van der Mark rescues vital points on wrecked Honda

Michael van der Mark says there was no time he considered giving up chasing 'very important points' despite crashing his Honda and riding the final laps of the wet race two in Germany with a broken front brake.

The Dutch rider, who is Yamaha bound for 2017, locked up his front brake in the soaking wet conditions and slipped off with a handful of laps to go while running in the top five.

Having seen World Superbike championship rival Davide Giugliano fall earlier in the race while Nicky Hayden struggled in the rain, van der Mark was determined to jump back on his busted Honda to secure eighth place and with it fourth in the riders' championship standings.

"I got a good start to the race but the track was very slippery and I couldn't lean as much as I wanted," van der Mark said. "After a couple of laps, I saw Giugliano crashing out of the race and I immediately thought about the championship situation, because the priority was to stay upright.

"Then, with three laps to go I simply locked the front and crashed. I really wanted to finish the race so I picked up the bike and rode two laps with barely any front brake. These are very important points for me, so all in all I'm not too disappointed."

With three rounds remaining van der Mark heads the battle for fourth in the championship with an eight point advantage over Honda team-mate Hayden.