Clarke returns whilst Philp enjoys best finish

Tommy Philp recorded two fine results in the British Supersport class of 11th and ninth while Clarke was 10th in the Superstock 600 race.

Clarke was also invited to ride in the British Supersport race on Sunday, where he finished in 12th place and was first in his class.

Kirton rider Clarke spent the free practice sessions reacclimatising himself with the bike and pulled out all the stops in qualifying to record ninth place and a place on the third row of the grid for Sunday’s 12-lap Superstock 600 race.

As the race got underway Clarke was pushed back to 11th in the rush to turn one, and then had to take avoiding action when a bike blew its engine right in front of him.

He ran wide to avoid the incident and lost a lot of ground in the process, spending the remainder of the race playing catch , moving through to ninth place on the penultimate lap.

But on the final lap he hit a false neutral and lost ground once again to finish the race in 10th position.

He said: “But for that false neutral I could have caught the two riders ahead of me and got up to eighth, but it wasn’t to be.

“I did however improve on my lap times and was at least half a second faster than ever before.”

After the race Clarke was invited to join the grid for a ride in the British Supersport championship Feature race later in the day.

He would be at a disadvantage as the Supersport bikes are more powerful, but he decided to give it a go and see how he fared.

Starting from the back of the grid with another three stock riders, Clarke rode well to complete the race in 12th place, and was the first of the stock bikes to cross the finish line.

Philp was contesting the fifth round of the British Supersport championship and he completed his qualifying in 17th place to start the 10-lap Sprint race from the sixth row.

He got away to a good, clean start and by the first sector was up into 14th position.

He became embroiled in a three-way battle for position with the Truelove twins and, after swapping places with them during the 10 laps, he finally overcame both riders, passing Matt Truelove on the final lap to secure 13th place at the chequered flag.

But two of the riders who finished ahead of him were guest riders and not eligible for points, therefore Philp was awarded 11th place.

Starting the Feature race from the sixth row, Philp was running in 14th position through the first half of the 15-lap affair, but gradually made up ground to cross the finish line in 11th.

But once again two guest riders ahead did not register in the points and Philp was awarded ninth place, his best-ever result in the class.

He said: “I am delighted with that result, as well as being my best ever finish.

“I recorded my personal best lap time by a good half a second.”

The next round is at Brands Hatch over the weekend of July 21-23.