Thursday April 6, 2017 at 11:27am
Properly Protected MRO Minitwins
After taking three wins from four races at the opening round at Brands Hatch, Glynn Davies was again the man to beat in the MRO Minitwins at round two at Cadwell Park.
The championship leader took three victories at the glorious Lincolnshire circuit, and was arguably only denied a clean sweep after crashing out on the opening lap of the final race with his closest rival over the course of the weekend, Ryan Folkes.
Folkes came the closest all weekend to stopping Davies’ dominance, but he could do no more than shadow the early title favourite.
In race one Davies led the way from start to finish, slowly gapping Folkes until he held an advantage of over one and half seconds before taking the chequered flag. Third went to James Larter.
In race two Davies held second place on the opening lap as Larter charged through to take the lead. Davies made the pass on lap two, before Larter crashed out a lap later, handing second place to Folkes.
However, Davies was already away at the front, and Folkes could do nothing but be ready to pounce on a mistake that never came, instead taking another 20 championship points and second place. Paul Witherington crossed the line in third place.
Davies made it three wins from three starts by taking the win in Sunday’s opening race, again leading from the front as the chasing pack could only do their best to keep in view. Folkes posted his fastest lap of the race on the final circulation to narrow the gap to only one and half seconds, but Davies had enough in hand to take his third win of the weekend and sixth of the season.
Folkes bagged another second place, while Larter secured another third place finish after passing Daniel Singleton with three laps to go.
In the final race a coming together between Davies and Folkes on the opening lap prevented either of them from making the finish, and allowed Larter and Singleton to battle it out for the race win.
Singleton led the way in the opening stages, holding a safe advantage over Larter, before the Sublime Designs Suzuki rider began chipping away, diminishing Singleton’s lead, eventually overhauling him at the halfway stage.
From there he put the hammer down, and pulled out a lead of over four seconds to take the win. Singleton held onto second, but led a quartet of riders across the line in the battle for the remaining podium positions. Witherington was the second of those four riders across the line, taking third overall.
In the Rookie Minitwins class Charlie Downes took three victories to put himself back into title contention, but a crash in the final outing handed the win to Ludo Forrer, his first of the season in a class that has already seen four different race winners.
Team Green Junior Cup & Senior 300
The opening round of the season showed that the Team Green Junior Cup and Senior 300 series was going to provide some of this year’s most exciting racing, and the class lived up to that promise at Cadwell Park for the second round of racing.
Three different winners stood atop the podium over the course of the weekend, with Scott Ogden, who arrived at the Lincolnshire venue leading the junior championship, taking victory in the opening race.
Charlie Farrer crossed the line in second place, after he and race-winner Ogden had chopped and changed at the front for the entire race, the difference between the two championship protagonists just over half a second at the line. After leading the race on lap one, Ben Hawes’ eventual lonely third place ride still gave him the Senior class win.
Race two saw Farrer go one better, taking both the win and with it the Junior championship lead, with Ogden finishing in third place, missing out on second by less than a tenth of a second to Joe Holdsworth, who pipped him to the line. Ben Hawes doubled up with another Senior 300 win, holding off Michael Stone to take another 25 championship points.
Hawes added another Senior win to his name in Sunday’s opening race, taking the overall victory by a slender seven hundredths of a second from Ogden. After leading the opening half of the race, Farrer eventually slipped back behind Hawes and Ogden to finish third.
He re-installed himself as the championship leader in the final race, however, taking a commanding victory after hitting the front on lap two and never surrendering his lead. Ogden bagged another second place to keep himself well in the hunt, while Hawes completed his dominant performance in the Senior category, taking third place overall and the class win.
EDIasia Formula 400
The Formula 400 series - again in partnership with long-term championship sponsor, EDIasia - got its season underway at Cadwell Park, and it was former champion Richie Welsh who qualified on pole for the first round of the season. The Yamaha FZR400 rider then followed it up with two victories, winning both of Saturday’s races.
After holding third place in the opening stages of race one, Welsh moved into second place with two laps to go, before hitting the front on the penultimate lap to take the win by half a second ahead of Gary Henning and Andrew Gill. Aidan Patmore’s seventh place gave him the Rookie 400 win, with eighth placed Daniel Moss picking up the Sub-64bhp class win.
Welsh made the break earlier in race two, hitting the front on lap three before pulling out a comfortable lead of over four seconds. Gill was back on the podium in second, with Mark Thompson third. Patmore finished in fifth place, despite a 10 second penalty for a jump start, to take another Rookie 400 win. Jeremy Hill took the Sub-64 win in sixth.
In Sunday’s first race Gary Henning took the win, but Patmore’s performance was the talking point of the race, the Rookie racing to a podium finish in second place, just three tenths off a second off the victory. Gill completed the podium in third, with Hill again the leading Sub-64 rider in fifth.
Henning doubled up in the final race, adding another 25 championship points to his tally to leave Cadwell with the series lead, as he bettered Gill for the win, with Patmore again on the overall podium in third, and with another Rookie win looks to be the man to beat to that championship crown.
Hayden Wood took the Sub-64 win in fifth place, as Hill failed to finish.
BG Products MRO Powerbikes
Colin Parker arrived at Cadwell Park for round two of the BG Products MRO Powerbikes championship with the series lead, coming off the back of a dominant weekend at Brands Hatch that saw him take all three wins.
However, he couldn’t match the pace set by Phil Crowe around the ‘mini Nürburgring’, with the BMW S1000RR-mounted rider taking a hat-trick of victories.
Parker managed to bag a brace of second places, finishing runner-up in Saturday’s feature race before taking second in Sunday’s opening race. Joe Morphett finished in third place in Saturday’s race, before Michael O’Brien rounded out the podium in race two. Barry Chamberlain was the leading Clubman rider in the first two races to launch himself into title contention.
Crowe took another dominant win in the final race, while Parker crashed out of contention on the opening lap. That allowed Baker to put himself back in title contention, the former champion finally getting himself onto the podium in second place, after a fifth and a fourth placed finish from the first two races.
Michael O’Brien claimed another podium finish in third, while Parker’s teammate, Kyle O’Donovan, took the Clubman win on his Global Robots Yamaha.
Chilton Motors BMZRC 250 MZs
Cadwell Park hosted the first round of the Chilton Motors BMZRC 250 MZ series, and saw Greg Wright take a brace of victories, while Chris Kent and Andrew Wales secured a win apiece.
Wright qualified on pole, and led the opening stages of race one, before he was passed by former champion Chris Rogers. However, unfortunately for Rogers, he dropped out of contention on the penultimate lap of the race.
Gary Howlett had moved into second place, but Wright was able to make a last lap move stick to take the win, with Howlett second. Chris Kent completed the podium in third.
The second race started with Wright leading the way, but he was passed by Kent at the halfway stage. From there he slowly gapped the race one winner to take victory. Wright finished second, with Wales third after a battle with Chris Dowling.
Sunday’s opening race was a race of attrition, with only 12 riders making it to the finish. Wright and Dowling were among the non-finishers, with Wright exiting proceedings on lap two from the lead. That gave Andrew Wales the lead, and he was never headed as he took the win. Kent was second with Gary Howlett third.
Starting from 18th on the grid in the final race, Wright came through to take a commanding win, finishing ahead of Wales and Kent.
Steve Jordan Motorcycles Thunderbike Extreme
Jason Byard assumed the lead of the Steve Jordan Motorcycles Thunderbike Extreme championship with a hat-trick of victories on his May Construction Suzuki at Cadwell Park, despite failing a post-race technical inspection that disqualified him from the results of Sunday’s opening race.
Byard won the weekend’s opening race ahead of Daniel Lawlor, after passing the fellow Suzuki-mounted rider on the second lap of the race. After taking the race lead he was never headed, and with the win passed Dave Shelvey for the championship lead, with Shelvey absent from the weekend’s action.
Byard then won the weekend’s second race, again from Lawlor, although this time Lawlor held off the series leader until the closing stages. Matt Hinnells finished in third place in both of Saturday’s encounters.
With Byard’s DQ from the first race on Sunday, Lawlor took the win ahead of Hinnells, with Aprilia-mounted Rookie, Carl Tucker on the podium in third.
Coming from the back of grid, Byard made it onto the podium in second place in the final race, with Lawlor picking up another victory. Byard made the pass for second on Hinnells, who crashed out a lap later and ended the race early. David Abraham was credited with third place.
Steve Jordan Motorcycles Thunderbike Sport
The second round of the BMCRC’s Thunderbike Sport championship provided some of the weekend’s closest racing, starting with Jack Wallis putting a relatively mediocre weekend at Brands Hatch behind him to win the first race of the weekend, his first victory of the season.
He was the third rider to take a turn at leading the first race, and did so when it mattered to take the chequered flag just over a second ahead of Andrew Gill. Meanwhile, Tony Coe bettered Keith Povah by two tenths of a second in the battle that became the fight for the final podium spot, as Paul Witherington crashed out of second place on lap five.
Witherington recovered in race two, however, coming from the third row of the grid to take victory by less than a second ahead of Wallis. The fight for third was again settled by a narrow margin, just a tenth of a second splitting Povah and Malvern May.
After being removed from the results for failing a post-race technical inspection, Gill returned with a point to prove in Sunday’s first race to take the win, finishing ahead of Witherington and Wallis. He then won the final race, with Wallis second and May third.
DFDS Yamaha Past Masters
Anthony Johnson dominated the opening round of the DFDS Yamaha Past Masters series at Brands Hatch, and further extended his series lead with three wins at Cadwell Park.
His weekend started with a third place in race one, after the first attempt to run the race was red-flagged. Re-started in wet conditions, Andy Davies broke away from the rest of the field to take a commanding win ahead of Scott Grant, with Johnson third.
Johnson returned to dominant form for the three remaining races of the weekend, winning Saturday’s second race by over 20 seconds from Grant and Davies. He then won both of Sunday’s races beating Davies and Grant in race one, before finishing ahead of Doug Edmondson and Grant in the final race.
Lee Huff took a trio of wins in the Clubman class, with a best finish of eighth in race one. The other class win went to Steve Redhead in race two, as he crossed the line in the points 13th place. Alan Wood and Douglas Beacock shared the Rookie spoils, with two wins apiece.
RKB-F1 and BMCRC F2 Sidecars
Barry James and Jack Tritton won three out of the four RKB-F1 and F2 sidecar races around Cadwell Park, the Difuria Contractors Kawasaki LCR pairing extending their series lead.
The duo won the weekend’s first race by a whopping 25 seconds, finishing ahead of Todd Ellis and Charlie Richardson, also in an F1 machine. The final podium position was filled by the DDM Sidecar Suzuki outfit of Sean Reeves and Tom Christie, the pair taking the F2 class win.
Race two again saw James and Tritton on the top step of the rostrum, with Ellis and Richardson also repeating their second placed result from race one. The F2 win went to Ryan Crowe and Harry Payne, as they finished third overall.
Sunday’s first race saw a repeat of race two’s podium, before Ellis and Richardson took victory in the final race of the weekend, from F2 victors Crowe and Payne. The final podium position and F2 class runner up spot went to Simon Gilbert and Carl Morgan.