Former Irish Superbike Champion Michael Pearson left the Ulster Grand Prix yesterday with little to show for his efforts save for a possible broken elbow sustained when he crashed in the main McKinstry Skip Hire first Superbike race. He is due to attend hospital today.

It was a difficult day for Pearson in more ways than one, with the BMW rider having to pull off the Superstock grid from fifth place on the second row just prior to the start of the race, as he did not have the required tyres for the conditions of the race. Later in the day, Pearson did finish in 12th place in the Aer Lingus Supersport 600 race, where he was again hampered by lack of top end power.

"Today just went from bad to worse, but what do you do? We won't know if the elbow or a bone near the elbow is broken, until I get it x-rayed, but Dr Fred McSorely is never far away for a proper diagnosis, and he thinks something has snapped," said Pearson.

"I had problems with tyre choice all day as did a lot of others, but the D&GW Racing BMW was going really well. Steve Mercer hit my brake lever on lap one of the Superbike race which nearly took me down, but I was still in contention after that for a top seven finish until I went for the brakes going into the Lindsay Hairpin when the front end just tucked under me.

"I thought I was going to take Adrian Archibald out with me, but thankfully I did not. In the Supersport 600 race, the D&GW Racing/Carryduff Forklifts Yamaha just had no speed in a straight line. I don't know what is doing it, but she is losing out on about 15mph over the rest of the 600s.

"I battled on and got 12th place, so at least I got a race under my belt. The Superstock race was very disappointing. I had qualified in fifth place on the grid and felt really comfortable about a decent result, but the rain came on and we went for full wets on the sighting lap. About 20% of the circuit was really wet between Deer's leap and Quarterlands and the rest bone dry, so full wets where not going to last.

"I simply had no other tyres suitable for the conditions and rather than destroying a new set of wets, I pulled out of the race from the grid. I am disappointed for myself, the Team and my sponsors, but sometimes luck leaves you, and today it did just that to me."