Both hands injured, but Sword battles on.

Albion KTM UK's Stephen Sword battled through injuries to both hands, suffered in a heavy fall during last weekend's British Championship, in last Sunday's Grand Prix of the Netherlands to record a 15th place finish and 7th in the points standings.

"I didn't ride at all week because of my hand, thumbs and knuckles were too swollen, I injured them last week, I had treatment during the week but there was nothing they could do, I just rested up and missed out on the riding," said the Scot.

From the moment the gate dropped on Sunday, Sword lost a few meters on those around him: "I think my trouble was I held the bike in 2nd gear too long and they got the drop on me. I just battled away trying to hold my position, fighting with Jeff Dement for 15th and 16th position. If I could have started top ten then I feel sure I could have held onto that, I had a 4th in my qualification race which set me up and I felt I had enough speed to carry me through the weekend."

Sword's KTM performed faultless through the deep Dutch sand and he held 14th for 11 of the 21 laps but admits he wasn't at his best.

"I couldn't get myself into a rhythm this weekend so I was happy just to get into the points, although if I could have saved one point I'd have been joint 6th in the championship if I hadn't lost one final position to Leok," reflected Sword. "When you look at (Mickael) Maschio, he won in Spain and didn't even score a point here today, the weekend could have been a lot worse, I just have to focus on next week and try to extend my lead in the British Championship."

"Stephen impressed me this weekend, he rode with two badly swollen hands, I think any other rider might have stayed at home, but not Stephen, he wants desperately to do well in both the national and world championship," said Team Manager Gary Elston. "I hope that with a week to prepare for the next British Championship round at Lyng, Stephen will have enough time to get back to normal and increase his lead in the series."