Free practice on the Friday and qualifying on the Saturday threw up its fair share of problems resulting in a frustrating time for the team.

During the second free practice session Hipwell was lucky when he lost the front end going into the third bend.

Both rider and machine took to the grass and just stopping short of going back on to the track at the exit of the bend.

Fortunately both rider and machine suffered only minimal damage.

Hipwell eventually managed to qualify on the next to last row on the grid.

This meant that he would be starting in seventh place in the Cup section of the race and 32nd overall.

In changeable but dry conditions, Hipwell did not get away to a good start but with some determined riding and audacious overtaking manoeuvres moved up seven places overall on the first lap.

By the end of lap five he had moved up into fourth place in the Cup and 23rd overall by taking another scalp and with two riders in front crashing out.

However, frustration once again set in as the race progressed. Hipwell's machine started to suffer from mechanical problems which hampered his progress.

By the end of lap nine he had lost a lot of ground and was now in sixth place in the Cup and 28th in the main race before he had worked out that the problem was the gear change quick shift.

At this point he was on the point of pulling out of the race but switched the quick shift off and decided, sensibly, to settle for finishing the race to secure as many championship points as possible.

By the end of the 19th lap, by overtaking the rider in front and with more riders falling by the wayside, the Harworth racer was now back up into 24th place and still maintaining sixth place in the Cup.

Over the remaining three laps he had a brief tussle with the rider he had overtaken on the previous lap, but managed to regain the advantage on the last lap and brought his Atherton Godfrey Yamaha over the line in 23rd overall and sixth in the Supersport Cup.

This result earned him another 10 championship points to maintain his overall third position in the Supersport Cup.