KENDAL rider James Ellison and his Milwaukee Yamaha team endured a tough weekend at the office in the fourth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Knockhill.

The team were left disappointed despite their hard work after two challenging races.

The weekend had been tough for the team as they worked hard to close the gap to their title rivals, with the demanding and short nature of the Knockhill circuit meaning that the smallest of margins are exaggerated over the 49 second lap.

In the opening race of the weekend Ellison fought to try and move up the order from his 13th on the grid, pushing on to secure a seventh place.

In race two he had aspirations of further improvements but after making a lightning start his hopes were dashed with a crash at Leslies.

Josh Waters also had his hopes of making steps forward shattered in both races, finishing 19th in the first race before retiring in race two.

Ellison said: “It has been a disappointing weekend for me.

“I came here with bags of confidence after our run of good results and a nice break where I kept busy on the MX bike to stay bike fit, but despite that, things just didn't click for us from the start.

“At this level you cannot afford to be on the back foot. I tried my hardest in race one but from 13th on the grid at a tight circuit like Knockhill, seventh was all we could do.

“As for race two, with starting from eighth on the grid, I knew if I got in the top five on lap one I could push with the front four so I made a great start.

“Going into turn two I was tight on the inside curb when Chris (Walker) seemed to just stop mid turn and I hit the back of his bike.

“I'm gutted for the whole Milwaukee Yamaha team as we shouldn't be fighting just for top seven finishes. We will group together and test before Snetterton to make sure this doesn't happen again.

“It's just a blip, we will be back!”

Team Co-ordinator Mick Shanley concluded: “Unfortunately Knockhill has been the worst weekend of the year for us so far.

In both races James’s performances really were a consequence of his qualifying, because with a short lap here it is hard to make up positions. He was trying to make positions up in the second race and he just got caught out really.

Snetterton is next on the race calendar for Ellison, and that takes place on July 5, 6 and 7.