Dave Heal rode through the pain barrier to claim two top four placings in the opening round of the Pro-Supermoto Southern Championship at Portsmouth.

Heal suffered a big crash in the 450cc final but defied medical orders by taking his place on the grid for the restarted race. The Heathfield ace then showed great courage to carve through the field, moving up to second place at one stage before finishing third.

He followed this with a fourth place in the Super final, combining the top 450 and Open class riders.

Heal said: "The paramedics told me I had broken my collarbone but I was convinced I hadn't so I gritted my teeth and went out in the next race.

"I was up to second when it restarted but I was in real pain and finished third in the end. I almost fainted when I got off the bike afterwards.

"I think I would have won that race if I hadn't had the crash."

A hospital visit this week revealed Heal had not broken anything but had torn shoulder ligaments and suffered some internal bleeding.

His results completed an eventful weekend for the former British Superbike privateer champion.

Despite claiming pole position, he missed the start of the first race which meant he began in the B group and had to progress to the A group. He also missed the start of another race.

However, it was a good day for the new Dave Heal Racing team who fielded six entrants at Portsmouth and claimed six trophies, three for Heal himself.

Peacehaven's Richard Freshwater was the busiest rider, competing in nine races in total as he entered both the 450 and Open classes.

Racing his Mouland Caravans-backed CR450, Freshwater finished fourth in the A final and fifth in the Super final.

Paul Angear (Herstmonceux) finished third in the B group while Graham Rodemark, also from Herstmonceux, was 11th in the 450 A final and Tim Guest (Eastbourne) was 13th.

Simon Powell (Hailsham) was impressive throughout in the 450 before crashing in the final. He remounted but finished second from last.

Heal and three other team members, including Nick Hobden (Herstmonceux) who did not compete last weekend, are expected to take part in a Pro-Supermoto National event in Wales this weekend.

Freshwater will be back on the track as he competes in the BEMSEE Powerbike class at Snetterton.

CRAIG Rainer and the Wealden Racing team continued their winning streak at the third round of the Ford Saloon Car Championship at Donington Park.

The Crawley Down driver extended his lead in class B and the overall championship with an impressive showing.

A downpour just before the start of qualifying did not help Rainer who qualified first in class but only 11th overall.

The rain had stopped for the race itself and Rainer got a tremendous start, moving up to sixth overall on the first corner but a crash halfway through the first lap meant the race had to be restarted with the cars in their original grid positions.

Rainer did not get such a good start second time around but still managed to pick his way through the field to finish second overall and first in class.

Brighton's Mike Webb continued to show progress in the fourth round of the Hot Hatch Championship at Snetterton.

Webb qualified 11th overall but only 0.1 seconds down on sixth place.

Another fine race saw Webb initially lose a place before clawing back to finish tenth overall and seventh in class which means more championship points.