The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Aaron Clarke recorded his first podium finish in the Superstock 600 class on a good weekend for Draper Racing at Snetterton.
The Kirton race ace was in fine form to land his best ever placing in the class.
And he took a liking to the Snetterton circuit that meant he enjoyed great pace throughout the whole weekend.
Clarke was doing well throughout the weekend and topped the timing sheets in the second free practice session on Friday. He went on to complete his qualifying in third place to start his race on Sunday from a front row grid position.
As the lights went out Clarke was steady away on the first lap, taking his time to get the tyres warmed up.
On lap four he moved from sixth to fourth when he passed Ward and Irwin and moved into the top three one lap later when he passed Sheldon-Shaw.
PODIUM FINISH: Aaron Clarke recorded his first Superstock 600 class podium finish at Snetterton last weekend. Pictures courtesy of Dave Yeomans.
He maintained second place and when the safety car came onto the track was able to catch up with the leader, Ryan Vickers.
When the car left the track on lap eight of 12 Clarke was right on his tail with just 0.2s separating the pair.
With one lap remaining Clarke snatched the lead but Vickers fought back to take the lead over the line.
On the final lap the pair exchanged places again but the race was red flagged and results taken back to places on lap nine with Clarke awarded second place.
With the 20 points awarded for second place Clarke moves up the rider standings to sixth on 50 points just one away from the top five.
His teammate Tommy Philp also enjoyed a strong qualifying and started his sprint race on Saturday from the third row.
He moved up to fifth place on the opening lap but the safety car put paid to his progress for a while.
Once the car left the track on lap four Philp continued to maintain his fifth place until Ross Twyman and Brad
Jones overhauled him on lap eight of 10.
He could perhaps have passed them again but for a red flag on the final lap and he was awarded seventh place and picked up nine championship points.
Starting the 15 lap Feature race from the second row Philp got away to a good start and settled into fifth place.
When Ben Currie retired to the pits Philp was promoted to fourth place and maintained his position to lap 10 when he ran wide which allowed Twyman to slip past him.
Philp remained in fifth place to the chequered flag to pick up a further 11 championship points which bring his total to 52 and place him eighth in the rider standings.
The next round is at Knockhill in Scotland over the weekend of July 6-8 when both riders will be seeking more top results to boost their points tally.
