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Motorsport: Hipwell loses ground, brothers on form
HARWORTH race ace Dean Hipwell and the CDH Racing Team suffered disappointment at Snetterton last weekend.
The team took the Atherton Godfrey Yamaha to the fifth round of the British Supersport Cup, but a misfire resulted in a poor result, and Hipwell lost ground in the title race.
Despite a lack of top end power, which has plagued the team over the few races, Hipwell managed to put the Yamaha into second place on the grid for Sunday's race and 19th overall in the main Supersport race.
Of the 26 riders who went out for the second qualifying session on Saturday afternoon, he set the fastest lap time.
After this session, due to the lack of top end power, the team decided to strip the top end of the engine in an attempt to cure the problem.
It was found that the valves and valve seats were worn so they spent the rest of the afternoon and evening lapping in the valves and seats.
By 10.30pm they had managed to rebuild the engine and put it back in the frame to ensure that it would fire up.
At the start of Sunday afternoon's race Hipwell got off the grid well and had picked up three places by the end of the first lap, now first in the Cup and 16th overall.
On lap two he picked up another place overall as one of the leading group crashed out.
He was now at the head of a group of four riders covered by one second, with his two main championship rivals hot in his tyre tracks.
This mid race duel continued for the next three laps, and with a rider in front dropping out Hipwell was in 14th overall and leading Cup race.
Unfortunately, on lap six the engine of the Atherton Godfrey Yamaha developed an intermittent misfire when he was exiting the corners on to the straight sections of the circuit.
He was overtaken by his two championship rivals on this lap and dropped back into third place, with the fourth placed rider hot on his rear wheel.
On the next lap he was duly passed and held this position for the next four laps, but was unable to make any inroads into his position.
Lap nine saw the overall race leader crash out, then on the 11th lap the Cup rider and one of the front runners ran off the circuit, elevating Hipwell to third and 14th in the main race.
On 13th lap of the 20-lap race one of the riders behind him crashed, which stopped the race just as Hipwell was starting to close the gap to second spot.
As the race had run two thirds it was declared a result, leaving the Harworth rider in third place on the podium in the Supersport Cup and 14th overall.
Despite the lack of power and the problem with the intermittent misfire he did set the joint quickest speed on the long Revett Straight, at 159.4 miles per hour.
Hipwell was disappointed and frustrated with this result, which leaves him in second place in the championship but with the gap to first now increased to 11 points.
Afterwards he said: "If it hadn't been for the misfire which slowed me coming out of the corners and not getting up to speed quick enough, I would definitely have finished on the top step of the podium."
The CDH racing team are hoping that by the time they travel to Knockhill they will have the 2008 cylinder head, which they were promised for the previous race, back from the tuners.
With this fitted it will mean that Hipwell will hopefully be able to put up a stronger challenge for the championship.
RACING brothers Sam and Robert Pickering both picked up silverware at Cadwell Park recently.
Seventeen-year-old Sam returned to form after his crash at Elvington, setting the fastest lap in all three Formula 125 races.
He finished second in the first two races and won the third.
This puts him second in the championship.
Brother Robert, 20, started at the back of the grid in all three races, but took the chequered flag in each.
He leads the Forumlua Lite Championship by 12 points.
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Weather for Worksop
Monday 28 May 2012
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Temperature: 12 C to 26 C
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Wind direction: East
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