The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Tommy Philp was the sole representative for Draper Racing at Assen over the weekend – as the Superstock 600 class doesn’t travel to the Dutch venue.
He recorded a 15th place in the first of two races in the penultimate round of the 2018 British Supersport Championship, but was unfortunate to retire from race two with a fuel problem and now moves on to Brands Hatch for the final round in mid October.
Philp completed his qualifying in 19th place in the mixed grid of Supersport and GP2 riders and began his campaign in the 12-lap sprint race on Saturday from a seventh row grid position.
As the lights went out Philp got a good start and moved up three places to 16th on the opening lap.
He briefly dropped a place on lap eight but then regained it on lap 11 of 12 to cross the finish line in 16th place.
But one of the GP2 riders was running ahead of him and did not score points, so Philp was awarded 15th place in his class and picked up another championship point as the final point scorer in the race.
Starting the second race from the sixth row, Philp again got away well to a good start, making up five places on the opening lap to 13th place.
But he dropped back as the pace quickened and was circulating in 16th position on the penultimate lap.
On the final lap he was lining up the rider just a fraction of a second ahead to make a pass when his engine began to lose power.
He dropped back through the field to eventually pull into pit lane just shy of the chequered flag.
On inspection it appeared the fuel sensor had failed and the team will rectify this ahead of the final round at Brands Hatch in mid October, where Philp will be hoping for two good points finishes to round off his season.
There, he will be joined by team-mate Aaron Clarke.
