Philp forced to retire from Supersport Sprint race

Tommy Philp was forced to pull out of the British Supersport Sprint race on Saturday as he was suffering from severe pain in his shoulder.
Tommy Philp.Tommy Philp.
Tommy Philp.

The East Kirkby rider was in action for the Draper Racing team at Brands Hatch this weekend, where a dislocated shoulder injury picked up at Cadwell returned to haunt him.

He withdrew from Sunday’s feature race to allow the injury a chance to heal ahead of the next round in two weeks’ time at Thruxton.

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It was left to teammate Aaron Clarke to pick up the points for the team, and he did an excellent job as he brought the Yamaha R6 home in a secure second place in the Superstock 600 class, his second podium finish of the campaign.

Clarke was on top form and completed his qualifying in a very close second place, less than a second behind series leader Ryan Vickers to start Sunday’s 14-lap Superstock 600 race from the middle of the front row.

As the lights went out he shot away to a good start tucking in just behind Vickers.

He was shadowing him for the first couple of laps, with just 0.4s separating the pair but made a couple of small errors and lost ground.

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But he had a clear second place with the next rider some six seconds behind him so kept his head and continued in second place throughout the 14 laps.

On the final lap he was riding faster than the leader but was too far back to make any impression in his race lead and crossed the finish line in second place to claim a further 20 championship points, which bring his total to 79 and place him fourth in the rider standings, just five points away from the top three.

He said: “I was trying my utmost to stick with Vickers in the early laps but then made a couple of mistakes and he got away.

“It is easier to follow someone at close quarters as you have something to aim for but he was a bit too quick for me today.

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“I did however improve on my personal best lap time around Brands Hatch and recorded my second podium finish of the season.

“Its Thruxton up next and I have struggled there in the past, but with the changes made to the bike this weekend I am feeling confident I can be in the mix for the win.”

The next round is at Thruxton over the weekend of August 3-5.