifth place.

"I'm not sure what is going to happen for next year. I was made redundant earlier in the year so I had best get some income sorted before I can think about 2003."

Peacehaven's Kevin Stone missed out on third spot in the BEMSEE club's Rookie 400 nationwide series.

At the final round of the series at Brands Hatch, Stone finished fourth and fifth in the two races, which left him fourth overall in the series. In the southern series, he had already finished second overall.

Additional motorsport reporting by Richard Neil