PETE Gisbourne made a great start to the new season on his Bernie Saunders VFR750RC30 Honda last weekend.

Success made up for the unfortunate end to last year's season when he suffered a breakdown at Snetterton in the final round of the Open Superstock Championship in which he came second by only 25 points after going into the last round in the lead by 25 points.

After crashing out on the Saturday, leaving him with no points to add to his lead, his pit crew led by Nick Webb raced ahead to get the bike ready for Sunday's race leaving the Vale man to just ride round to pick up a point to win the championship for the fourth year running.

True to form, he led the pack off but, with only two laps remaining, mechanical problems struck leaving Gisbourne on the side of the track watching the rest go past and the championship go by.

The new season at Cadwell Park saw him raring to go by taking four first places over the two days taking him to the top spot with maximum points for the start of the 2002 season.

He is grateful to sponsors, Bernie Saunders, Knotts Motorcycles, MHF Skip Hire, Dudleys Coaches, Read Consultancy and Castrol Oil for their help and continued support this year.

A big thank-you is also due to Nick Webb for building yet again another great new bike for this season.