Clarke and Philp impress in Spanish test with new season on horizon

Race aces Aaron Clarke and Tommy Philp have just returned home after spending a week in Spain to test their new draperRACING Yamaha machines in a shakedown test prior to the official British Superbike test later in the month.

The two Lincolnshire riders, their mechanics and team manager Bill Philp headed to Circuit de Calafat situated an hour south of Barcelona for a three-day test with Pacedayz Trackdays, Craig Fitzpatrick and Michael Laverty where they joined many of the top British riders taking part in the test.

Kirton racer Clarke was out on his Yamaha R6 Superstock 600 bike and was going well in his first two sessions on day one.

But in his third session he suffered a high side and crashed. Luckily, he was unhurt apart from some nasty bruises and the bike escaped with just some cosmetic damage.

The bike was returned to the pit garage where it was repaired and he was sent back out to continue his testing.

Changes were made to the gearing and shock absorbers plus the mapping and he completed the remainder of the testing with no further incident and recorded some much faster lap times.

Tommy Philp was soon on the pace and flying around the track on his Yamaha R6 Supersport spec machine.

He was keeping pace with all the top 600cc British Supersport riders and ended the three-day sessions in a strong position.

Team Manager Bill Philp said: “Tommy is happy with the way the bike handled and is happy with his lap times.

“Aaron lost a bit of confidence after his off but did make some significant improvement.

“With this in mind we are going to Brands Hatch and will take part in the Bemsee club races using the track time as a test session.

“Prior to that the bikes are going on the dyno to get the set-up spot on.”

The new campaign begins in earnest at Donington Park over the Easter weekend where Tommy Philp will be riding in the British Supersport championship and Clarke the National Superstock 600 series.

As well as Donington, Clarke will compete at Brands Hatch (both the Indy and GP tracks), Oulton Park, Snetterton, Knockhill, Thruxton, Cadwell Park and Silverstone over the course of what promises to be an exciting season.