DEAN Harrison signed-off the 2021 Bennetts British Superbike Championship with a points finish at Brands Hatch.

Following crashes in the first and second races of the weekend, the Bradford roads ace rounded-off the final round off the season with 14th place finish in the last race.

After crashing out of Saturday’s race, Harrison was left eating gravel in Sunday’s first scrap after tangling with Bjorn Estment on the fifth lap while showing strong pace.

With just a couple of hours before the final race of the year, the team scrambled to work and was able to get his Kawasaki machine rebuilt and ready to go and Harrison lined-up in 21st position for the last scrap.

Making a clean getaway as the lights turned green, the reigning Isle of Man Senior TT winner quickly made up a place and settled into the race, picking up a handful of places in the first half of the race.

By the midway point he was running 18th and three seconds behind Estment ahead, but consistently reeled him in over the next several laps, cutting the gap and eventually making a pass on lap 17.

From there he kept pushing for the final few laps and eventually crossed the line 14th at the flag.

Reflecting on the season’s finale, Harrison said: “The first crash was one of them where you just have to except it happened.

“The weather conditions were damp, and I hit a wet patch and slipped. At that point, you just take it on the chin and just say it happens.

“The second crash, somebody crashed into the side of me. I was extremely frustrated because it affected my lap time and that affected my starting spot in the next race.

“I was actually really annoyed because it meant that I hadn’t progressed further up the grid in my placing.

“It actually meant that in the last race I had to start from near the back of the grid, but thankfully I managed to get a 14th placed finish and it was nice to get some points on the board in the final race of the season.”

Now that the season has finished, Harrison had time to assess his performance over the course of the campaign.

He said: “It has been a mixed season really. We’ve had our ups and downs and we’ve had some good days and some bad days.

“I’ve definitely got some positives to take out of the campaign, the main being that every track I went to, I got faster, so that is definitely the best thing to take out of the season.

“We are continuously progressing and as long we don’t get any slower, then that’s the main thing.”

Harrison added: “Now the off season is here, there is going to be reviewing teams, including looking at potential changes to the bike.

“Hopefully we will then get a plan in place in the next month or so for next year. It's upsetting that it is over but you definitely need a break

And responding to “What kind of Dean Harrison will we see next year”, he jokingly replied: “Hopefully a faster one.”