It is with the most profound sadness that I have to report the death of my friend Simon Andrews.

Simon crashed in the Vauxhall North West 200 Superstock race while riding for the Penz13.com BMW team on Saturday. He was airlifted to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast where he succumbed to serious head injuries today.

Simon was both an incredibly complex and incredibly simple character, much misunderstood in the British Superbike paddock but very much at home on the roads and with the people and riders therein.

A very warm and funny man, capable of great acts of kindness and randomness in equal measure, I am and always will be proud to call Simon my friend.

My thoughts are with Simon’s parents Stuart and Dee, and sister Claire at this time.