LYMM’S Sean Neary endured some dreadful weather conditions at Donington Park over Easter but came through unscathed having recorded third and ninth places in the opening round of the 2018 Ducati Tri-Options Cup.

He will go into the next round at Brands Hatch on the short and technical Indy circuit on April 15 in fifth place in the standings.

Conditions were dire on Saturday for free practice and qualifying, but he secured a second-row start in fifth place and reached second at one stage of race one but the Zoek Racing Rider had the position snatched from him by Lewis Rollo.

Neary said: “I am happy to get some points on the board after a disaster of a start last year. Thought I could challenge for the win halfway through race one but struggled in a few areas and wanted to bring it home.”

With more heavy overnight rain it was uncertain the racing would go ahead on Sunday but after a long wait and a lot of work by the marshals the race went ahead.

Neary started from a front-row grid position in third place but as the lights went out he did well to hold the bike upright.

“I was in trouble with no grip so it was damage limitation,” he said.

He dropped down the order to eighth and maintained his position until the penultimate lap when Daniel Shaw overtook him.

Neary went on to complete the race in ninth position to pick up a further seven championship points which added to his haul from race one gives him a total of 23.