Wilcox hangs on to second place at Croft

Starting in pole position, Wilcox was unusually slow off the mark and had dropped back to fifth after the first lap.

He gradually worked his way up to third and improved his standing on lap 11 when the second-placed rider suffered engine failure and dropped out.

Wilcox had a comfortable three-and-a-half-second lead over the third-placed rider but his machine seemed to lack the power to catch the leader as he dropped further behind as the race progressed.

Over the next four laps the third-placed rider gradually whittled this gap down but could not overhaul Wilcox before the finish line.

Wilcox now stands in third place in the championship, but with only three more races left he is running out of time to overhaul his two rivals.

Wilcox is 75 points behind the leader and it would require him win all the remaining races without his rival scoring to draw level.

Second spot looks to be his best chance but even then it would need the rider currently lying second to encounter major problems in the run-in.

Bentley based TJW Racing’s Aaron Walker, who started in 13th place, failed to improve on 13th spot in the British Supersport Championship when he finished 10th.