The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Aaron Clarke collected two solid finishes at round ten of the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship over the weekend.
Kirton racer Clarke managed to claim 19th and 20th place finishes at Oulton Park as his return to the highly-competitive class continued.
He completed his qualifying in 23rd place and began the first race on Saturday from an eighth row grid position.
Clarke was challenging for position within a large group of riders, dropping as far as 24th mid-race. But he gradually made up ground and by lap ten of 12 had moved up to 20th position.
Too far behind the next rider to make a pass he was forced to settle for 20th place – just a few places away from the points.
Starting the second encounter from the ninth row, Clarke got away to a good start, making up places to 24th on the first lap.
He went on to secure 21st place on lap two and was up to 20th one lap later.
When the safety car came onto the track mid-race to allow marshals to clear a crash, he was promoted to 19th and remained in that position all the way to the chequered flag.
A philosophical Clarke had plenty of positives to take from the weekend, but admits that he’s not quite where he wants to be.
He said: “We changed the suspension settings after the first race which did make a difference for me.
“I also recorded a new personal best lap time in the second race so although we are still a few places away from the points we are moving forward.
“Thank you for the support from my sponsors and also friends and family who came along this week to cheer me on, it was really appreciated.”
The next round for Clarke is at Donington Park on October 4-6.
