Sandiford-Smith stuns on Adult debut.

Adult debutant Oliver Sandiford-Smith was the sensation of Hawkstone Park on Sunday, the nervous youngster - who turned 15 years old just two weeks ago - arriving at the Maxxis British Championship unsure if he could even qualify, but would finish his first race in a magnificent fourth.

"I was trying hard to hide my nerves from everyone, but I think a few saw through it," admitted 'Ollie'.

Many riders struggle to even get by the qualification stages at their first race, but the teenager had a plan...

"I just wanted to ride like a normal race, as I do in the schoolboys, I like the sand so that was an advantage, I was holding onto (Billy) Mackenzie's wheel for a tow around the track, I know he is injured but I had the same speed until I crashed in one of the corners. I stopped on a corner and watched a few lines and then just went for it, I qualified easily under my own stream," stated Sandiford-Smith.

With his first objective achieved, Ollie then faced his next hurdle as he lined up for his very first 125cc adult race at the former British Grand Prix circuit.

"I was about 10th out of the gate and found that I could pick off riders quite easily, I was chasing Mackenzie again and closing in on him when he fell," he recalled. "I moved to 4th, but I was getting real bad 'butterflies' in my stomach every time I saw the pit board with 4th written on it! I knew I could hold on but the adrenalin was pumping like mad."

Despite the tension, Ollie duly crossed the line in 4th, scoring 23 points which immediately put him in 22nd position in the championship rankings on his race debut.

With nerves and jitters now behind him, Sandiford-Smith lined up for race two eager for a repeat performance, but with the rain now falling heavily he would suffer and fall and vision problems on his way to fifteenth at the flag.

"I crashed in race two in the heavy rain, I took off my goggles which was the wrong thing to do in the sand but I couldn't see because of the rain. I then got hit in the face by a flying stone which held me back but I still finished 15th and scored 6 points," he stated.

That left just the Maxxis race, where the 125cc two-strokes, and 250cc 'fours' face the leading Open Class runners.

"I was pleased to be through to the race, I knew it would be hard to score points but I just wanted to finish all three races to prove to myself that I could do it," began Ollie, before describing his downfall: "I was coming down the steep Hawkstone Hill, I went for the back brake but nothing happened, I went tumbling over the handlebars, I was unhurt but couldn't ride on and just made my way back to the paddock.

"I came here to see just how far I was off the adult pace, but I am very happy that I seem to be up to speed," Sandiford-Smith concluded.

Team manager Gary Elston was impressed with what he saw on a damp Sunday in Shropshire: "Ollie overcame his nerves and rode like a real professional, he had a lot of friends and family here, in what was his first big race with a lot of good teams and riders."