Kirton racer Aaron Clarke was forced to settle for 17th place at Thruxton over the weekend.
Qualifying in the Superstock 600 race was a fiasco as the riders only completed four laps before the rain began to fall. Although Clarke returned to the pits for a change to wet tyres, the session was soon red flagged and he was unable to improve his position and started the race on Sunday morning from the eighth row.
The draperRACING ace got away to a fantastic start from 23rd place and was up to 17th place on the first lap.
Clarke then overtook James Nagy on lap two, but on lap four the course car came on to the track to enable the recovery of a fallen rider.
Once the car left the track he became embroiled in a battle for position with Cameron Lee which continued throughout the remainder of the race.
Clarke held off a late challenge from Lee on the final lap and held his position to clinch 16th at the flag.
But neither rider had noticed the flag just as the course car came onto the track and were penalised for overtaking under the course car flag and had their finishing positions reduced by one place – which gave Clarke 17th spot.
He said: “I didn’t see the flag until the next sector so we had both overtaken another rider. I have dropped a place but as we were both outside the points it isn’t really an issue for us. Once the car had left the track my tyre was cold and I hadn’t got the confidence to push on.
“But I did have a good race although I was disappointed not to have brought any points back to the team.”
The next round is at Cadwell Park on August 20.
