The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Ben Wilson managed two top seven finishes at Assen over the weekend to keep himself in the hunt for sixth place in the Motorpoint British Supersport Championship.
Kirton racer Wilson registered a seventh and then a sixth place in his two races at round ten of the series in Holland, moving himself up to seventh in the rider standings on 143 points.
Amid intermittent rain, Gearlink Kawasaki rider Wilson started the sprint race on Saturday from a third row grid position.
As the 12-lap race got underway he settled into sixth place in the opening laps but was beaten back to seventh when team-mate Glenn Irwin passed him on his way to a podium finish.
For the remainder of the race Wilson maintained a lonely seventh position.
Sunday’s feature race was delayed while the marshals cleaned the track from spilt fuel dropped in the previous race – and when it eventually got underway it was reduced down to 13 laps.
Wilson got away to a good start and was third at the first sector, but at the end of lap one he was down into fourth place as James Rispoli went past.
The safety car was deployed after a three rider crash on lap two –and when the car left the track on lap five Wilson could only hold third position for a few yards before Luke Stapleford and then
Sam Hornsey got the advantage and pushed him back to fifth.
Once again Wilson was unable to match the speed of the top four riders and he dropped back into the clutches of Kyle Ryde, who finally overtook him on lap nine leaving.
That left Wilson to hold onto sixth place for the remaining four laps and cross the finish line for a further ten points.
Going into the penultimate round of the season at Silverstone on October 4, Wilson is 22 points away from sixth place in the standings.
That position is held by Andy Reid, who is out injured for the rest of the year.
If he could bag two good results from the final four races, the Lincolnshire rider could snatch sixth place away from him.
