MOTORBIKE racer Ben Heaton showed he means business with three second-place finishes in his first race of the season.

The Bolton rider sent out a message to his national club championship rivals that he is a force to be reckoned with at Wigan's Three Sisters track, despite suffering a back injury in a crash in the other of the four races of the day.

Heaton, who aims to combine his club championship campaign with also competing in some of the most prestigious motorbike races on the calendar, came second in his first race in the Classic bike category on his Honda RC195 machine after qualifying in pole position.

He was then involved in a collision in his opening race in the Street Stock event which ended his challenge in that race and damaged his Speed Demon Street Stock bike as well as his back.

While that bike was being fixed he jumped back on the other one and went to work in the second classic race in which he finished a close second again.

The Street Stock bike was put back together by his team without a second to spare and he finished second again in the second race in that category, a fraction of a second behind the winner.

Heaton, who lives in Deane, is targeting his first taste of the Isle of Man TT Races along with the Barry Sheene Memorial Races at Oliver's Mount in Yorkshire and the Southern 100 Road Races, also on the Isle of Man, this season.