Wilson up to fifth in standings after two sixths at Brands Hatch

Ben Wilson moved up to fifth in the British Supersport Championship rider standings with a pair of sixth-place finishes at Brands Hatch over the weekend.

Free practice and qualifying didn’t quite go to plan and the Kirton racer found himself down in 13th place to start Saturday’s sprint race from a fifth-row grid position.

But as the lights went out Wilson made a fantastic start and was up into sixth by the time they rounded Paddock Hill Bend. He dropped a place to seventh where he remained for the first two laps before moving ahead of Sam Hornsey to take up sixth position.

He ran wide at Druids on lap nine, though, which let Hornsey slip back through leaving Wilson to follow as the three riders just ahead battled it out for fourth place.

However, James Rispoli crashed at Clearways on the final lap – gifting sixth place to the Gearlink Kawasaki rider at the chequered flag.

Wilson started the feature race on Sunday from an improved position in the middle of the third row and moved into sixth place as the lights went out.

On lap nine he passed Rispoli and held fifth position until lap 14, when Rispoli managed to make a move on him.

The 33-year-old Wilson was then overtaken by Danny Webb and Bjorn Estment although next time around he moved back ahead of Webb and maintained his position to the chequered flag to secure sixth place.

Wilson said: “The Brands Hatch Indy circuit is so short and twisty with very few passing places. The pace was awesome with the leaders riding well under lap record pace.

“I was relatively happy to come away from such a competitive circuit with two sixth-place finishes and look forward to the next round to try to better that.”

The next round takes place at Oulton Park in Cheshire over the May Day Bank Holiday of May 2-4.

Wilson now has 40 points after two rounds.

• There was more frustration for Kirton racer Aaron Clarke at Brands Hatch over the weekend.

For the second round running, the ACR Kawasaki rider didn’t manage to qualify for the National Superstock 600 championship race.

Despite Clarke posting lap times far faster than ever before, the short Indy course could only hold 38 riders.

So, although he was well within the required time, the competitive nature of the series meant that he had to sit the race out.

Clarke said: “It was not the weekend I was hoping for. I was improving every session and setting new PB times – until the final qualifying session, when I came off while trying to find that little bit more.”

In a bid to reach the race next time out, Clarke is to take part in the official BSB test at Oulton Park on Friday ahead of the next round of the series at the Cheshire track over the Bank Holiday weekend of May 2-4.