Bemsee Put on a Show at Brands Hatch

ACU Team Green Championship

Charlie Farrer may have inched closer to the 2017 Team Green Championship title at the penultimate round at Brands Hatch, but he left the Kentish circuit crowned the Team Green Junior cup winner.

 

The youngster took three wins to extend his advantage over Ben Hawes - who was already crowned the 2017 Senior 300 champion - in the main championship, but with a round to go he sealed the Junior Cup title.

 

Farrer qualified on pole and won both of Saturday’s races. He led every lap of the opening encounter, with Hawes doing his best to control the damage, taking second place to keep himself in touch. Third went to Joe Holdsworth, who was second in the Junior class.

 

It was another Charlie Farrer masterclass in race two, after he again led every lap to further extend his championship leads. However, the battle for the podium went down to the line, with just a tenth of a second covering the three riders fighting for the two remaining spots.

 

In the end, Harry Fowle finished in the runner-up spot, with Joey Lambden in third and Holdsworth in fourth. Hawes found himself holding off Jamie Kelman to take fifth, but, nonetheless, was the Senior 300 winner.

 

On Sunday, Hawes recovered ground in the day’s opener, and after sitting behind Farrer on lap one, he hit the front a lap later and began to pull a gap over the chasing field. In fact, he was never headed, and went on to win from Holdsworth and Fowle, with Farrer shuffled back to fourth place.

 

However, Farrer returned to winning ways in the final race of the weekend to all-but secure the 2017 overall championship and wrap up the Junior Cup. He again led every lap but was by no means dominant, and was pushed to the line by Holdsworth, who claimed second overall and second Junior, while Hawes took third.

 

Team Respro MRO 600

A crash in the opening race of the Brands Hatch Indy circuit for David Tinkler in the Team Respro MRO 600s allowed championship leader Adam Hartgrove to extend his series lead by another 21 points, doubling his advantage at the top of the table.

 

The victor of that opening race was Chris Burrage on the Seton Tuning Yamaha R6, with Clubman Paul Wilby second as he stretched his Clubman championship lead. Third was Hartgrove, after Tinkler crashed out of fourth on lap two.

 

Race two also went the way of Burrage, as he and Hartgrove fought it out at the front. Hartgrove would eventually take second place on his Technical Lifting Services Yamaha, ahead of Clubman winner Mason Williams.

 

Williams headed a four-rider train to the final podium spot, narrowly escaping the clutches of a recovering Tinkler, who salvaged fourth.

 

After giving away points to Hartgrove on Saturday, Tinkler recovered some ground on Sunday, but he had no answer to Burrage, who chalked up win number three in the day’s first race, leading from start to finish.

 

Tinkler took second, just three tenths of a second ahead of Hartgrove in third, stealing back four championship points. Paul Wilby’s fifth gave him the Clubman win.

 

Burrage made it a clean-sweep in race four, taking another commanding win. Tinkler was again second, ahead of Hayden Platton in third on his NR Racing Kawasaki. Hartgrove was fourth and Wilby again fifth and Clubman class winner.

 

Burrage also lifted the AMC trophy as the Champion of Brands, which is run over the club’s three meetings at the Kent circuit. The mini-series is aimed at Powerbikes and MRO 600s.

 

It went right down to the wire between Burrage  and Powerbike’s Joe Morphett. Burrage needed just a first or second place in the last 600 race on Sunday to secure the title, and a clearly emotional Burrage, who had long craved the chance to win the series, was awarded the trophy immediately after his race on the start-finish straight.

 

Charlie Patterson recovered 20 points on Rookie 600 series leader Tom Newman, winning all four races with Newman second each time. With two rounds to go, Newman will need to return to winning ways if he is to see his name engraved on the trophy at the end of the year.

 

BG Products MRO Powerbikes

Joe Morphett wrapped up the BG Products MRO Powerbike title in dominant fashion and with a round to spare at Brands Hatch, qualifying on pole and winning all three races.

 

Starting from pole, Morphett slotted into second place on the opening lap of race one, but soon made a move for the lead, passing Michael O’Brien - the early race leader - on lap three. From there he began to pull a gap at the front, eventually taking the chequered flag five and a half seconds to the good. O’Brien took second, with Peter Baker third.

 

The Clubman win went to Kyle O’Donovan in fifth onboard his Global Robots Yamaha R1.

 

O’Brien again led the way from the start of race two, holding the position until lap five, when Morphett found a way past to take the lead. In a similar fashion to race one, he began to pull away, securing himself a gap of four seconds to take his second win of the weekend.

 

Baker also passed O’Brien to take second, with O’Brien third, as Clubman honours went to Barry Chamberlain in fifth.

 

It was a dominant display from Morphett in the final race to secure a maiden Powerbike title, the Lid365.com Yamaha rider leading from start-to-finish to also completed a dominant weekend. Baker was again second ahead of O’Brien, but some 17 seconds covered the podium.

 

The Clubman spoils went to David Shoubridge in fifth, as he came out on top of the Ducati duel for the final spot in the top five, beating Josh Wainwright.

 

In the weekend’s four Rookie 1000 races Michael Whisker took a brace of victories, with Daniel Laviada Hernandez and championship leader Alex Penrice taking a win apiece.

 

Steve Jordan Motorcycles Thunderbike Extreme

The penultimate round of this year’s Steve Jordan Motorcycles-sponsored Thunderbike Extreme championship saw Jason Byard crowned champion, the May Construction Suzuki rider taking two wins and second from the weekend’s three races.

 

The fourth and final race was postponed, and will carry over to the final round, but Byard has done enough to ensure he collects this year’s gong.

 

After qualifying second quickest, with pole set by Dave Shelvey on his ymark.com Suzuki, Byard won both of Saturday’s races. He bettered Shelvey on both occasions, with Tony Russo and Denzil Davies taking a third placed finish each.

 

Despite the hard work being done, he was pushing for the win in the final race, crossing the line less than a tenth of a second behind winner Shelvey, with Russo again third.

 

DFDS Yamaha Past Masters

Arriving at Brands Hatch having won a whopping 17 races this season, and finishing on the podium in every race he finished, it was only a formality that Anthony Johnson be crowned the 2017 DFDS Yamaha Past Masters champion.

 

And he wrapped it up in style, adding another four wins to his championship tally, the Bexhill Gearboxes-backed rider proving he has been in a class of one all season.

 

Scott Grant and Matt Barber joined him on the podium in race one, with Michael Stanley’s eighth giving him the Clubman win. Grant and Barber were again second and third in race to, split by just six hundredths of a second in the end, while Stanley’s 10th place gave him another Clubman victory.

 

Barber improved to second in race two, after a crash for Grant on the final lap resulted in a broken collarbone saw him drop out of third place. That meant the six-rider battle for fourth became the fight for the final spot on the podium, with Ben Miles claiming the position by a tenth of a second.

 

Johnson’s searing pace saw him take a fourth win, with former champion Barber second and Doug Edmondson third. Andrew Burscough and Peter Branton took a Clubman win each.

 

RKB-F1 Motorsport F1 and F2 Sidecars

Barry James and Jack Tritton all-but secured themselves the 2017 F1 sidecar  championship, the duo needing just six points with two rounds to go.

 

Pole position in qualifying was converted into four race wins over the weekend for the pairing, the Difuria Contractors LCR Kawasaki pairing untouchable around the Brands Hatch circuit.

 

Race one’s win came ahead of Ian Guy and Jed Pilmoor Brady, with Andy Peach and Bonita Gray taking third place. The F2 win went to Marc and Rik Vannieuwenhuyse in seventh place overall.

 

Race two became a far closer affair that it perhaps needed to be, with James and Tritton out front with a comfortable margin. However, a slower final circulation of the race - after encountering a back-marker - allowed Guy and Pilmoor Brady to close right in, and push them all the way to the line. However, ultimately, James and Tritton held them off to take a second win.

 

Third went to Craig and Craig Clarke, with the F2 spoils again going to the Vannieuwenhuyse pairing.

 

Clarke and Clarke were back on the podium in race three, this time in second place, but over half a minute down on the race winners James and Tritton, while Marc and Rik Vannieuwenhuyse bagged another F2 win and overall podium finish in third.

 

The final race of the weekend was again won by James and Tritton with the Clarkes in second, as Jon Bicknell and Kevin Gale took the final podium spot. In the F2 class Marc and Rik Vannieuwenhuyse also made it four from four.

 

EDIasia Formula 400

Things tightened right up in the EDIasia Formula 400s, with Gary Henning taking three wins and a second to reduce Andy Gill’s series lead to just 16 points with two rounds to go.

 

Gill qualified on pole, but could only muster a fifth in race one, as Henning led Rookie class winner Aiden Patmore across the line to take the win. Third went to Mathew Scott with Jeremy Hill’s sixth giving him the Sub-64bhp class win.

 

It was a repeat podium in race two with Henning again leading Patmore across the line, the Rookie winner just half a second off the overall victory. Gill improved to fourth. Hill was fifth and Sub-64 winner.

 

It became a hat-trick for Henning in Sunday’s opening race, as Patmore came closer to that win, now just two tenths away, with Gill also in the hunt for the race win in third place, less than a second off Henning’s winning time. Hill also made it a hat-trick of Sub-64 class wins in sixth.

 

Patmore finally took a race win for his efforts in the final race, with Henning second and Scott third, but it was disaster for Gill, who crashed out of contention and watched his championship lead diminish. Hill completed his perfect weekend with another class win.