Thursday April 30, 2015 at 10:31am
After taking three thirds and a second at the opening round of the season, Richard Goode took his first win at Snetterton for the second round of the MRO Minitwin series, before going on to dominate the weekend and take all four victories.
Wet qualifying on Saturday morning saw Goode on the second row of the grid for the opening race, with Paul Wilby, Matt Last and Mason Williams on the front row.
After the opening lap however, Goode was already up to second, just three hundredths of a second off Wilby, who led the way. It set the tone for entire race, the pair scrapping away at the front until the chequered flag, with Goode crossing the line by just three hundredths of a second ahead of Wilby.
Joe Buxton, who qualified on the third row of the grid in seventh, came through to finish third, seven tenths back of the Goode and Wilby.
Front row starter Williams crossed the line in fourth ahead of Kurtis Butler in fifth, with Matt Last and Steven Topping sixth and seventh respectively. The returning Charlie King came out second best in the battle for eighth with Byron Kirk, with Steve Costin completing the top 10.
Saturday’s second race was a far more straightforward affair for Goode. After starting from pole, Goode built up a gap of nearly one and a half seconds on the opening lap, and stretched it to two seconds by the end of the race, taking his second win of the weekend.
Behind, Buxton and Wilby fought over second place, which went the way of Buxton at the flag. Williams and King also enjoyed a close-run battle for fourth, with Williams the victor.
Last bettered Kirk and Topping in the three-way dice for sixth place, with Butler and Richard Hickling ninth and 10th.
Goode’s domination continued on Sunday, with the WPS Ltd sponsored rider taking the win by and even greater margin. Starting from pole again, Goode was the only rider under the 2:05 lap time, eventually cruising to victory with a gap of nearly five seconds.
What started as a three-rider battle for second eventually saw King eek out an advantage over Williams and Wilby, and take his first podium of the season with a fine second place. Two seconds further back Williams and Wilby went at it until the last lap for third.
Williams, who found himself in second in the early stages, dropped back to third and then fourth by the midway stage. However, he mounted a last lap assault on Wilby, taking third place by just two tenths of a second at the chequered flag.
Fifth to eighth place in the final classification were split by just over a second after a race-long dice typical of the classes reputation for some of the closest club racing in the country.
Fifth was decided on the last lap and went to Butler with Kirk just half a second back. Hickling was three tenths behind as they crossed the line, while Last missed out on seventh by three thousands of a second. Ryan Folkes and Tyler Walsh rounded out the top 10.
The final race of the weekend completed Goode’s rout and handed him the championship lead. However, he was pushed all the way to the line by King and Wilby, with less than a second between them.
Goode crossed the line in the lead of every lap, as King and Wilby likely cost themselves time by fighting over second place. Goode crossed the line to start the last lap with a 1.3 second lead. But such was King’s determination, he more than halved the deficit on the final lap, setting the fastest lap of the race - and the weekend – in the process.
Sadly for him he couldn’t ruin Goode’s perfect weekend, taking second place with Wilby eight hundredths of a second back in third.
Williams was third, before Butler came out on top in the fight for fifth, ahead of Kirk and Hickling. Folkes took an excellent eight place, with Walsh ninth and Barry Mantell sneaking into the top 10.
Goode takes a nine-point series lead to Silverstone for the third round of the championship, with Wilby second and Williams third, 10 points off second place.
In the Rookie Minitwin races it looked as though another clean-sweep was on the cards, as Thomas Eustace stormed to both of Saturday’s race wins, first by more than five seconds and then by four and a half seconds.
However, a first lap crash in Sunday’s opener allowed Jack Packham to take the win, before Eustace returned to winning ways in the final race, coming from the back of the grid to take victory by four and a half seconds.
EDIasia Formula 400s
Dan Ruth extended his EDIasia Formula 400 series lead at the second round at Snetterton, taking three wins and a second place. Andy Saunders, who arrived second in the championship, lost ground on Ruth after a big crash early in the weekend meant he was unable to get out on track until Sunday’s action.
Ruth took both wins on Saturday, the first in the wet, with Emma Jarman taking a brace of second places. Mark Thompson and Andrew Gill took a third place finish each.
On Sunday, Ruth took his third win of the weekend with Saunders and Gill second and third in race one. Saunders clawed back five points on Ruth in race two, taking the win by nearly eight seconds. Ruth was second and Gill third.
In the sub-64 class Dave Harviek took two class wins on Saturday after an excellent qualifying that saw him on the overall Formula 400 front row. Keith Povah took both class wins on Sunday with a best of 10th overall.
In the Rookie 400 class Matty Whelan took three of the four available wins, finishing second in the other as Nick Cooper took the win.
Freshdrop BMZRC 250s
Mark Taylor, who took all four wins at the opening round at Brands Hatch, extended his Freshdrop BMZRC 250 series lead at the second round at Snetterton, taking another three wins. He finished on the podium in third in the second race of the weekend.
Former champion Chris Rogers finished second in the opening race with Peter Woodall third. Woodall was again on the podium in race two, finishing second behind Christopher Kent, with Taylor third.
Sunday’s opener was another win for Taylor. However, the podium was split by less than a second as Rogers finished second with Woodall third.
It was another tense battle for the win in the final encounter of the weekend, with Rogers again second to Taylor, just three tenths of a second between them at the flag. Woodall was again third.
MRO Powerbikes
Peter Baker took maximum points in the second MRO Powerbike championship round at Snetterton, Adding four wins to the two he scored at the opening round.
Such was Baker’s dominance in the opening race, it was hard to see anyone else troubling him all weekend. He crossed the line nearly 10 seconds ahead of the chasing pack, which saw four riders battling it out for second place.
Daniel Cooper came out on top and crossed the line runner-up, with Colin Parker, Steve Heneghan and John Butler less than a second behind him.
Ramone Durrani was the leading Clubman by two tenths of a second, with Jack Croucher ninth and second Clubman. John Coughlan was third in class.
Baker’s dominance in race one did not set the tone for the rest of the weekend however. In race two, Cooper was just half a second back at the flag, setting a quicker lap time along the way to second place. Heneghan finished third.
Mark Sykes, Durrani and Croucher stood on the Clubman podium in sixth, seventh and eighth overall.
Cooper continued to challenge Baker on Sunday, however Kawasaki-mounted veteran Baker took both wins, with Cooper two tenths of a second back on each occasion in second. Heneghan and Butler took a third place finish apiece.
Sykes, Durrani and Croucher stood on the Clubman podium in race one on Sunday, with Croucher, Durrani and Coughlan on the rostrum in race two.
James Chorlton took the opening Rookie 1000 class win, before Shane Herbert doubled up in Saturday’s second race and Sunday’s opener, with Tim Cornwall taking the other available win in the final race.
Team Respro MRO 600s
Tommy Philp and John Lea shared the spoils in the Team Respro MRO 600 championship, the pair taking a brace of wins each over the weekend.
Philp took both wins on Saturday, the first ahead of an impressive Grant Newstead, who finished second and was the leading Clubman rider, and Shane Smith.
Philp’s second victory came ahead of Lea with Harry Truelove third and the leading Clubman runner.
On Sunday Lea took the win in the opening race, with Harry Truelove bettering his brother Matt, the pair second and third and Harry leading Clubman.
Philp, who finished eighth in Sunday’s opener, recovered in the final race to take second, with Lea again taking the race win and Joe Goggins third. The Clubman win went to Harry Truelove in sixth.
In the Rookie 600 class series leader Dominic Pettit crashed out of the lead in the opening race, allowing Benjamin Cotgrove to take the win. However, Pettit was back in action in race two, and came from the back of the grid to take the win. He also went on to take victory in both of Sunday’s races.
James Puttrell was absent from proceedings after being involved in an accident at the second British Superbike round at Brands Hatch, and the thoughts of everyone at the British Motorcycle Racing Club are with him and everyone wishes him a speedy recovery.
Thunderbike Extreme
With so many entries to the Thunderbike Extreme class, the usual shared grid with the Thunderbike Sport class made way for two separate races.
Suzuki-mouted David Shelvey took both wins on Saturday, the first from Denzil Davies with Ben Doolan third. Saturday’s second race win came ahead of Seb Kelly on the Go Racing Developments Suzuki, with Davies third.
Kelly went one better in race one on Sunday, with Shelvey half a second back in second and Davies third, before the same riders stood on the podium in the same order in the final race.
Thunderbike Sport
Martin Cooper took the opening win in the Thunderbike Sport races, finishing ahead of Emma Jarman and Byron Kirk. Kirk then went on to take victory in the weekend’s three remaining races.
Kirk’s win on Saturday came ahead of another excellent podium for Jarman, with Cooper a whopping 22 seconds further down the road in third.
Kirk did the double on Sunday with Cooper and Jarman again on the podium after a close run battle for second in race one. Jarman was on the podium again in the final race, finishing second Andrew Gill on the podium in third.
DFDS Seaways Yamaha Past Masters
It was the opening round of the season for the DFDS Seaways Yamaha Past Masters at Snetterton, and it was a horrible start to the season for reigning champion Graham Higlett.
Higlett finished second in the opening race to series newcomer Neil MacQueen, with Pete Moore coming across the line in third.
However, the second race was red-flagged when Higlett high-sided at the final corner. MacQueen went on to win the restart with Matt Barber and Andy Davies second and third.
MacQueen won race three after Higlett was then forced to retire with mechanical issues, with Barber again on the podium in second and Doug Edmondson third.
But it was Barber who took victory in the final race, crossing the line six seconds ahead of Edmondson with Moore on the podium in third.
Kawasaki Junior Cup and Senior 300s
Harry Rowlings and Alex Murley split the wins in the Kawasaki Junior Cup series.
Rowlings took victory in races one and two, with James Alderson and Murely second and third on both occasions.
Murely then took the remaining wins, with Rowlings second and Alderson third in both races.
In the Senior 300 series Carl Mitchell took all four race wins and leads the championship with maximum points.