Market Rasen racer Phil Crowe kicks off campaign in top five

Competing at the Thundersport GB Race of the South meeting, he capped the weekend with a podium position of third in the final race.

Riding in the Thundersport GP1 Sportsman Elite class, Crowe powered his Handtrans BMW through to take pole position on Saturday for the opening event.

As the lights went out the Lincolnshire rider slotted into second place, but by lap six he had slipped back to fourth where he remained to the chequered flag.

“Although I was able to qualify on pole, I was not happy with the bike as I couldn’t seem to push on,” he said afterwards.

“The bike doesn’t work as it should mid-corner so I will be making some adjustments for Sunday’s two races to help deal with the problem.”

On Sunday, Crowe began his first 16-lap race from a front row grid position, but was unable to make it up into the top three and completed the race in fifth place.

After further adjustments to the new bike he settled into fourth place on the opening lap of race two before making his move up to third on lap 10 of 16.

He remained in third place to pick up a podium finish in his last outing of the weekend.

Crowe will complete more fine tuning and testing in preparation for the beginning of the road racing season where he is hoping to contest NW200, Isle of Man TT and the Ulster GP.

To compliment his road racing exploits, Crowe intends to contest the Thundersport GP1 Championship as well as selected rounds of the National Superstock 1000 Championship which runs as a support class to the British Superbikes.

There is also a possibility he could contest the first round of the Spanish Championship in Jerez later this month.