Third over the line and first in the Towergate National 600s were more newcomers, Fast Past Pits, comprising of Lincolnshire brothers Harry and Matt Truelove on a pair of Yamaha R6s, a lap behind Sweatshop.
Matt will miss this Cadwell round, but brother Harry is busy searching for a replacement.
It was a tough race for Team Edge RST 2, (Michael Brown/Hudson Kennaugh), who was fourth overall and third in the big bike class.
Gary Johnson had crashed on the warm-up, breaking his collar-bone.
Clark stepped in to partner Kennaugh.
The team will miss this Cadwell round, with Michael Brown abroad and Hudson Kennaugh elsewhere.
Team Sorrymate.com (Colin Norris/Warren Verwey) are keen to regain the National 600 title, but their plans were upset at Brands when Colin Norris’ bike would not fire up on the start line left them dead last.
They battled through to finish fifth over the line second in the class, three laps behind Fast Past Pits.
Another new team, AC Racing, made up of Greg Alllsop and Richard Charlton, who were sixth overall.
Charlton, who is better known for his efforts on a 600, but now Honda Fireblade-mounted in this series.
Seton Tuning (Mark Clark/Andy Goddard) are yet another new team for 2015. They finished on the same lap as AC Racing, just under 11 seconds back, fifth in the National 1000 class
Goddard will be replaced by team owner, Phil Seton for Cadwell Park.
Eighth over the line was 2 Allen’s Racing, (Kevin and Roy Allen) at first placed first in the Clubman 1000 class, but moved into the Towergate National 1000 category because of licensing problems
Team Army ran four squads in this opening round of the season.
The licencing problems for 2 Allen’s Racing lifted the Army T1 from second to first in the Clubman 1000 class giving them their first ever win in Hottrax events.
T2 was fourth in National 600, T3 sixth in Clubman 1000 and T4, the 600 rookie team, fourth in the Clubman 600 and first 600 rookie team.
This was Team Army 1’s first Hottrax win.
First Towergate Clubman 600 over the line at Brands was Liquidskinz Hydrographic (Stuart Fitton/Martin Tromans) in 23rd place.
Top Towergate Modern Classics team, not surprisingly, was Team Big Lads (Joe Connolly/Bob Barton).
Top Rookie team was Clubmans 1000 squad, G&M Racing (Robin Green/Mark McIndoe), in 31
st place.
Go Racing Developments qualified third fastest, but decided to start from pit lane while they waited for the big black cloud overhead to go or not.
James McBride crashed after colliding with a slower rider at Druids. The team lost 19 laps as a result, but battled through to finish ninth in the big class.
Larry Halliday and new team mate Phil Guillou, running as Council Racing, could hardly have had a tougher debut.
Phil Guillou, is better known as a top 250 racer and had never raced a four stroke before, other than some laps at Brands on the Triumph 675.. Even so he and Larry Halliday, running as Council had reason to be pleased at finishing third in the Clubman 600 class was a good result.
Reigning Clubman 1000 champions T.Watson Bikes (Rick Dickinson/ Tom Stephens) are aiming for the Towergate National 1000 crown.
The Brands race was one of the toughest the team have ever known.
Stephens had a crash in the Friday practice day and Dickinson then had an electrical problem.
A faulty transponder put them 30th out of 38 on the grid.
Confused pit stops made life difficult then Dickinson machine broke down.
They battled on with just and ended up 15th overall, seventh in class.
Full On Racing had a tough time in practice, with both Terry Fuller’s and John Kilcar’s bikes suffering tyre problems because of the extremely cold track temperature.
Fuller also had to cope with the front forks not working properly
In their first Clubmans 1000 race they clawed their way back from about 30th overall to 18th and sixth in class.
Newly formed team, GRS Racing, made their racing debut at Brands Hatch.
Karl Smith, 27 and Glen Rixon, aged 32, both from Essex, had never raced before and they had a very busy weekend.
In addition to competing in the new Modern Classic class in the Endurance race, they also took part in some sprint races.
Endurance qualifying started off well, with Rixon setting 15
th fastest time.
In the race he started well, knocking seconds off his best lap.
Smith was out next, but after just three laps ended up in the gravel at the bottom of Paddock Hill. He was unhurt and managed to avoid dropping the bike.
They started the final session third, but climbed to finish second in the class behind TBL.
Rixon finished tenth in both of his Pre-Injection/Steel Frame sprint races, while Smith was 18
th in the first Superbike EVO race and 13
th in the second.
2 Fat 2 Tall managed just 14 laps in the Endurance race, before Tom Robinson crashed out, badly hurting his hip.
He will be out of action for some time and Paul O’Connor, better known for his exploits on a 600 at Hottrax events a couple of seasons ago, steps in to join Gaz Evans.
There were plenty of classes at Brands which saw the front runners going unbeaten through the weekend.
Paul Slade grabbed four wins in the Motogrande Pre National 600, ending the weekend 38 ahead of James Parish and 39 clear of Chris Parish.
No-one could stop Dave Wymer in the four Motogrande Powersport Rookie 1000 races.
Those four victories gives him a 31 point advantage over James Young.
Rob Garland left the Kent circuit with eight wins to his credit.
He rattled up four wins in the Modern Classics Supersport Pre-I, ending the weekend 34 in front of Luke Macrae and 35 better than Nick Wainwright.
Garland was in a class of his own in the Lightweight class. Harley Prebble ended on 76 and Corey Wilson on 67.
No one could stop John Bolsover in the Modern Classics Supersport EVO.
He beat Adam Shepherd every time out, to take a 20 point lead to Cadwell.
Mick Ducran holds a 15 point lead over Kevin Clive in the Motogrande Powersport Rookie 600 series after two wins, a second and a third at Brands.
Paul Baleta and Ian Pattinson both won two races in the Modern Classic Superbike class in the opening round, but Baleta also took two second places, while Pattinson managed only two thirds.
Consistency was the word for Joe Connolly in the Modern Classics Superbike EVO class. Two wins, a second place and a third puts him on 86, 27 clear of Raymond Stagg.
Local man Craig Robertson, in his first outing of the year, will be aiming to make amends for last year’s disasters at his home circuit once again running on the CMR Racing built Jacksons Butchers Racing ZX7R. Venturing out onto the grid will be Craig’s dad, Neil Robertson. He will be having his first outing of the season on the CMR Racing-built Compass Auto Centre Kawasaki ZX7R.
It will be the first time he and Craig have ridden together at Cadwell.
Two wins, a second and a third for Paul Barker was enough to give him an early lead in the Motogrande Pre National 1000 championship, 20 points clear of Kevin Allen.
Local youngster Sam Cox holds a comfortable lead in the Motogrande Powersport 600 series, but he is very unlikely to do all the remaining rounds and that will give fresh heart to Jack Bleakley and Gaz Evans, who are at present second and third.
Dan Anderson tops the Formula 400 class on 82 points after notching three wins and a disappointing ninth.
Dan Jefferson is five points adrift.
Reigning champion, Elwyn Fryer, is trailing in third spot, 35 behind Anderson.
Clutch problems ruined his weekend and now Fryer is in a battle to find the funds and the cash to repair the machine.
Jack Harvey won both Formula Two races on the Saturday, gave Sunday a miss, but still tops the points’ table on 50.
Carl Dodwell tops the Formula One series with 70 points, five ahead of Darryl Hodder.
Michael Brown not only misses round two of the Towergate Endurance series, he will relinquish the lead in the Motogrande Powerbike 1000 championship.
Steve Neate, in second place and third placed Rhalf Lo Turco will also be absent, but the line-up promises some great racing.
Dave Hewson, Dan Stewart, Mark Lister and Lee Wilson join Hottrax regulars Christian Holy and Thomas Halifax for this round.
Matthew Lawson, the 2014 Ducati Class A champion, crashed out of the second of his three races at Brands Hatch after being forced on to the grass by a fallen rival.
Dallas Hornblow tops the table on 65.
Scott Wilson leads the battle in Class B on 70.