Wednesday April 1, 2015 at 12:58pm
Team Respro MRO 600s
Matt Truelove got his season off to a flying start in the Team Respro MRO 600 series, taking a brace of wins, a second and a fourth from the opening round at Brands Hatch.
Truelove started his weekend the right way, qualifying on pole on his Yamaha R6, while former BMCRC Rookie 600 champion and Clubman 600 champion James Puttrell put his R. H. Logisitics Yamaha in the middle of the front row. Tom Dean qualified third and made it an all Yamaha front row.
However, a poor start saw Truelove down in fourth place at the end of the first lap, but he worked his way into second by the end of the first circulation and hit the front a lap later. From there he was never headed, and went on to win by 2.8 seconds.
The battle for second was a far closer affair, with Tommy Philp and Chris Burrage, who came through from fifth and sixth on the grid, split by just one hundredth of a second at the flag. The pair spent the race vying for position, along with Puttrell and Joe Goggins, who finished fourth and fifth.
Martin Turner finished sixth, before a six-rider train crossed the line in the battle for top Clubman honours. Olly Savage took the class win in seventh on the Validus-IVC Ltd Kawasaki ZX-6R, ahead of Joe Morphett, with Stephen Draper and David Wake third and fourth in class respectively, and rounding out the top 10.
Truelove made it two from two after Saturday's second encounter, again coming through after a mediocre start to take victory by over three seconds. It was another hard fought battle behind for second place, this tie between Burrage and Puttrell.
Burrage crossed the line two tenths of a second ahead of the reigning Clubman 600 champion, who put the pressure on for the full 12 laps, but was never in a position to make a move. Philp, Goggins and Turner again filled the remaining top six places, with the battle for seventh also the battle for 25 Clubman points.
Those points went the way of Draper, ahead of Harry Truelove and Paul Gallaway, with race one Clubman winner Savage in 10th.
After two dry races on Saturday, Sunday saw the arrival of rain which shook up the order for the day's two races.
Philp took victory in race one on the Berkshire Motorcycles Ltd Yamaha R6, ahead of Matt Truelove, with the pair disappearing at the front of the field.
Taking the flag some 18 seconds after Truelove had crossed the line was Goggins in third ahead of Draper in fourth, who took the Clubman win. Fifth went the way of Harry Truelove who also claimed second Clubman, with Shane Smith sixth and Grant Newstead seventh and third Clubman. James Puttrell, Olly Savage and David Shelvey completed the top 10.
Matt Truelove looked set to return to winning ways in the final race of the weekend and make it a hat-trick of victories, crossing the line a second ahead of Goggins. However, a 10-second penalty for a start line infringement saw him demoted to fourth in the final classification, handing Goggins the victory after Philp crashed out on the second lap after storming into the lead.
Less than a second covered the podium in the end, as Smith took his first podium finish of the season with second, followed Harry Truelove in third, who also took the win in the Clubman class.
Christopher Beck and Savage completed the Clubman podium in fifth and sixth overall, ahead of Wake, Donald Gilbert, Shelvey and Tom Smith.
In the BMCRC Rookie 600 class Dominic Pettit was dominant, taking three wins from four, and finishing second in the other. Steve Cornwall took two seconds on Saturday, while Mick Whalley and Jay Matthews shared the bottom step of podium.
Benjamin Cotgrove took the other win over the weekend ahead of Pettit and Barry Chamberlain, before Pettit took the win in the final race with Cornwall again second. Simon Bastable finished third.
MRO Powerbikes
Jesse Trayler took both wins on Saturday in the MRO Powerbikes class, but with the youngster not scoring points in the championship, Rob McNealy was 25 points in race one after finishing second while Baker took them points in race two. Baker finished third in the opening salvo with Colin Parker on the podium in race two.
Mark Sykes took a brace of Clubman wins while Ramone Durrani and John Coughlan took a second and a third apiece.
Colin Parker took both victories in Sunday's rain-soaked affair, the first ahead of Michael Honey and Daryl Dance, before Dance took second in race two ahead of Stephen Murphy.
Ross Barnes took the Clubman win in his first race on a 1000, finishing 5th. Sykes and Coughlan completed the podium in race one, before Coughlan claimed a Clubman class win in race two, ahead of Andrew Burke and Will Dalton.
In the BMCRC Rookie 1000s Tim Cornwall took all four wins aboard his Suzuki GSX-R1000. James Chorlton finished second twice on Saturday, first ahead of Rodney Haclin and then Shane Herbert.
Cornwall's first win on Sunday came as over a third of the field dropped from contention. Shane Young and Eiren Longwill were second and third in the first race, before Haclin returned to the podium in the final race in second place, with Young third.
BMCRC F1 & F2 Sidecars
Four different outfits stood atop the overall podium in the BMCRC F1 and F2 sidecar races, including two F2 pairings on Sunday, with the Bemsee sidecar grid again full thanks to the support of Roger Body and the RKB-F1 sponsorship of the series.
The first round attracted a string of British F1 teams looking for track time ahead of the first round at Donington Park British Superbikes, and it was Tony Brown and Sam Christie who took the spoils in the opening race of the season with a comfortable win over Bemsee runners Gary Smith and Ryan Anderson. The podium was completed by the British F2 pairing of Sean Reeves and Mark Wilkes.
Reeves and Wilkes were again the lead F2 outfit in the second race, finishing third overall at the chequered flag. The win went to Smith and Anderson, with British F1 team Brian Gray and Jon Allum second.
Sunday's races were both won by F2 duos, the first going the way of Belgian crew Marc and Rik Vannieuwenhuyse, the second to Reeves and Wilkes.
Brown and Christie were second in the first race and lead F1, Brian Ilaria and Lee Saunders third and second F2.
The Vannieuwenhuyse pairing took second in the final race behind Reeves and Wilkes, while Ilaria with Steve Lacey in the chair finished third and completed an all-F2 podium. Brown and Christie were the leading F1 outfit, finishing seventh.
MRO Minitwins
The MRO Minitwins has developed a reputation as one of the hardest fought and closest series around, and it was evident at the opening round, even if it didn't get off to the brightest of starts.
A start-line incident in the opening race involving Dan Couzens, Kevin Lilley and Vincent Lewin brought out the red flags. Riders were tended to by medical personnel, and while a number of injuries were sustained, all will make a full recovery.
In the re-started race Mason Williams took a narrow win, two tenths ahead of Paul Wilby with Richard Goode third. Wilby and Williams reversed positions for race two, with Goode again third.
Sunday's podiums repeated Saturday's, despite the rain. First Williams beat Wilby and Goode to the chequered flag, before Wilby took his second win to tie Williams on points, with Goode again third.
Byron Kirk dominated the Rookie Minitwin races, taking all four wins and 100 championship points.
EDIasia Formula 400s
Chris Burrage took a brace of victories in the EDIasia Formula 400 class, getting the better of Dan Ruth in both of Saturday's encounters, the pair locked together throughout both 12-lap races. Former BMZRC 250 champion Andrew Saunders and Mathew Scott took a third place finished each while Carl Johnstone and Andrew Wilkins took a win apiece in the Sub-64 class.
In the wet conditions that arrived for Sunday's races, Dan Ruth took his first victory of the season, storming to the win in race one, setting a best lap time two seconds quicker than Alex Furniss in second and Andrew Gill in third.
As conditions improved for the final race, Saunders took his first win with Ruth a lonely second and Mark Thompson an even lonelier third. Keith Povah and Oliver Fooks claimed a Sub-64 class win each, while Matty Whelan was unassailable in the Rookie class, taking all four wins.
FreshDrop BMZRC 250s
Mark Taylor and Peter Woodall picked up where they left off last season in the FreshDrop BMZRC 250 series, the pair scrapping all the way to the flag in both of Saturday's races. Taylor took the win on both occasions with Woodall second. Former champion Chris Rogers finished third in the opening race before Christopher Kent rounded out the podium in the second race.
Taylor and Woodall were again first and second in Sunday's opener as Rogers came home in a lonely third place, before reigning champion Taylor completed his dominant display and took the win in race four.
Just two tenths separated second and third, with Joe Baldry racing to an impressive second place ahead of Rogers. with Woodall dropping from contention on the last lap.