Wednesday September 20, 2017 at 12:36pm
EDIasia Formula 400
Gary Henning’s hopes of catching EDIasia Formula 400 championship leader Andy Gill took a hit over the course of the weekend at Cadwell Park, when he saw the 16 point gap extend to 43 after four races around the spectacular Lincolnshire circuit.
It all started going wrong for Henning in the opening race of the weekend. After a wet qualifying, Henning started from the second row of the grid, with pole set by the impressive rookie, Aiden Patmore. Patmore was joined on the front row by former champion and Dorset Bikes Ltd Kawasaki teammate Steve Palmer, plus championship leader Gill.
However, Henning made a good start and was up to third after lap one, before dropping back to fourth. Unfortunately for him he would climb no higher, ultimately crashing out of contention with two laps remaining.
At the front, Gill led the opening exchanges, but was eventually pushed back to third place, as Palmer hit the front and began pulling away to take victory by over eight seconds. Patmore secured second, with Gill third.
Henning recovered some lost ground in race two, and starting from the front row of the grid after setting the third fastest lap of the opening race, took a valuable podium in third place at the chequered flag, with his main title rival just a second behind him in fourth place.
The win went to Patmore, as he did enough to hold off the challenge from Palmer.
Two Rookie class wins for Patmore gave him the 2017 Rookie 400 championship title, while Jeremy Hill edged his way closer to the Sub-64bhp class crown with two wins, with a sixth and a seventh from the day’s races.
The first of Sunday’s two races started as a four-way fight for the lead, but soon Gill began to pull away at the front, chased by Henning, Patmore, and Palmer. The gaps between the four eventually began to stretch, aided by the impact of back markers, and Gill was able to take the win, with Henning second and Patmore third.
Gill doubled up in the final race, which ended prematurely after the red flags came out for an incident involving Andrew Wilkins. After eight laps Gill was awarded the win, with Patmore second and just a tenth behind. Henning was third, and now trails Gill by 43 points with one round to go.
Hill took another Sub-64 class win in the final race, but a DNF in the first of Sunday’s races allowed Darren Corkett to collect 25 class points on his Jackson and Phillips Honda.
Chilton Motors BMZRC 250
Less than 10 points covered the top three in the BMZRC 250 series going into the final round of the season, with Greg Wright, Chris Kent, and Andrew Wales all set to fight for the title.
And it was Kent who drew first blood, taking the win in race one ahead of Robert Dessoy, with Andrew Wales on the podium in third, as Wright came home in fifth place.
The win saw Kent move into pole position in the championship, with a relatively comfortable lead of 12 points over Wright, with Wales three points back again.
Things got worse for Wright in race two, when a seventh placed finish gave him nine points, while Wales and Kent took 20 and 16 points each in second and third, with the win going to Dessoy. Going into Sunday’s races it meant Kent was still in the driving seat, 11 points to the good ahead of Wales, with Wright now third.
Disaster struck for Wales in the penultimate race of the season, when he failed to finish, just as Wright found some form and finished in second, behind Andy Saunders. Kent’s third meant he still had a 15 point advantage at the very top of the standings, with Wright now back into second place.
It came down to the final race, and drama unfolded when Kent retired at the halfway stage, with Wales also a retirement a lap later. It meant Wright needed to finish on the podium to win the championship.
And he did it in style, taking the win ahead of Chris Rogers and Dessoy, to eventually wrap up the 2017 championship. Kent finished second overall, with Wales third.
ProperlyProtected.co.uk MRO Minitwins
Three wins out of four races for Glynn Davies gave him the 2017 MRO Minitwin championship title, with his nearest adversary, Ryan Folkes, absent from proceedings after injuring himself at Oulton Park.
Davies, who qualified in sixth place, wasted no time in getting to the front of the opening race, and was at the head of pack by the end of lap two. From there he pulled out a gap of nearly three seconds, but a slower last lap, coupled with quick laps from the chasing pairing of Paul Witherington and Chris Kent - who set the fastest lap of the race on the final circulation- saw his lead cut to just half a second at the chequered flag.
The race two victory was a more comfortable affair for the champion-elect, and after stretching out a gap of nearly five seconds on lap one alone, he rode unchallenged to the win. Kent took second on his Moremoto Suzuki, with Jake Packham third.
It was a hat-trick of wins for Davies after the first of Sunday’s two races. Behind however, the battle for the runner-up spot raged. Kent held the position early on, and while chased by Packham, Witherington, and Barry Mantell, he looked to have enough in hand.
However, after the halfway stage, Mantell had taken over second place, but it was short-lived, with Kent back in command. As the chequered flag fell, Davies took his third win, while Packham promoted himself to the head of the battle behind to take second, with Kent third, less than four seconds covering the battle for the final podium spots.
Davies was on course to make it four from four, but dropping out of contention from the lead on the final lap. Tyler Walsh inherited the lead and took the win, with Kent second and Mantell third.
However, the three wins were enough for Davies to be crowned champion, with one round to go and a championship lead of over 100 points.
Charlie Downes took all four wins in the Rookie Minitwin class, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Cameron Harris fro lifting the 2017 Rookie Minitwin title, who took three seconds and a third in class over the weekend on his Harris Performance Suzuki.
RKB-F1 and F2 Sidecars
Victory in the opening RKB-F1 and F2 sidecar race of the weekend at Cadwell Park was enough for Barry James and Jack Tritton to lift this year’s F1 title, while Simon Gilbert and Carl Morgan clinched the F2 championship.
Gilbert and Morgan took the overall pole position in qualifying, but were beaten to the win by the F1 outfit of James and Tritton in race one. Craig and Craig Clarke took second and second in the F1 class, with Gilbert and Morgan the F2 class winners in third.
The top two outfits replicated their results in the second race, but it was Marc and Rik Vannieuwenhuyse claimed third place and the F2 win, with Gilbert and Morgan fourth overall.
With the championship sown up, Gilbert and Morgan swapped their 600 for an F1 outfit for Sunday’s action, but a DNF in race one was not what was in their plans. The win again went to James and Tritton, the pair showing the same form that allowed them to wrap up their championship seven races early. Marc and Rik Vannieuwenhuyse’s second place gave them the F2 win, with F1 duo Martin Kirk and Shelley Smithies third overall.
It was a clean sweep for the newly crowned F1 champions, who won the final race of the weekend in a convincing fashion, with Kirk and Smithies second. The F2 win again went the way of Belgian pairing Mark and Rik Vannieuwenhuyse.
Team Respro MRO 600
It was all change at the top of the Team Respro supported MRO 600 series, as Adam Hartgrove saw his championship lead disappear with David Tinkler taking three wins and a second place to overhaul him at the top of the standings.
Hartgrove, who arrived at Cadwell Park with a 34-point advantage, struggled to a 12th placed finish in race one, while his rival, Tinkler, stormed to victory. Paul Wilby took second and the Clubman win, with Mason Williams third and second in the Clubman class, narrowly fending off Rookie winner Alex Barker.
Tinkler doubled up in Saturday afternoon’s race, with Hartgrove only able to improve to seventh place. There were again two Clubman class riders on the overall podium, with Michael Mills second and Wilby third. The Rookie spoils went to Jon Clark in sixth.
Sunday was a better day for Hartgrove, but while he again improved his result fifth, Tinkler collected another 25 championship points with a race win. But it was a narrow victory, with just half a second covering the top two.
Josh Harvey was second, with Mills third and the Clubman victor. Alex Barker took the Rookie win in 12th.
The final race of the weekend saw Tinkler denied a clean sweep, with Stephen Draper taking a dominant win. However, Tinkler’s second place allowed him to put another four points in Hartgrove, who finished third, with Tinkler now leading the series by 21 points.
Mills in fifth place took the Clubman win, with Clark the Rookie winner, inside the points in 14th overall.
Steve Jordan Motorcycles Thunderbike Extreme
With the championship clinched, Jason Byard was absent from the final round of the Steve Jordan Motorcycles Thunderbike Extreme championship, but the weekend saw the return of Mark Lister to the class.
And it was Lister who took a slender victory in race one, taking the chequered flag less than a tenth of a second ahead of Rookie Carl Tucker, with Matt Hinnells’ Moremoto Aprilia third, as he looks to cement second in the championship.
It was then a Lister-Tucker one-two in the second race, this time with Tony Russo on the podium in third place on his Titan Elevators Suzuki
The first of Sunday’s outings Russo led the way early on, looking to build on Saturday’s podium. However, he was passed by Matthew Wren before crashing out of contention. Wren was then passed by Rookie Tucker, who went on to take the win, with Wren second and Honda-mounted Barry Mantell third.
Lister, who struggled to a 13th placed finish in the first race, was back on form in the final race, taking the win ahead of David Abraham, with Hinnells third. Tucker took another Rookie win in fourth.
Steve Jordan Motorcycles Thunderbike Sport
The Thunderbike Sport class championship winner will be decide at the last round, with Andy Gill still the firm favourite despite seeing his championship lead cut to 55 points.
Steve Topping was the man on form on Saturday, taking a brace of wins, with Gill second on both occasions and Jack Wallis, his nearest championship rival, third.
Topping was challenging at the front of race three on Sunday, dropped out of proceedings in the closing stages and Gill pulled clear to take the win. Wallis was second with Thomas Watson third.
Topping took the chequered flag first in the final race, but was stripped of the win after failing a post-race technical inspection. That handed victory to Wallis, and with Gill failing to make the start of the race, he recovered 25 championship points on his rival.
David May took second, with Ricardo Branco third.
BMCRC Rookie 1000s
The club’s Rookie 1000 class were in action over the weekend, with the results from the four races ensuring the final round will decide the destination of the championship.
However, class leader Alex Penrice will head to Snetterton as the favourite, after taking a brace of wins in Saturday’s two races, while his main rival, James Lyon, struggled in the wet conditions.
Shane Adams took two second place finishes, with Michael Whisker and Andy Groves taking a third placed finish each.
Lyon found his form again on Sunday, and raced to victory in the day’s opener, with Whisker second and Peter Gunn third, as Penrice claimed fourth place.
However, the champion-elect returned to winning ways in race four, taking victory ahead of Groves, with Lyon third.