Top-six finish for Draper Racing's Clarke

Clarke’s Superstock 600 success was backed up by teammate Tommy Philp securing 17th in the British Supersport Sprint race.

Coningsby’s Clarke began his campaign in the Superstock 600 race from the third row of the grid and soon became embroiled in a seven-rider battle for sixth position.

He moved through from ninth on the second lap to fifth on lap 11 of 14 and looked as if he would finish within the top five.

But on the final lap he was mugged by Mark Clayton at the Club chicane and crossed the finish line in sixth position to pick up 10 championship points, bringing his total to 89, which maintains his fourth place in the rider standings.

He said: “I picked up some solid points at one of my worst tracks on the race calendar.

“I was in a race long scrap for the podium which was mega! Cadwell Park is next, excited is an understatement.”

Philp, from East Kirkby, qualified in 19th place to start the 12-lap Supersport Sprint race from the seventh row of the grid.

But the action was fast and furious and he spent the majority of the race circulating in a lonely 21st place.

Although he crossed the finish line in 21st position there were four riders ahead who were racing in the GP2 cup and not included in the Supersport results, thus elevating Philp to 17th place.

Starting the 18-lap feature race from the seventh row, Philp stood little chance of getting up into a point scoring position, but was happy to give it a go.

He completed the first lap in 21st place but was overtaken by Ben Godfrey on lap three.

Philp then made a mistake and ran through the Club chicane, picking up a two-second penalty which didn’t help his cause.

But he persisted and on lap seven passed Godfrey once again and one lap later passed Daniel Drayton to move up into 20th place.

He then picked off Matthew Wigley and was running in 18th place when he pulled into the pits with what he thought was an engine problem.

As it turned out it was the exhaust that blew the header pipe off.

One lap later the race was red flagged, unfortunate for Philp as if he had been able to continue he would have finished well inside the points and the non-finish leaves him down in 13th place in the rider standings on 53 points.

The next round is at Cadwell Park over the weekend of August 17-19, where both riders have enjoyed some good results in the past.