Buckingham hoping hard 'graft' pays off.

The Devon rider has a new bike for his Quay Garage Racing team, and has also gone under the knife in an effort to finally cure his ankle problems caused by a huge accident at Oulton Park in 2006.

That fall left him with two broken ankles, ruling him out of the 2006 season and putting him in considerable pain for the majority of the 2007 campaign.

But before Christmas, Buckingham went to Leeds where BSB doctor Toby Branfoot performed an operation to graft some bone from his pelvis to his injured ankle.

"I rode all last year with a hole in the bone," said the 23-year-old. "I thought it would heal as the year went on but it didn't.

"There was a lot of scar tissue and it got between the bone and stopped the break fusing back together.

"I had an x-ray on it half way through last season and it was still there, so we had to operate.

"At the moment, the ligaments are still a bit tight but the bone feels a lot better already."

The injury recuperation has combined with the arrival of a new bike and bad weather to make it a frustrating winter for the Braunton-based team.

They only received their new Honda Fireblade CBR1000RR a fortnight ago, and were unable to visit the intended testing sessions at Valencia in Spain.

"The main problem is the lack of testing going into the first round at Brands," Buckingham added.
"We went up to Snetterton but it snowed, so we've only taken it out on a runway at Chivenor and then got three good sessions in at Mallory Park.

"For the first two rounds this season, we're going to do what we can. We'll try and finish in the top 15 and win the privateers' class.

"Towards mid-season, hopefully we'll be getting into the top 10."

The Ilfracombe rider will have a pretty experienced engine underneath him - he will be riding the Honda used by former BSB champion Gregorio Lavilla in the opening two rounds of this year's World Superbike Championship.

And the team have gained more sponsorship from oil giants Q8 Oils, Gregory Distribution and the Devon Cider Company, who join up with Quay Garage Racing's existing backers.

Buckingham won the British Superbike Cup in 2005 and earned himself a one-off ride with Rizla Suzuki in that year's final round at Brands Hatch.

However since then, ankle injuries have stopped his bid to secure a works ride and also denied him the chance to ride for Phase One Yamaha in the Japanese round of the World Endurance Championship in 2006.