The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Aaron Clarke continued his purple patch in the Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship with a super second place at Cadwell Park over the weekend.
The Kirton racer, who enjoyed a ding-dong battle with G&S Kawasaki ace Milo Ward, is now third in the rider standings after his 20-point haul at his home circuit.
And, with just three races of the season remaining, the draperRACING star is now only four points off second position.
Clarke was never out of the top four during free practice and qualifying – ensuring that he started the 12-lap race from a front row grid position.
The race was disrupted by two red flag situations for fallen riders and machines.
At the start of the original race Clarke was running in a strong second place until it was stopped on lap six.
At the restart he was once again running in a good second place, but it only lasted for two laps before the red flag came out again.
This time the race was put back an hour as the Stock 1000 race was due to start.
Eventually there was a restart, to be run over five laps, and again Clarke settled into second place.
But on lap two rival Ward made a harsh pass on him, causing him to run on at the chicane.
He re-joined in third place and one lap later regained his second place at Park Corner.
BRILLIANT BATTLE: Aaron Clarke (number five) and Milo Ward (number 41) duelled at Cadwell. Photo by ADRIAN SMITH
Although Ward was very close to him, he was never in a position to pass him and Clarke crossed the finish line for his fourth second place of the current campaign – moving him on to 109 points.
Meanwhile, team-mate Tommy Philp qualified for a sixth row start to the highly competitive British Supersport sprint race on Saturday.
He completed the 11-lap affair in 14th place and picked up two championship points.
Starting the 16-lap feature race on Sunday from the sixth row, it was always going to be a difficult task to get up on terms with the leaders but he gave it his best shot.
As the lights went out Philp settled into 16th place for the first couple of laps before moving up to 15th then 14th.
But on lap five Richard Kerr passed him and he spent the rest of the race in 15th position.
The bonus was that two riders ahead were in a different class and did not score points, ensuring Philp was elevated to 13th place to bag another three championship points.
Added to the two points gained from race one, the five points from Cadwell take his total to 58 and place him 14th in the overall rider standings.
The next round for both championships is at Silverstone on September 7-9.
