After seven second and three third places Zoek Racing rider Sean Neary has taken his first victory of the season at Assen in the Netherlands in the penultimate round of the Ducati TriOptions cup on Sunday. Sean has always been known as the nearly man but not anymore as he led the race for the majority of the 10 laps and crossed the finish line with a 0.3 second advantage over Jonny Railton.

Unfortunately his Zoek Racing Teammate Craig Currie suffered a mechanical problem in the first of the two races at Assen and then crashed unhurt out of race two on the first lap.

Qualifying had gone well for Neary who shot through to second place for a front row start to the first race with Currie starting from row four. As the race got underway Neary settled into second place and although he chased down Rob Guiver ahead he was unable to make a pass and crossed the finish line just five hundredths of a second behind him to take yet another second place. He commented: “So close! P2 in today's race 0.05 off the top spot. Well done to Rob he rode a faultless race. Mega thanks to the Zoek Racing Team for all they do and the sponsors that make it possible for us to race. I'm grateful to every single one of you."

Meanwhile Craig Currie was circulating in eighth place for the majority of the laps but encountered a problem with the Zoek Racing Ducati and was forced to pull out on the very last lap.

Starting the second race from the front row in third position Neary took the lead on the first lap. The safety car was deployed for a couple of crashes, one of which included his team mate Craig Currie who was able to walk away uninjured. When the car left the track at the end of lap three Neary continued to hold the lead but was being hunted down by Jonny Railton who fought his way past on lap seven of 10. But Neary was eager to record his first win and fought back to secure the lead on the penultimate lap which he held to the chequered flag to take the victory with an advantage of 0.3s over Railton.

Delighted with his first win Neary said: "it was definitely worth the wait for my first victory. It's my team boss Paul's birthday today and he told me I had to bring it home so that's what I did! A massive thank you to the Zoek Racing team, all my sponsors for sticking by me and everyone who has supported me throughout the season; it's coming good now so hopefully we can keep it up."

Neary remains at third in the rider standings on 239 points with one round - two races - to go. Although it is mathematically possible to win the championship the two leading riders have to not finish either race and Neary to win both so unlikely but not out of the question.

The final round is back on home Tarmac at Brands Hatch over the weekend of October 14-16 when both Zoek Racing riders will be hoping for good results to end their season on a high note.