HALESOWEN rider Bradley Hughes returned to race action after an enforced break because of funding issues and rode two fantastic races to take a fifth and sixth place in the two British Supersport Evo races at Donington Park last weekend.

The second race was eventful to say the least and Hughes rode the wheels off the Kawasaki to play catchup after getting tangled in a start line crash.

He expected to be a bit race rusty after not racing for a while but he soon eased himself back into it and was posting lap times quicker than ever before.

He qualified well in the mixed grid of riders, and started the short sprint race from a fourth row grid position. The Evo championship is run within the British Supersport championship with each set of riders racing for points in their own series.

As the 10 lap sprint race got underway, Hughes took his time to settle and finished the first lap in 22nd place (6th Evo). One lap later and he was up to 19th (5th) and set his sights on Lee Johnston a few yards ahead.

On lap eight he was lining him up to make a pass and by the end of the lap was ahead. On the final lap Bjorn Estment went down which elevated the Hales rider to 17th overall. He was also awarded 11 championship points for finishing fifth in the Evo class.

On Sunday, Hughes lined up on the seventh row for the start of the 18 lap Feature race but as the lights went out two riders fell right in front of him. Although he was able to avoid one rider, his bike was tangled with the other fallen bike and he was lucky not to crash. After he managed to separate the two bikes he looked around and found the main field had long gone.

He was able to chase after the pack but was half a lap adrift with a lot of work to do. However, a great effort saw him claw his way back up into 17th place at the flag.

Hughes said: "I was devastated when I thought my race was over before it began, but after untangling my machine from the one that crashed I realised the course car was out which would slow the field down. That allowed me to make up a lot of ground."

He will now miss the next round at Assen in the Netherlands as funds will not stretch to an overseas round, but he will be back in action at the next round at Silverstone on October 5.