MSS Colchester Kawasaki manager Nick Morgan admits it is proof of how far his team has come in recent months that he leaves the latest round of the ViSK.com British Superbike Championship at Knockhill slightly disappointed to have missed the podium.

Fresh from their top ten outing on the world stage at Donington Park, the team had high hopes of getting the ZX-10R onto the rostrum in Scotland, but their efforts with Simon Andrews were hampered by the revelation he had broken a scaphoid bone in his wrist.

Nonetheless, despite that – and an 11th place starting position – Andrews made swift progress back through the field in both races, climbing his way up to finish a fine fourth and sixth place.

“I wondered why my wrist was sore. An x-ray on Friday morning showed the left scaphoid was broken in half from my Snetterton testing accident. The bike's been great this weekend bar for a few problems in qualifying.

“We went second quickest in warm-up this morning and I knew we had the pace. It's a tall order from the third row but I gave it my best in race one. The pain slowed me a bit in the latter stages of race two but those points mattered.”

For Morgan, however, he was somewhat frustrated to miss out on the podium, but accepted circumstances such as Andrews' injury would always make it hard.

“I'm driving back from Knockhill with mixed feelings. I think the fact I'm not doing back-flips speaks volumes about how far we've come with the ZX-10R this year. This time last year we were celebrating an eleventh placed finish.

“This year we've achieved a fourth but I know – and the times tell the story – we could have been on the podium. Simon's broken wrist hasn't helped. We'll have to make amends at Mallory in two weeks time.”

Andrews is now classified sixth in the overall standings having now scored more points in 12 races than Kawasaki's lead rider in 2008, Billy McConnell, managed in 24.