LAST weekend's racing at the Lausitz Ring proved to be an incredible test for the UCL Honda Team.

The Vale Park-based team arrived at this superb racetrack after 720 of high-speed autobahns. The circuit is a purpose built track only 15 miles from Poland and is similar to Rockingham with a touch of Silverstone added for extra spice.

The first session witnessed Simon Andrews, the Wickham-ford teenager, out in the wet with his Honda Fireblade pushing hard to find his breaking points.

This propelled him to pole position for most of the session until a fall by one of the wild card riders deposited mud and fuel on the track. This was his last flying lap but he had to back off towards the end of the session resulting in a fourth place.

The second session commenced in dry warm and humid conditions making tyre grip a major problem. The Vale you-ngster was unable to produce the drive out of the bends that he required to stay on the pace and he slowly dropped down the order to 18th.

With the third and final session taking place in the wet, the team made the decision to sit it out knowing that it was not possible to better the lap times.

Three seconds separated the field with several riders having a lot of repairs to carry out.

Andrews was 18th on the grid on Sunday when, as the light went out, 35 bikes headed for the first bend. Andrews was on the inside line and, as the pack entered the apex of the corner a rider went down directly in front of the Evesham racer, who subsequently lost all the advantages he had gained.

Andrews came out of the incident in 26th position after the first lap but he slowly picked his way through, moving up four places where he stayed until the later stages when his high fitness level came into play.

In the last six laps he passed four riders, sending them back down the field and, having made the break up to 18th the Fireblade continued to pull away at the rate of three seconds a lap. The gap was too big to pick up any more places but his speed saw him lap a full second faster than in qualifying.

The team go to Brands Hatch this weekend for the National Supersport and the Production before moving out to Italy on Monday for the World Super-stocks.