Hipwell 12th at Oulton Park

The Harworth rider was still trying to get to grips with the set-up of his bike, after four years riding Yamahas.

A different front tyre seemed to improve his handling as he qualified in 20th from Sunday morning’s session.

In the afternoon’s sprint race he took the chequered flag in 18th, and so started Monday’s main race from 20th on the grid.

A good start saw Hipwell move into 17th by lap three, and on lap nine he was up into 14th.

Passing another Triumph and getting ahead of a pack of three riders, Hipwell gained and held onto 12th position until the end of the race.

A team spokesman said: “After the frustrations and disappointments of the previous two rounds the CDH Racing team and Dean are more than happy with this result and are looking forward to more improvement as we getused to the Triumph.”