Frustration for Hipwell as he fails to finish Thruxton races

Needing Friday and Saturday’s free practice and qualifying sessions to set up the Triumph 675 at Thruxton, the CDH Racing rider could only gain 23rd position on the grid for the sprint race.

But heavy rain hit the Hampshire circuit on Saturday afternoon and despite the best efforts of the organisers standing water on the circuit forced them to abandon any further action that day.

The race was rescheduled for Sunday morning, which gave Hipwell and the CDH team time to work on the front end handling, which he was still not happy with.

On a dry track Hipwell got off to a good start picking up three places by the end of the first lap.

He held this position on the second lap as he closed the gap to the machine in front.

Disaster struck on the third lap as he went into the fast right hander of Cambell’s corner.

Rob Guiver behind him misjudged his braking zone and caught Hipwell’s rear wheel, knocking him off.

Fortunately there was little damage to the Globalnet Triumph and Hipwell walked away with severe bruising.

This misfortune meant he would have to start from 24th for the afternoon’s main race.

But luck was to abandon him again as knocking from the front end suspension forced him to slow down, and eventually retire at the end of the sixth lap.

The CDH Racing team now have three weeks to sort out the problem before the next outing at Oulton Park in early May.