Wednesday June 20, 2018 at 10:09am
The fifth round of the British Motorcycle Racing Club’s season took us to the halfway point in the year, and took place around the flowing ribbon of asphalt that makes up Leicestershire’s Donington Park. And despite a family of ducks briefly stopping play as it crossed the track, the racing was enough to make a splash. EDIasia Formula 400 Andy Gill came into Donington Park with an unblemished record in the EDIasia Formula 400 series, winning every race so far in 2018, and kicked off his weekend in similar fashion by topping qualifying, before going on to win Saturday’s race by over six seconds. The order at the front of the field changed little, with Mark Taylor slotting into second and Gary Henning dropping in behind early on, and holding station to the chequered flag. Harry Fowle on a Team ELP Kawasaki took the Sub-64bhp class win in fifth. In Sunday’s opener though, Gill’s winning run came to and end, with Henning putting on a late-race charge to steal victory by two tenths of a second. Gill led from the start, and pulled what looked a comfortable lead at the front, leaving Henning and Taylor to squabble over second. Taylor was the early adopter of second place, but Henning was soon past and looking at chasing down the race leader. However, it proved no easy feat, and it wasn’t until the closing stages he made inroads into Gill’s lead. Starting the last lap it was down to under a second, with Henning snatching the position to take his first win of the season. Gill held onto second, with Taylor third on a Longhove Contracts Kawasaki. Fowle was again fifth and the leading Sub-64 class rider. The final race again went to Henning, as he clawed back some championship points on Gill, passing the serie leader on the penultimate lap. Gill took another second place with Taylor third, as Fowle took another Sub-64 win in sixth. James Seath took all three Rookie 400 wins available over the weekend, scoring championship points in every race with two 13th placed finishes and a 15th. Team Respro MRO 600 It may have been Sam Smith who set the pace in qualifying for the Team Respro MRO 600 class, but Ben Wotton was the man to beat in the weekend’s three races, taking a hat-trick of victories on his JJR Triumph and RJS Services Daytona 675. His first victory didn’t come easily, however, as the Clubman rider (he also notched all three Clubman wins over the weekend) was forced to battle it out with pole-sitter Smith. Smith led the early laps, but surrendered the position to Wotton on lap three. Not to give in, he sat in the Triumph’s wheel tracks onboard his own GBM Kawasaki ZX-6R, and re-passed for the lead on the penultimate lap. However, Wotton was back in front on the final lap to take the win, with Smith second and Harry Rowlings - also Triumph-mounted - third. In an effort to overturn his race one defeat, Smith again grabbed the lead as the lights went out for race two. Pulling half a second on lap one, he extended his advantage to one and a half seconds on lap two. Behind, Wotton was settling into his rhythm. Taking nearly a second out of Smith’s lead on lap three, he moved into the lead of the race a lap later and began pulling out a comfortable advantage to take the win by four and a half seconds. Smith held onto second with Ed Pead third, heading a quartet of riders battle for the final podium position. At the chequered flag just over half a second covered all four riders. It was three-from-three for Wotton in the final race, after a barn-storming start to the last race of the weekend. Michael Mills shot off the line on his A51 Racing Yamaha to take the lead, only to surrender it to Harry Rowlings a lap later. Mills would go on to crash out of the race in the closing stages after dropping down to fifth place, while Rowlings’ lead would last only two laps before he was passed by Wotton and Smith. Rowlings was passed a lap later by Pead, who then moved from third to second on the penultimate lap, as Wotton pulled away just enough at the front. Wotton bagged his third win as Pead held off Smith for second. Max Morgan took three Rookie 600 wins. RKB F1 & F2 Sidecars Of the three RKB F1 and F2 sidecar races over the weekend at Donington Park, two of the overall wins went to the F2 pairing of Sean Reeves and Johnny Allum on their LCR Honda. The duo took the win in race one ahead of fellow F2 pairing of Lee Crawford and Scott Hardie, the margin of victory just two tenths of a second. Third, and the F1 class win, went to Craig Clarke and Craig Andrew Clarke. Race two and Sunday’s opener again went to Reeves and Allum, with Marc and Rik Vannieuwenhuyse second on another F2 outfit, some 30 seconds back. Another 30 seconds adrift were F1 winners and third placed finishers Jon Bicknell and Peter Ensor. The final sidecar race of the weekend ended with an all F1 podium, as Clarke and Clarke took the overall on their Windle Suzuki after a titanic last lap. Marc and Rik Vannieuwenhuyse started the final circulation in the lead, with Clarke and Clarke only fourth across the line. Bicknell and Ensor held second, with Kevin Hunt and Alan Cracknell third. But it was all change just one minute and 20 seconds later, with the Vannieuwenhuyse pairing dropping to fourth - although they still bagged the F2 win - as Clarke and Clarke climbed up to the race lead when it counted. Webb and Byrne finished second, with Nick Webb and Paddy Byrne picking up places to take the final spot on the podium, as Hunt and Cracknell dropped to fifth, and second of the F2s across the line. Reactive Parts MRO Powerbikes and BG Products Clubman 1000 After qualifying on pole position, Prime Factors Racing’s Michael Neeves raced his BMW S1000RR to victory in race one, leading every lap along the way. The win came ahead of former champion Peter Baker on his Kawasaki ZX-10R, while Clubman 1000 championship contender Aidan Patmore finished third and the class win. Race two saw three different riders take turns at leading the way, with Patmore charging to the front on lap one, before being passed by Neeves as the race approached the halfway stage. Neeves led for three laps, but relinquished the lead to Baker in the closing stages. However, he kept him in his sights, and was ready to launch an assault on the last lap into the Esses. Unfortunately the pair tangled with a backmarker, and while Baker went on to win, Neeves dropped to sixth place, handing second to Patmore as Jason Byard picked up third place. Race three ended with the podium positions covered by half a second, as Baker took another win, with Ryan Gibson taking his first podium of the weekend in second on the JMC Suzuki GSX-R1000. Patmore made it three Clubman wins with another podium in third. Daniel Johnson claimed all three Rookie 1000 wins. Steve Jordan Motorcycles BMCRC Thunderbike Extreme Alan Wood took two wins from the three races in the Steve Jordan Motorcycles Thunderbike Extreme class, but it was Rookie sensation Darren Conneely who got everyone talking. Conneely took the overall pole, before racing to victory in the opening encounter, taking the win by over three seconds. Second and third place were split by just a tenth of a second, with championship protagonists Matt Hinnells and Barry Chamberlain completing the podium. Wood, who finished fourth in race one, would go on to take victory in both of Sunday’s races, as Conneely crashed out of second place in the day’s opener. Ross McClurg picked up the position, David Abraham and Hinnells, who took more points out of Chamberlain in fourth place. The Rookie win went to Samuel Smyth in 14th. Wood’s second win came ahead of Chamberlain, who reversed the damage done by finishing behind Hinnells in the weekend’s earlier races. Hinnells finished in sixth place, as Abraham completed the podium. Rookie spoils went to Robert Breen in 12th. Steve Jordan Motorcycles BMCRC Thunderbike Sport In the Thunderbike Sport class Steve Topping came into the weekend with a healthy 110 point lead, but couldn’t trouble the podium at Donington Park, taking two fifths, and an unfortunate DNF. Alan Harland was the man to beat around the Leicestershire circuit, setting pole and taking three wins. His first came ahead of Thomas Watson and James Caswell, with Shane Beasley the Rookie winner. He then bettered Mason Williams in race two, with Caswell again third, before finishing ahead of Watson again in the third race, with Mark Williams standing on the bottom step of the podium. Beasley took another two Rookie wins in Sunday’s races. Chilton Motors BMZRC 250 Three different riders stood on the top step of the podium in the BMZRC 250 races at Donington Park, with Chris Kent, Mark Taylor, and Christopher Rogers all tasting victory. There wasn’t a lot between them, either. Kent was the victor first time out, but by just four thousandths of a second at the line. Rogers was second, with Taylor third. Race two and it was championship leader Taylor taking the spoils, a relatively big margin of victory after race one, crossing the line three tenths of a second ahead of Kent, himself just a tenth ahead of Rogers.
In the final race of the weekend the trio were grouped together again, this time with Rogers taking the win after a last lap pass on Kent, four hundredths of a second this time the winning margin. Taylor claimed third. DFDS Yamaha Past Masters Five points is all that DFDS Yamaha Past Masters championship leader Pete Branton had dropped all year heading to Donington Park weekend, and was coming into the weekend after winning all four races at Snetterton last time out. He set pole in qualifying, but suffered another blemish on his record in the opening race, when he beaten by Neil Macqueen. He finished second, with Matt Barber third, while the Clubman win went to Andrew Burscough in seventh. Branton, however, returned to winning ways on Sunday, notching up two further wins to increase his championship advantage. Edmondson was second and Barber third in the day’s first race, before Macqueen made it back onto the podium in the final race, taking third with Edmondson again second. Douglas Beacock and Burscough took a Clubman win each. ProperlyProtected MRO Minitwins The class renowned for its close and exciting racing again failed to disappoint at Donington Park. Nine riders crossed the line within three seconds of each other at the end of race one, as Michael Yates took a debut win after going from fourth to the lead all on the final lap. Keith Povah, who led much of the race, was relegated to second, with Jake Povah third. Race two followed a similar pattern, this time with the top seven covered by two seconds. Mason Williams, Daniel Singleton, and Mark Williams all took turns at leading, but it was Singleton who emerged victorious and clawed back valuable championship points from series leader Mason Williams. Williams took second, however, with Jake Packham bettering Mark Williams to third. A second victory for Singleton in race three saw him take a slender championship lead, with rival Mason Williams taking the chequered flag in fourth place. Keith Povah was second, with Yates third. Charlie Crawt took three Rookie Minitwin victories. Team Green Junior Cup and Senior 300 Kai Dickinson and Jamie Kelman shared the wins in the Team Green Cup races, with Dickinson taking the plaudits in race one, before Kelman doubled up in Sunday’s races. Dickinson beat Kelman by less than a tenth of a second to take victory, as Charlie Stone rounded out the podium, making it an all-Senior 300 affair. The leading Junior rider was Owen Jenner in sixth. Positions were reversed in race two, as Kelman bested Dickinson for the win, as Jenner climbed the overall podium in third place as the leading Junior competitor. It was again Kelman and Dickinson in race three, with Damian Rowley third. Jenner’s sixth again handed him the Junior win. Report by James Sharpe