Monday October 12, 2015 at 1:37pm
Team Respro MRO 600s
Joe Goggins was crowned the Team Respro MRO 600 champion at the weekend, taking the title with a round to spare.
Goggins arrived at Brands with a 113-point lead over his nearest challenger, Stephen Draper, and was full of confidence after his hat-trick of victories last time out at Cadwell Park.
The champion-elect started the weekend strongly too, qualifying on pole ahead of an impressive Mark Piper and Chris Burrage, with Draper heading up the second row.
But it was Burrage who took the win in Saturday’s 14-lap encounter. After sitting in second place for the opening laps behind Goggins, Burrage hit the front on lap three, and slowly eeked out his advantage over Goggins.
The would-be champion remained in touch with Burrage, but was just giving up a couple of tenths of a second a lap, and eventually crossed the line in second place, the gap at the chequered flag nearly three seconds as Burrage took the win.
Joe Morphett crossed the line in third place after just fending off Draper, the difference between the pair less than four hundredths of a second. It handed Morphett the Clubman class win while Draper took second in the Clubman class. Mark Piper took fifth place but claimed third in the Clubman classification.
Sunday’s opening race saw six riders battling for the win, with two seconds covering all half a dozen of them at the end of the 12-lap race.
Burrage and Draper did battle for the race lead in the opening laps, the duo gaining and then relinquishing the advantage in the first half of the race. Burrage was eventually able to pull a small but insurmountable gap over the chasing pack and took his second win of the weekend, albeit by less than a second.
Unfortunately for Draper he found himself the attentions of the queuing riders behind. He held off the challenges for much of the race but on the last lap surrendered two positions to drop out of the top three, crossing the line in fourth place.
The podium places went to Grant Newstead and Mark Piper, the gap between them just four hundredths of a second. Newstead and Piper also took the class win and second place respectively in the Clubman class while Draper claimed third in class.
Championship leader Goggins crossed the line in fifth place ahead of Morphett.
Goggins made it onto the podium in the final race of the weekend and claimed the championship win after finishing ahead of Draper. But it was Burrage who stole the limelight with his third win of the weekend. Leading from the front for the duration of the race, he completed his hat-trick, despite Goggins pursuing him for the full 12 laps.
Goggins crossed the line three tenths back in second place, with Draper third and leading Clubman rider. It also handed Draper the 2015 Clubman 600 championship crown with a round to go.
Mark Piper and Olly Savage completed the Clubman podium in fourth and fifth.
Dominic Pettit will have to wait until Snetterton to claim the BMCRC Rookie 600 championship crown.
Pettit arrived at Brands Hatch with a 90-point lead over Ben Cotgrove. And after three races around the Indy circuit he managed to extend it to 94 points, with 100 still to play for at the final round at Snetterton.
Cotgrove stole five points back on Pettit in the opening race, as a tenth split them at the line for first and second, with Thomas Eustace third.
However, Pettit recovered those five points in Sunday’s opening race, taking the Rookie race win with Cotgrove second and Eustace again third.
The final race of the weekend saw Jamie Tibble take the class win, but Pettit managed to extend his championship lead by four points, crossing the line in second place ahead of Cotgrove in third.
DFDS Seaways Yamaha Past Masters
Matt Barber’s dominance in this year’s DFDS Seaways Yamaha Past Masters championship finally culminated in a championship win, the former class Rookie champion taking the gong with a round to spare.
Barber qualified on pole for the first race, and looked like he was on course to take the win. However he was slowly reeled in by Doug Edmondson, and then Rik Ballerini and Graham Higlett.
In the end he finished fourth, while the win went to Ballerini, with Higlett second and Edmondson third. The Clubman spoils went to Sacha Gyte, with Scott Grant the Rookie winner.
The second race of the day was a held over race from Silverstone earlier in the season, which did see Barber on the top step of the podium, flanked by Higlett and Edmondson. Gyte was again the Clubman class winner and Grant the Rookie winner.
Sunday’s action saw Barber take another victory, as he won the race for the Danny Whalin memorial trophy. He was joined on the podium by Ballerini and Edmondson, before Ballerini took the win in the final race of the weekend, with new champion Barber second and Higlett third.
Gyte and Paul Whitby took a Clubman win apiece, but it was Gyte who claimed this year’s Clubman championship crown, while Giles Harwood took a brace of Rookie class victories.
Steve Jordan BMCRC Thunderbike Extreme
With Seb Kelly already crowned 2015 Thunderbike Extreme champion, he sat out of proceedings to focus on the ePayMe MRO Powerbike races.
That left Matt Last and Dave Shelvey to battle it out for second in the championship, the pair arriving at Brands Hatch level on points.
And it was Last who gave himself the edge going into the final round at Snetterton, taking all three wins with Shelvey second on each ocassion.
Daniel Stuart was third in the opening race, before Rookie Josh Harvey took two excellent thirds to add to his fourth in race one, handing him the Rookie class lead ahead of the final round.
Steve Jordan BMCRC Thunderbike Sport
Emma Jarman clinched the Thunderbike Sport championship crown at Brands Hatch, doing it the right way with a win in the final race.
However, Jarman, who has impressed with constantly improving performances this season, had to wait until the final race to step onto the podium, after a brace of fourth placed finishes in the weekend’s other two races.
Ryan Folkes and Mason Williams crossed the line just three hundredths of a second apart in race one, with Kurtis Butler third.
Butler then went on to win the second race, with Williams again second and Adam Jamison third.
Jarman took her win in the final race, with a three tenth of a second advantage over Butler at the flag with Jamison third.
Jake Packham took all three Rookie class wins.
Kawasaki Junior Cup & Senior 300s
36 points was the gap separating Kawasaki Junior Cup series leader Alex Murley and nearest challenger Harry Rowlings as they arrived at Brands Hatch, and it remained the same after a weekend’s racing.
The duo took a brace of wins and second place finishes apiece from the four races, and the championship will be decided at Snetterton.
The winner of the Senior 300 championship however was confirmed at Brands, with Carl Mitchell taking another three wins and a second place in class in what has been an impressive season.
The other Senior class win went to Andy Smith, who took 25 points in the race held over from Silverstone with sixth overall.
With Murley and Rowlings sharing the top step of the overall podium all weekend, James Alderson took four third place finishes overall and in the Junior classification also.
EDIasia Formula 400s
Chris Burrage qualified on pole for the final round of the EDIasia Formula 400 championship, but saw hopes of victory in the opening race dashed after he dropped out of contention on lap three.
That handed victory to 2015 champion Dan Ruth, with Mark Thompson second and Graham Higlett third.
The fight for Sub-64 championship honours was still alive and well however. Adam Green surrendered his series lead with a DNF in race one, while third in the championship Carl Johnstone took the class win to close in on Keith Povah, who sits second in the standings.
On Sunday Burrage showed his class and came from the back of the grid to take victory in the first of the day’s races, before also winning the final race of the season. Ruth and Emma Jarman were second and third on both occasions.
In the Sub-64 class it was getting tight, as Johnstone took another class win in race two with Povah and Green second and third in class.
It came down to the final race and despite Johnstone taking the class win, Povah’s third in class was enough to seal the title, as Green took second in class but was unable to overhaul the points deficit he created for himself with his opening race DNF.
2015 Rookie 400 champion Matty Whelan was absent from proceedings, with the championship all wrapped up.
Scott Grant, Tham Evans, and Nick Cooper took a class win apiece.
ePayMe MRO Powerbikes
Peter Baker was unable to wrap up another ePayMe MRO Powerbike championship, but after the weekend’s results at Brands Hatch he takes a 71-point lead to Snetterton with 100 up for grabs.
Baker finished on the podium in all three of the weekend’s races, with a third and two seconds. Daryl Dance took two wins with Seb Kelly taking a second and a win and John Butler taking two thirds.
It all meant that Baker’s nearest challenger, Colin Parker, surrendered 24 points in the championship, taking two fifths and a sixth.
In the Clubman class however, the championship was done and dusted, with Mark Sykes taking the title.
Sykes took a best finish in class of second, with Ramone Durrani taking all three Clubman wins.
Shane Herbert was also crowned Rookie 1000 champion with one round to spare.
Freshdrop BMZRC 250s
The battle for the BMZRC 250 crown will go down to the final round at Snetterton, with Mark Taylor taking a 49 point lead into the season finale.
His nearest challenger, Peter Woodall, started the weekend the right way, taking the race win in the opening encounter, and benefited from Chris Rogers finishing second, bumping Taylor to third.
However, Taylor swung the pendulum back in his favour on Sunday, taking both race wins with Woodall second on both ocassions.
Greg Wright took a brace of third placed finishes.
RKB-F1 / BMCRC F2 Sidecars
Gary Smith and Ryan Anderson were already crowned 2015 RKB-F1 Sidecar champions, but that didn’t stop them putting on a dominant display to take all three wins.
Jon Bicknell and Andy Haynes took second on Saturday’s race, crossing the line ahead of the leading F2 outfit of Sean Reeves and Mark Wilkes.
Reeves and Wilkes then went on to take second in both of Sunday’s races and the F2 class win, crossing the line ahead of Matt Dix and Shaun Parker on both ocassions.
The F2 championship fight will go to the final round, between Marc and Rik Vannieuwenhuyse and Simon and Tom Christie.