Crawley teenager Oliver Merrilees believes he will be a better rider following a major crash at the opening meeting of the new season.

The 17-year-old has stepped up this season to compete in the Junior Superstock Series on a Yamaha 600.

The competition runs alongside the British Superbikes Series and Merrilees is having the get used to the new bike which is a big jump up from the Aprilia 125 and 400 Honda he was racing last season.

After some useful testing sessions at Lydden Hill and Mallory Park, the first round of the season was at Donington Park.

Having run in a new set of tyres in Friday's free practice, Merrilees was starting to pick up the pace when he lost the rear of the machine at the fast section of the Old Hairpin and came flying off.

A visit to the medical centre revealed no serious damage but the same could not be said for the bike, which needed £1,000 worth of repairs.

Merrilees said: "I just opened the bike up and the next thing I knew I was flying through the air, thinking this is going to hurt.

"I was so disappointed as I was really looking forward to the race as I know I would have been on the pace.

"But I have learnt to treat the machine with a little more respect now."

He added: "Things had been going really well up until then. I was really settling in with the new bike, so let's hope that is it for the season."

With the bike repaired Merrilees took part in MRO Superstock Series meeting at Silverstone the following week and, after another crash in timed qualifying, he only qualified 32nd on the grid.

In the race itself, the youngster had already made up six places by the first corner but he could not compete further with many entrants on 1000cc bikes.

Merrilees, whose step up this year has been helped by sponsorship deals with Esporta Crawley and Motul Oils, said: "It was the first time I had had to cope with more than an eight-lap race. I put in a fastest lap of 1.08 and managed to lap another rider, so we were well pleased with the outcome of the weekend."

Karting ace Sean Tomsett, from Portslade, has made a good start to the Summer Series at Lydd.

The Hove teenager finished third in two out of the three heats and then claimed third place in the final.

Tomsett, who is sponsored by the Lydd International Raceway, has secured further financial help from WJ McCullough Services which will help his bid for honours this summer.