MOTORSPORT: Second place for Phillips at Donington

Lisburn Motorcycle ace, Carl Phillips, arrived at Donington Park in Derbyshire after a fine fourth place at Oulton Park just one week ago in the National Superstock 600 Championship.
Carl Phillips.Carl Phillips.
Carl Phillips.

Phillips started the season well with two race wins and two podium finishes before a run of technical problems with his Kawasaki ZX-6R race bike saw his Championship lead slip and he now trails Jordan Weaving by 16 points in the standings.

The local rider was hoping his result at Oulton Park signalled a change in fortune for the penultimate round before the season finale at Brand’s Hatch in three weeks.

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Phillips completed just three laps in Friday morning practise with heavy rain spoiling any chance to work on bike set up. For the first of two Qualifying sessions very few changes were made to the bike and Phillip finished 7th quickest.

In cloudy and dry conditions, and after minor changes to the gearing, the Lisburn ace improved his lap times to earn third quickest in final qualifying and would start on the front row of the grid.

At the start of what was to prove a dramatic race, Phillip was off the line well before the safety car was deployed after an incident on the first lap. Once the race restarted, a titanic battle ensued with Lewis Rollo leading the field ahead of Weaving and Phillip.

On lap 4, Rollo crashed out leaving Weaving and Carl as the two frontrunners with the local riders earning a highly creditable second placed finish.

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The win leaves Weaving leading the Championship by 21 points but with 25 points still available for a race win, the battle is set to continue to the last Round at Brands Hatch on October 16th.

Follow Carl and the Teams progress on Twitter @carlphillips32 and on Facebook Carl Phillips Racing.

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