Wednesday July 11, 2018 at 1:32pm
The British Motorcycle Racing Club entered the second half of the season under blue skies and glorious sunshine at its annual Brands Hatch GP round, a round that is always hotly anticipated and filled with a party atmosphere, partly thanks to the fact the Bemsee is the only motorcycle racing club that races on the iconic circuit. However, while the event saw some spectacular racing, it was marred by a serious incident in the final Powerbike race of the weekend which saw the remainder of the weekend’s action abandoned. Everyone at the British Motorcycle Racing Club sends their thoughts to the rider’s friends and family at this difficult time. Properly Protected MRO Minitwins The pendulum swung at the top of the Properly Protected MRO Minitwin championship, as Daniel Singleton and Mason Williams fought for supremacy. Singleton arrived for the Brands Hatch summer meeting with a slender three-point lead in the championship, and threw a marker down in qualifying by setting pole. Glynn Davies posted the second quickest time, while championship challenger Williams qualified on the inside of the second row. The championship leader then shot off the line and lead the opening lap of race one, but was passed by Davies on lap two. Davies steadily pulled away to take the win, with Singleton slotting in behind in second place. He would hold the runner up position until the final lap, and looked set to further extend his championship lead, but was passed by Williams before the chequered flag, the MoreMoto Suzuki rider also taking over at the head of the championship by one point. With the podium covered by less than half a second in race two, Singleton was keen to re-assume the championship lead. He and Davies took turns at leading, but Singleton made the move when it counts, and grabbed the lead on the final lap to take the win. Davies also surrendered second place on the final lap to Williams, but Singleton was still able to steal the championship lead, leading the standings by four points. Davies finished third. Race three and there was a new winner in Keith Povah. After Williams and Singleton took turns at leading, Povah took over at the front on the penultimate lap of the race and held on to take victory, while Davies also passed the main championship protagonists to take second. Williams bettered his adversary in the fight for the final podium position, and cut Singleton’s series lead back down to just one point. The final race, however, would see Williams take a relatively huge lead in the championship, as he took the win by just one hundredth of a second, with Povah third. The duo had been battling with Davies throughout, who took third place, but it was a disaster for Singleton, as he crashed out of contention at the halfway stage. It means Williams leads the championship by 24 points. It was another dominant weekend in the Rookie class for Charlie Crawt, as he took maximum points to put his name on the championship trophy nice and early, with two rounds for the class still to go. ACU Team Green Junior Cup and Senior 300 There was no stopping Jamie Kelman in the ACU Team Green Junior and Senior 300, as he raced to four wins from four outings. The Senior 300 championship leader was in dominant form, and converted pole into a win in race one, leading every lap to cross the line some 13 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Behind, however, the battle raged. At the chequered flag, just over two seconds covered the remainder of the top 10 and the positions swapped furiously. In the end it was a last lap overtake from Kai Dickinson that saw him take second, with Damian Rowley third, making it an all Senior 300 podium. Owen Jenner, who held second place early on, crossed the line fourth but took the Junior Cup win. Jenner made improvements in race two, and while he had no answer for Kelman, he pulled away from the battle behind and took a lonely second place and the Junior win. Dickinson was third but by the slimmest of margins, as James Dutton chased him across the line, just five hundredths of a second behind. It became a hat-trick of wins for Kelman in Sunday’s opener, but while Steve Jordan - who finished second - couldn’t quite match his pace, he was close enough to keep Kelman honest. There was another close fight for the final podium spot, with Jenner coming out on top ahead of Dickinson, just six hundredths of a second this time the margin. The clean-sweep was complete after the final race, with Kelman taking off at the front to win by over 10 seconds. But he again left a multi-rider podium battle in his wake. Five riders were covered by half a second as they chopped and changed, but as they crossed the line for the final time Dickinson put himself in a position to take second place, as Jenner claimed third and the Junior Cup win. Steve Jordan Motorcycles BMCRC Thunderbike Extreme Jason Byard’s pace in practice and qualifying was ominous, and he converted it into four wins in the Steve Jordan Motorcycles Thunderbike Extreme to dominate the class over the weekend. He led every lap of race one to take a commanding win, steadily pulling away from the battle behind, and a thrilling battle it was. It was a gap of less than half a second that covered the three riders fighting for just two podium positions. And it was another last lap manoeuvre that sealed it, with Alan Wood passing championship leader Barry Chamberlain, the pair finishing second and third, as David Abraham missed out on the podium in fourth. Byard didn’t have it all his own way in race two, following early leader Abraham for until the halfway point. He made his move on lap four, and pulled out enough of an advantage to take a comfortable win in the end. Abraham was second, as Chamberlain and Wood fought over the final rostrum spot, with the series leader taking the place. Sunday’s first race was another flag-to-flag win for Byard, the May Construction Suzuki rider steadily increasing his lead every lap. Chamberlain was second, while a new competitor joined the fray and diced for the podium; Andrew Saunders finishing third. Saunders was back on the box in the final race, finishing second to the dominant Byard, as another new face made the podium. Richard Willsher came out on top in the three-way battle with Wood and Abraham to take third, with Chamberlain losing touch and crossing the line sixth, just ahead of Matt Hinnells. Steve Jordan Motorcycles BMCRC Thunderbike Sport He arrived at Brands Hatch with a commanding series lead, and despite taking two wins, Steve Topping saw his championship lead reduce to after he failed to finish race three following a coming together with another rider, and could only recover to eighth in the final outing. Topping won both of Saturday’s races, but his victory’s were anything but comfortable. Taking the win in race one, he was only three tenths of a second ahead of Malvern May, while his other championship challenger, Thomas Watson, finished third. His margin of victory wasn’t a great deal bigger in race two, this time as he better Watson by just less than half a second, with May third. May was able to reduce Topping’s championship advantage on the second day of racing, as the table-topper came together with Watson in the early stages of the race, the pair crashing out of contention. However, Topping will be grateful to Edward Watson and Shaun Wallis, as they both finished ahead of May and helped with damage limitation. Coming off the second row of the grid, Topping made a poor start and never fully recovered, coming home in eighth place, while at the front May and Thomas Watson were back on the podium in second and third, the win going to Edward Watson. DFDS Yamaha Past Masters Winning all bar two races so far this season, Peter Branton holds a commanding lead in the DFDS Yamaha Past Masters championship, and despite being bettered to pole position by Doug Edmondson - the winner of one of the two races not won by Branton - he started his weekend off with a winning start. He passed Edmondson on the opening lap and steadily increased his advantage. But he was unable to relax at the front, with Edmondson pressing hard and keeping him honest. Branton took the win though, with Edmondson second as Scott Grant picked up third place. Race two saw Branton again lead from the front, while Edmondson found himself embroiled in a battle with Ben Miles for second. The position swapped between the two, but it was Edmondson who came out on top. It was three from three on Sunday morning, Branton taking a commanding win, this time ahead of Denis Halil and Grant, as Edmondson failed to make the grid. Branton cemented his dominance in the final race, with Miles, Grant, Edmondson, and Reece Guyett filling the spaces from second to fifth, and covered by two seconds at the line. EDIasia Formula 400 After setting a lap time two seconds quicker than anyone else in qualifying, Mark Thompson started the weekend’s racing from pole and looked the man to beat. But it was Chris Burrage who dominated proceedings and took all four wins. He bettered Thompson in race one, with Matthew Scott third. Harry Fowle’s fourth gave him the Sub-64bhp class win, as series leader Andy Gill failed to finish, dropping out on lap four. Another DNF for Gill in race two - failing to complete a lap - turned the championship battle on its head, with Gary Henning - his closest rival - taking another 20 points out of his lead with a second place. Burrage was again victorious, with Thompson third. Fowle, this time fifth, took another Sub-64bhp win. Seton Tuning Kawasaki’s Burrage was the winner in race three, as Henning took more points from Gill, taking another second. Gill did manage to climb as high as fourth, as Thompson took second. Hayden Wood was sixth and leading Sub-64 winner. Burrage won the final race as Gill restored some order to his championship challenge, finishing second. Third was Thompson with Henning fourth. Fowle was again leading Sub-64 category rider in sixth. RKB-F1 & F2 Sidecars Another class of racing that saw dominance from one outfit over the weekend was the RKB-F1 and F2 sidecars, with Ben Holland and Lee Watson taking all four overall race wins and with them four F1 class wins. Win number one came ahead of Sean Reeves and Paul Thomas, the pair taking the F2 win in their Velocity V1 LCR Honda. F1 championship leaders Craig Clarke and Craig Andrew Clarke finished third. The second victory of the weekend for Holland and Watson came ahead of Craig and Craig, as they switched places on the overall podium with Reeves and Thomas, who picked up another F2 win. It was an all-F1 podium in the first of Sunday’s two races, as Holland and Watson picked up win number three. Clarke and Clarke were second but were just half a second ahead of Tony Brown and Alison Lawrence in third. Reeves and Thomas grabbed the F2 spoils in fourth ahead of Marc and Rik Vannieuwenhuyse. Dominance complete in race four, the Holland and Watson pairing finished ahead of Clarke and Clarke, while Reeves and Thomas made it back onto the overall podium in third, taking the F2 class win. Reactive Parts MRO Powerbikes and BG Products Clubman 1000 The pace was electric at the front of the Reactive Parts MRO Powerbikes and BG Clubman 1000 races, and it was series leader and pole-sitter Anthony Johnson who took the win in Saturday’s feature race. Former champion and reigning champion Colin Parker and Joe Morphett were locked in a battle for second after dispensing with Michael O’Brien, who held the position early on. O’Brien would finish fourth. Parker and Morphett were joined in the fight for the runner up spot by Sam Cox, who took over the position in the latter stages, but crashed and brought out the red flags. Second went to Parker with Morphett third. Paul Wilby was the Clubman winner in ninth. In the first of Sunday’s two scheduled races Johnson took another win, as Morphett took second, Parker unable to go with the reigning champion, instead settling for third place on the Global Robots Yamaha. Wilby, again in ninth, was the Clubman winner. Unfortunately the final race was stopped following an incident into Paddock Hill bend. In the L&W Contractors supported Rookie 1000 races championship leader Peter Gunn won the opening race, before Chris Cayford picked up a brace of victories. The final win went to Mark Kendle. Team Respro MRO 600 It was a tale of two riders fighting for supremacy in the Team Respro MRO 600 class, as Chris Burrage and a returning Mark Piper battled for wins. Despite Burrage picking up both wins on Saturday, there was little to choose between the pair. A poor start from pole in race one cost Piper one and a half seconds on lap one, as Burrage pulled away at the front. He recovered ground, but was unable to stop Burrage taking the win, crossing the line less than a second behind the Seton Tuning Yamaha. Third was Clubman winner Philip Baker. It was a Burrage and Piper 1-2 in the second race, this time just three tenths of a second between them. Piper led away from the lights and the opening lap, but was passed by Burrage on lap two. Piper lost ground, the gap between the two opening up to a second, before Piper mounted a late charge. Sadly, he could only come away with second place, as Stuart Wickens claimed third. Baker was the Clubman winner in sixth. He led the opening lap of race three, but, being pressured by Piper, Burrage made a mistake and tipped off on lap two, handing the lead and the win to Piper. Second went to an impressive Conor Wheeler, who also picked up the Clubman win, with Michael Mills in third. Sadly, the final race was abandoned following the incident in the day’s earlier MRO Powerbike race. Report by James Sharpe