BMCRC - Round 02 - Silverstone National

Just days before the British Superbike Championship rolls into town for the final preseason test of 2022, the British Motorcycle Racing Club braved the cold conditions and took to the Silverstone National circuit for the second round of the season.

ACU Team Green Junior Cup and Senior Ninja Series

A grid populated with a load of youngsters looking to make the step to BSB one day is the ACU Team Green Junior Cup and Senior Ninja Series, one of which is Lennon Docherty, who arrived at the Northamptonshire circuit with an early championship lead.

He then set about qualifying quickest and picking up a brace of victories from the weekend’s four races, though a DNF in race three cost him points. The other two overall wins were shared between Dylan Mellor and Phil Atkinson, though Mellor did pick up two Junior Cup wins while Atkinson collected four Senior 300 victories.

Docherty secured a textbook victory in race one, leading every lap from pole position.

Behind, Ben Platt and Atkinson traded positions in the fight for the honour of being the best-of-the-rest.

Both riders took turns at passing and leading the other, but come the chequered flag Platt had enough to take the runner-up spot by less than two hundredths of a second.

Docherty again shot off the line in race two, this time on a drying track after an earlier downpour, ending the opening circulation with a three tenths of a second lead. However, a mistake on lap two cost him over two seconds, and he dropped from first to seventh. He would recover to finish fifth.

But it meant Atkinson inherited the lead, and despite mounting pressure behind, he held it to the flag, winning from Mellor - the Junior Cup victor - and Maximus Hardy.

Sunday’s opening race produced a thrilling, three-way battle for the lead, and a similarly exciting battle for fourth.

At the front it was Docherty, Mellor, and Atkinson, and while the three were covered by two tenths of a second most of the time, it was Docherty who held the advantage. Unfortunately for him he crashed out one lap from the end, leaving Mellor to take the win from Atkinson.

In what was now the battle for the final podium spot, James O’Mara, Hardy, Max Hall, and Nathan-Ellis Ward all crossed the line within four tenths of a second, though while O’Mara took the final rostrum position, Hardy was slapped with a 10-second penalty for a yellow flag infringement, demoting him to 13th.

Docherty bounced back in race four to take the win, but he was pushed all the way by Mellor. Docherty led from the start to the penultimate lap, before being passed by Mellor. He responded, making a last lap move to take victory.

Atkinson was third, just three tenths adrift, and taking another Senior win in the process, just ahead of O’Mara in fourth.

EDIasia Formula 400

Joe Ellis collected a hat-trick of wins in the EDIasia Formula 400s, with Richie Welsh taking the other available from the weekend’s four races at Silverstone.

It was Welsh - the early season series leader - who qualified on pole, but he struggled to match the pace in race one, finishing in seventh.

At the front four riders were in with a shout of victory, but Ellis claimed it after eight laps, bettering James McManus, Lewis Jones, and Finn Smart-Weeden, with reigning champion James Seath in fifth. In eighth, Sub-64bhp class winner Haydon Smith was also top rookie.

Ellis was again victorious in race two, but was again kept honest out front, this time by Jones, who followed him home less than a tenth of a second behind. Six seconds further back Calum Beach rode to a lonely third place. Carl Johnstone collected the Sub-64bhp win in an impressive fourth.

It was three from three for Ellis on a drying track on Sunday morning, though the followed a similar pattern to the one prior, with Ellis’ hassled and harried by Lewis all the way to the flag.

After an impressive fourth in race two, Johnstone went one better to finish on the podium, and added another Sub-64bhp win in the process.

In the fourth and final race of the weekend Welsh found his mojo again, and found himself part of a four-rider train at the sharp end, and after another eight-lap sprint around the Silverstone National circuit just a second and a half covered the quartet.

Welsh was the victor, with Ellis adding a second place finish to his three wins, while Jones completed the podium ahead of Beach.

In sixth, seventh, and eighth, Smith bested Richard Hayward and Johnstone for the Sub-64bhp class honours.

Reactive Parts MRO Powerbikes and Clubman 1000

It was a Honda Fireblade that qualified on pole and won all three races in the Reactive Parts MRO Powerbike races at Silverstone, with two victories going the way of Josh Wainwright, while Bob Collins took the other after swapping his Suzuki GSX-R1000 for the ‘Blade.

Wainwright was the pole man on his JW MOT Centre Honda, setting a time nearly half a second quicker than Phil Crowe on his Handtrans BMW S1000RR.

A six-lap sprint for race one saw Wainwright lead from the off, steadily pulling out his advantage at the front of the field to take the win. He crossed the line two and a half seconds up on Collins.

In a fairly processional affair, Sam Smith, on an Exclusiv Events Yamaha R1, rode to third.

In 12th, Frederico Lopes took the Clubman win.

After 12 laps in race two, the win was decided by less than a tenth of a second.

Wainwright led from the off, but after two laps Collins hit the front, only to surrender the lead a lap later.

Approaching two third’s distance, Collins tried again, and took the lead on lap eight. This time he held it, and it was Wainwright’s turn to follow.

He slotted in behind for four laps, shadowing the FWR.co.uk Honda of Collins, before pouncing on the final lap to steal victory and add another 25 points to his championship tally. Collins was forced to accept second, with Smith again third. Seamus McGlynn was this time the Clubman winner in 11th overall.

In race three it was again Collins and Wainwright going toe-to-toe at the front, though Smith threw his helmet in the ring in the early stages in a bid to stay with the leading duo. Despite not able to fight for the win, he was dragged along enough to finish just one second off the victory.

Instead he had a grandstand view of Collins and Wainwright swapping positions at the front, as Collins finally managed to take a win for his weekend’s efforts. Wainwright was second.

McGlynn, in 12th, took another Clubman win.

DART Motorsport MRO600 and GP, plus Clubman 600

After a nearly perfect opening weekend at Brands Hatch for Jack Sim, Silverstone was an altogether more tricky affair, as he could only amass one podium finish as James Bull took three victories, and Harrison Crosby the other.

It was actually Eugene McManus that set the quickest time in qualifying on his Kawasaki, and he would have ran out a five second winner in race one, were he not penalised 10 seconds for a yellow flag infringement.

The resulting sanction dropped him to fifth on the result sheets, with Bull presented with the win. Second went to Cameron Harris, who also took the GP2 win on his Harris Performance Triumph. Sim was third on his Vanguard Motorsport Kawasaki.

Bull was the outright winner in race two on his MV Agusta F3. He passed Alex Latham for the lead on lap two, and from there raced to victory. Latham was hot on his heels, taking second.

Three riders duked it out for the final spot on the rostrum with Fins Motorcycles Yamaha-mounted John Reynolds taking it from Owen Mellor and Matt Pallett, the pair finishing first and second in the Clubman class.

Mark Evans, in 15th, took the GP2 win, with Harris failing to complete a lap.

Race three saw Latham lead seven of the race’s eight laps, and he started the penultimate lap with a one and a half second lead. But roughly a minute later he crossed the line just three tenths up on Crosby.

It was the last time he crossed the line, too, crashing out on the final circulation to hand Crosby the win. Ross Clarke was promoted to second, where he also took the Clubman win.

Reynolds took another third place finish, despite ending the first lap in ninth place. He worked his way through the field, and started the last lap in fifth place. He was elevated to fourth as Latham crashed out, and passed Bull to nudge him off the podium.

It was a return to winning ways for Bull in the final race of the weekend, though more by virtue of a last lap mistake from Crosby.

Crosby led from the off, and pulled a one and a half second on the opening lap. From there he settled into a rhythm and extended it to nearly three seconds after seven laps.

Unfortunately for him, a mistake on the last lap cost him nearly seven seconds, and that three second lead turned into a four second deficit to Bull, who gladly accepted the invitation to take the win.

Crosby held onto second, with Harris finishing third and taking the GP2 win, a tenth of a second ahead of Mellor in fourth, the leading Clubman rider to take the flag.

Steve Jordan Motorcycles and TBR Performance BMCRC Thunderbike Extreme and Ultra

Mark Wilby and Josh Harvey were honours even after the weekend’s four races in the Thunderbike Extreme and Ultra class races, taking two wins apiece.

With the pair both running in the Ultra class, David May took all four Extreme class wins, with a best of seventh overall and a trio of ninth places.

Wilby qualified on pole, and after following rival Harvey for the opening three laps he hit the front and pulled out a lead of over four seconds to take the win. Harvey finished second, 13 seconds ahead of Daryl Dance, in third.

Race two and Harvey again led the opening lap, before being passed by Wilby on lap two. Unfortunately for the race one winner, he would crash out shortly after, leaving Harvey to ride to the win unchallenged.

Dance was second, in front of Stacey Killworth.

Harvey again took the holeshot in race three, and was again passed by Wilby a lap later. After that, the pair were tied together but ultimately Wilby had enough to take the victory by four tenths of a second. Dance took a third third place finish.

Harvey levelled the win tally in race four, and after again grabbing the holeshot, this time he held the position to lead from start to finish. Wilby was second, and Killworth denied Dance another bronze medal finish, claiming third.

Steve Jordan Motorcycles Thunderbike Sport

There were three winners from the weekend’s four Thunderbike Sport races, with Tommi Caldwell and Matthew Fedrick taking a win each on Saturday, followed by an Adam Jamison double on Sunday.

Fedrick was fastest in qualifying, but missed out on the win by two tenths of a second, as four riders raced for the win. Rookie Caldwell took it with Fedrick second, followed by Jamison and Spencer in third and fourth.

The second race of the weekend was decided by the stewards, after Jamison took the chequered flag three seconds up on Fedrick, but was subsequently disqualified for a technical infringement.

With Jamison omitted from the results, Frederick took the win, with Caldwell and Harrison Day credited with second and third respectively.

A red-flagged race three handed Jamison his first win of the weekend, with the podium completed by Caldwell and Tony Russo.

Jamison doubled up in race four, winning from Fedrick and Ricardo Branco

RKB-F1 and F2 Sidecars

There was an influx of BSB runners and riders at Silverstone in the BMCRC and RKB sidecar races, however, they were exempt from scoring championship points.

Despite the national level outfits on the grid, three overall race wins were taken by Ian Guy and Jed Pilmoor-Brady, with Ryan and Callum Crowe taking the other. However, Guy and Pilmoor-Brady, in second overall, were the first club riders across the line.

The results meant they took 100 F1 class championship points away from the weekend.

Three F2 outfits shared class wins over the weekend, with Wayne Lockey and Matthew Rostron and Andy King and Andrew Sigsworth taking one each, and Greg Lambert and Ben McBride taking two.

Alan Founds and Jake Lowther finished second in race one, behind Guy and Pilmoor-Brady and in front of BSB runners Andy Peach and Ken Edwards.

The Crowe brothers won race two, with Peach and Edwards third, sandwiching the outfit of Guy and Pilmoor-Brady.

On Sunday Guy and Pilmoor-Brady beat the Crowe pairing, with another BSB outfit, George Holden and Oscar Lawrence, third.

It was a repeat one-two in the fourth race, with John Holden and Jason Pitt third.

DFDS Yamaha Past Masters

The Yamaha Past Masters championship got its season underway at Silverstone, the series enjoying its first outing of 2022, and it was a class stalwart Peter Branton who took the lion’s share of the points with three wins, with Scott Grant taking the other.

Grant qualified on pole on his trademark feisty fuschia liveried TZR250, and led the opening racing lap of the season, chased across the line by Branton, the pair already over a second and a half up on the chasing pack.

They then set about swapping positions, both vying for the lead, before Branton made it stick after the halfway point. Grant hung in there, but eventually Branton broke the two to win by a second.

Paul Welch completed the top three, with John Hamilton the Clubman winner in 14th.

On a drying track in race two, Grant was imperious, disappearing at the front to win by over 10 seconds.

He left four riders behind to battle for the remaining two podium positions, with half a second covering them at the chequered flag. Richard Hayward came out on top, just in front of Branton, Welch, and Alan Cooper.

In 10th Damian Lee was the top Clubman runner.

Grant led the opening lap of race three, but Branton soon overhauled the 81-plated Yamaha, and set off to win his second race of the weekend. Grant took the flag in second, ahead of Hayward, with Mark Stubberfield’s 14th the Clubman winner.

Grant’s weekend came to an abrupt end in the final race, and after leading lap one, he crashed out a lap later.

That left Branton to ride to a lonely victory, with Kevin Wholey and Hayward scrapping it out for second. Wholey took it by a tenth of a second.

Daniel Gough picked up the final Clubman win of the weekend in 16th.

Illuminate Design BMZRC 250

Harrison Dessoy defied convention in the MZ 250 class, a series known for its tight and unpredictable races, by winning all four races.

That said, his wins were never assured, and in race one he led a three-rider train past the chequered flag, half a second covering the trio.

Scott Grant took the runner-up spot, ahead of Christopher Rogers, with pole-sitter Alexander Mann less than a second back in fourth.

In the wet, Dessoy made it two from two in the second race on his Online Lubricants-sponsored machine, and again he beat Grant to the win, though this time with nearly two seconds in hand.

His teammate, Peter Woodall, on the second Online Lubricants machine, completed the podium.

Usual service was resumed in race three, with four riders split by a second at the flag, but it was Dessoy again who came out on top, as Roger and Mann completed the podium, with Grant missing out.

The 100% record was complete in race four, as Dessoy again topped the podium from Rogers and Grant.

Inta Motorcycle Services Blue Haze GP

The GP class of the Blue Haze series saw Bruce Dunn collect three victories, but he was denied the clean sweep after retiring from the lead of race one.

That retirement left Stuart Hall to ride to an easy win, with Phil Ellis in second, a quarter of a minute back. Paul Metcalfe was third.

Dunn then topped the podium in race two, in front of Hall, as Paul Toland and Ellis fought over third, Toland taking the spot by two tenths of a second.

Sunday’s double-header saw Dunn take two more wins with Ellis taking two third place finishes.

The runner-up spots were shared between Toland in the first, and Phil Atkinson in the final race of the weekend.

Taymar Motorcycles Blue Haze GPF

In the road bike category Blue Haze races David Abraham was a three-time winner, to James Seath’s solitary victory.

Seath qualified on pole by nearly a second, but was unable to challenge for the win in race one, as Abraham led from lap three to the flag.

Instead, Seath battled Paul Toland and Michael Stanley to finish on the podium, but lost out to both.

However, he won a wet race two aboard his Aprilia, in front of Damian Lee and Stanley.

Abraham, though, did the double on Sunday, winning from Stanley and Toland, with Seath again narrowly missing out on the podium in fourth.

Abraham then topped the final podium of the weekend, winning ahead of Peter Moore. Andrew Burscough and Michael Stanley were split by a tenth of a second in third and fourth.

L&W Contractors Rookie 600 and Rookie 1000

The club’s rookie 600 and 1000 riders got another four races under their belts at Silverstone, after the season-opener at Brands to kick-off their racing careers, with Michael Shepphard winning three times and Paul Nicholas once in the 600s, while Lee Healey took three wins to Luke Wallington’s one in the litre bike class.

Nicholas took the opening 600 race win on his Harris Autos Repairs Yamaha, in front of Shepphard and Pete Marsh, with Healey, his F-Tech Fire & Electrical Ltd Suzuki, just holding off Harry Hinchcliffe in the 1000s. Matthew Cham was third.

Healey took another narrow victory in race two, this time from Alfie Coker, with Wallington third in the 1000 class, as Shepphard took his first 600 class win of the weekend. Nicholas was second, and James Gower third.

Sunday’s opener ended with another 1000s win for Healey, with Hinchcliffe taking another second place finish, and Wallington another third, and another 600s win for Shepphard, in front of Marsh and Gower.

The final outing of the weekend started with a crash for both Healey and Hinchcliffe, leaving Wallington to get his win. He was joined on the 1000 class podium by Anthony Brandish and Coker.

The 600 spoils went to Shepphard again, to complete his hat-trick, with Scott Bacon taking a podium finish in second, from Marsh in third.