Huntingdon racer Danny King was left with a mixture of pride, disappointment and pain following a career-best performance in the British Final.

King climbed onto the podium after taking third place in the national championship at Wolverhampton on Monday.

He had to pick himself up off the deck at the Monmore Green track following a nasty crash in the qualifying heats when he was hit in the back by his own bike.

King scored nine points from his five heats to earn a spot in a semi-final and made further progress with second place in that race.

But, in the showpiece race, he couldn’t live with eventual champion Tai Woffinden or second-placed man Craig Cook, who pipped him to a coveted wildcard place in the British SGP at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, next month.

King said: “I was disappointed straight after the final because I had missed out on the title and the chance of the wildcard, but on reflection I’m proud of my performance.

“To finish on the podium in my national championship is very pleasing and a good achievement. I’m just a bit sore after taking a whack from my bike in that crash!

“Wolverhampton is not the sort of track I really enjoy riding. It is small and doesn’t suit me so that probably makes the result a bit better.

“The British Final tends to be staged there every year but I wouldn’t be complaining if it was moved to another venue.

“I’m having a good season and riding well. The challenge is continue that for my two clubs, Coventry and Ipswich, for the rest of the year and then come back even stronger in 2016.”

The result continued a fine few days for the 28 year-old who had performed with plenty of credit for Great Britain in the Speedway World Cup during the previous week.

King scored seven points on Thursday as GB were eliminated from the World Cup when beaten by Poland in the Race-Off at Danish track Vojens.

There was also disappointment for another Huntingdon-based rider, Kenneth Bjerre, in the World Cup Final on Sunday.

Bjerre suffered a costly mechanical failure at the start of the penultimate heat as host nation Denmark threw away victory to Sweden with Poland taking the bronze medals and Australia finishing in fourth place.