The British Motorcycle Racing Club maintains its position as the only club to run on Brands Hatch’s famous GP circuit, with round six of the season seeing Bemsee return to the circuit it calls home.
The club would also pay its respects to photographer Jenny Wells, who passed away after a short but difficult battle with cancer. She was 59. She will be honoured at the forthcoming Sidecar Revival meeting at Cadwell Park on 6-7 August.
Reactive Parts MRO Powerbikes and Clubman 1000
Josh Wainwright became one of the club’s first champions to be crowned in 2022, after taking three victories in the Reactive Parts MRO Powerbikes and Clubman 1000 races to move out of touch of any of his rivals, despite there still being two rounds and 150 points left to play for.
He qualified on pole on his JW MOT Centre Honda Fireblade, with Sam Osborne and Tom Norton completing the front row.
He then went on to take three wins, taking his season’s total to 14, however, he was made to work for them to ensure he left Brands the 2022 champion, with Tom Norton finishing runner-up three times, missing out on the win by less than a tenth of a second in race two.
Race one Wainwright led from lights out, but after the opening couple of circuits Norton assumed the race lead.
He was unable to ditch Wainwright, however, and after sitting behind Norton’s Kawasaki ZX-10R, Wainwright hit the front again on the penultimate lap, and held on to take victory by a little over a tenth of a second.
Luke Dixon was five seconds back in third place, completing the podium, with Luke Wallington, in fifth and leading nine riders covered by three seconds, taking the Clubman class win.
Wainwright’s margin of victory over Norton in race two was just five hundredths of a second, with Dixon only three tenths of a second off the win in third place.
Wainwright and Norton again swapped the lead between them, with Dixon following closely in third, ready to pick up the pieces from any mis-timed move which, sadly for him, never came. Instead Dixon could only follow the two main protagonists as they drag-raced to the line to take the chequered flag.
With the close racing in the mid-field, Wallington could only manage 13th and third in class, with Seamus McGlynn taking the Clubman spoils in seventh.
Sunday’s 10-lap feature race was again delivering the goods at the front, with Wainwright being pressured by Norton. On the penultimate lap Wainwright managed to slightly break away, and on the last lap a mix-up with a backmarker saw Norton lose seven seconds, robbing the crowd of a tense finale.
Instead, Wainwright took the flag to wrap up his perfect weekend with a comfortable margin behind, and at the same time he secured the 2022 championship.
Norton had a sufficient gap to the battle for third place - which had Dixon and Rick Dickinson fighting it out for the final spot on the podium - and took a third runner-up finish for his weekend’s work.
It was a second Clubman win for Wallington on his BW Bespoke Developments Limited Yamaha R1, as he took the flag in seventh overall.
DART Motorsport MRO600 and Clubman 600
Three winners from four races provided the excitement in the DART Motorsport MRO600s, with James Bull also eating into Jack Sim’s championship lead with a brace of victories. Joe Burns and William White took a win apiece.
It was Burns who drew first blood, winning race one after mugging long-time leader and pole-sitter White on the last lap. On his Diamond Race Products Triumph he shadowed fellow Triumph-mounted White, on his JP Guivier-supported machine, before pouncing to take victory at the last moment.
Bull finished third, setting the fastest lap of the race as he eroded the lead Burns and White pulled on the opening couple of laps. Come the chequered flag he was just half a second down on the duo fighting at the front. Crucially for him, however, he finished ahead of series leader Sim, taking five points out of his advantage.
He took a bigger chunk out of Sim’s points lead in race two, winning on his Kawasaki ZX-6R while Sim finished fourth, missing out on the podium by a tenth of a second.
However, Bull spent much of the race behind Burns, who led every lap of the race until he crashed out on the final lap, promoting Bull to the lead and handing him the win. Burns would be unable to take any further part in the weekend’s action.
White finished second, and the battle for fourth became the fight for third, with Barker, on his Barker Woodrow Limited Yamaha R6 just pipping Sim to the bronze medal position.
Owen Mellor and Matt Pallett took a Clubman win each from the day’s two races, as they continued their fight at the top of the championship standings.
Four hundredths of a second covered White and Bull in Sunday’s opener, as they finished first and second respectively, as Barker took another third place finish, before the positions were reversed in race four.
This time, Bull ran out the winner by nearly six seconds, taking another fistful of points out of Sim’s series lead. Sim finished third: he held second after the opening lap, but after being passed by White on lap two, he could only chase the Triumph home on his Kawasaki.
Pallett and Mellor again shared the Clubman wins, making it two apiece for the weekend.
L&W Contractors BMCRC Rookie 600 and Rookie 1000
As well as mixing it with the MRO Powerbikes, Luke Wallington - as a rookie - was also in action in the L&W Contractors Rookie 1000 races, and took all four victories on his Yamaha R1 to assume the series lead.
Anthony Brandish took two second place finishes, with Lee Healey - Wallington’s title rival - taking one and Harry Hinchcliffe taking the other.
It was Hinchcliffe who finished second in race one, with Healey third, before Brandish pipped Healey to second in race two, the gap just over a tenth of a second.
After two third places, Healey improved to second place in race three, reversing positions with Brandish, the pair of Suzuki GSX-R1000 pilots second and third.
Brandish was again second in race four, with Alfie Coker ending the weekend with a podium, finishing third.
In the 600 class Michael Shepphard took two wins, with Henry Ross and Justas Gadliauskas taking a win each.
Gadliauskas was second to Shepphard in race one, with Callum Paton third, before Ross beat Shepphard and Paton in race three.
Shepphard and Gadliauskas again finished one-two in the third race of the weekend, before Gadliauskas got the better of Shepphard in the final race, with Ross third.
ProperlyProtected.co.uk MRO Minitwins
After taking all four wins at Cadwell Park at the previous round, Glynn Davies added another 100 championship points to his tally at Brands Hatch with a clean sweep of victories.
He led championship leader and pole-sitter David Twyford by a second in race, with Twyford pushing hard to stay with the race leader. Too hard, it would turn out, as Twyford crashed out with two laps to go.
Davies was left to take his first win of the weekend by nearly 15 seconds, with James O’Mara second and Martin Cooper third. Aaron Monk was top rookie in eighth.
Despite the disappointment of race one, Twyford very nearly made the amends in the perfect way, missing out on the win by a mere two hundredths of a second.
Tucked in behind Davies, he grabbed the lead on the penultimate lap, but Davie was able to steal victory away in the dying stages of the race to make it two from two.
O’Mara again got the better of Cooper, the pair fighting for third, with Monk again eighth and the top rookie.
Sunday’s race one was a repeat podium, though this time Davies beat Twyford by five seconds. However, less than half a second split the battle for third, with O’Mara again on the podium. He finished just ahead of Alex Mann and Kevin Lilley.
In eighth, Monk made it three rookie wins.
With Davies and Twyford again first and second, O’Mara was denied his fourth podium finish of the weekend by less than a tenth of a second, as Mann executed a last lap overtake to steal the position away from O’Mara.
Monk was again the rookie winner to make it a perfect weekend, this time in 10th overall.
Illuminate Design BMZRC 250
Three wins from four races enabled Scott Grant to further extend his lead in the Illuminate Design BMZRC 250 championship. His other result was a second, coming in the first of Sunday’s outings.
On his Sportsbikeshop-powered MZ he won both of Saturday’s races, the first from his nearest title rival, Alexander Mann, and Peter Woodall.
He then won race two by four seconds, this time as Woodall, Andrew Wales, and Mann sorted out the remaining podium positions. At the chequered flag there was less than two tenths of a second covering the three of them.
Any hopes Grant had of making it a perfect weekend were dashed when he lost out to Mann in race three. Grant led every lap of the race bar the final one, with Mann sneaking past to lead when it mattered. Wales was third.
However, the championship leader returned to winning ways in race four. Again, he battled with Mann all race, and took victory by less than a tenth of a second.
Less than a tenth of a second also decided third place, with Chris Rogers getting the better of Wales.
DFDS Yamaha Past Masters
Peter Branton extended his DFDS Yamaha Past Masters championship lead with three wins. His cause was aided further by Kevin Wholey’s absence from the weekend’s action.
Former champion Branton won the weekend’s opening race from pole-sitter Alan Cooper, less than a tenth of a second between them, with Anthony Johnson third, less than a second back of the fight for victory.
Less than a second covered the podium in race two as well, as Branton, on his Exactweld Racing Yamaha TZR250, tasted victory for a second time.
Johnson led the early stages of the race, but was passed before the midway point by Branton who pulled a two tenths of a second advantage to secure win number two. Johnson held onto second, half a second in front of Cooper.
Branton’s winning margin in race three was exactly the same as the weekend’s opener, as he again bested Cooper by 0.089s, with Johnson again third.
The perfect weekend was scuppered in race four, as Cooper came out on top in the fight for victory between the pair, the lead swapping hands before Cooper crossed the line two tenths of a second in front of Branton. Johnson was third.
EDIasia Formula 400
Four wins and another 100 championship points extended Richie Welsh’s lead in the EDIasia Formula 400 championship, as he moved within touching distance of another title.
It was reigning champion James Seath who qualified on pole, but Welsh ran out a clear winner in race one, disappearing at the front of the field to take the win.
Conversely, Seath was left to watch from the sidelines after being unable to make the start.
As Welsh ran away out front, Haydon Smith took a lonely second place, and with it the Sub-64bhp class victory and the rookie win, with third going to Andrew Moxon at the head of a four-rider train, all in the fight for the final podium spot.
Welsh repeated his disappearing act in race two, and romped to victory by over 20 seconds. This time Seath did make the grid and raced to second place, with Smith third and again the Sub-64bhp winner.
Over 20 seconds again separated Welsh from the chasing pack in the fourth and final race, as he again took the chequered flag to secure another comfortable win. Smith’s second gave him another Sub-64bhp and rookie win, with third going to Moxon.
ACU Team Green Junior Cup and Senior Ninja Series
Lennon Docherty’s three wins saw him take the ACU Team Green Junior Cup series lead at Brands Hatch, while James O’Mara collected the other win on offer. In the Senior Ninja Series the absence of Phil Atkinson - championship leader having won every race up until the Brands Hatch round - allowed Elizabth Cleaver to take two wins, with Conor Murray and Drew Dorling the other victors.
On his Doc Fit Training Kawasaki, Docherty beat Maximus Hardy to the chequered flag by half a second in race one, reducing Hardy’s slender championship lead to just three points.
Behind the leading duo five riders lined up to fight for the final spot on the rostrum, and come the flag just a second and a half split the quintet.
Oliver Arbon took it on his TT Plumbing and Heating Kawasaki, in front of O’Mara, Dylan Mellor, Zack Weston, and Ben Jolliffe. Cleaver took the Senior win in 11th overall.
Docherty ended a red-flagged race two - for an incident involving Arbon, Mellor, and Weston - with another win and with it he took the championship lead, with Hardy finishing in fifth place, despite leading the opening laps.
O”Mara was classified second, with Nathan-Ellis Ward third and Murray 12th, as the leading Senior runner.
The fight for second place between O’Mara and Hardy in race three allowed Docherty to eek away at the front, and he took win number three by a couple of seconds, in front of O’Mara, who would hold out from Hardy.
The best was saved until last, however, with less than a tenth covering the entire podium in race four. O’Mara snatched it to deny Docherty his perfect score, with Hardy third.
Cleaver in 15th and Dorling in 12th took the Senior wins in Sunday’s races.
Lennon Docherty was also awarded the prestigious Ben Ball trophy, awarded in memory of both Ben Ball and Gordon Cobbold, after whom the meeting is named. Both are past presidents of the club, with Cobbold especially known for his outstanding ability in spotting young talent early. The trophy is awarded in his memory to a young rider that the judges feel will make a name in the sport in the future.
TBR Performance BMCRC Thunderbike Ultra
Pole position and four wins meant Greg Allsop trebled his season’s win tally, after taking a brace of victories earlier in the season at Oulton Park, his only other outing in the class this year.
On the Allsop Construction Services Yamaha R1 he set a pole time half a second quicker than championship leader Mark Wilby, who sat in the middle of the front row for race one alongside Seb Jenkins.
Despite the advantage in qualifying, Allsop found himself under pressure in race one, though not from Wilby or Jenkins - the latter crashing out on lap two - but from Chad Hashmi and Josh Harvey.
Hashmi led lap one, before being passed by Allsop. The two enjoyed a lead of over a second, as Harvey carved his way through the field, before hunting them down in the closing stages. He was just half a second off the win, with Hashmi taking second behind Allsop.
Buoyed by his form in race one, Harvey was impressive again in race two, and led the opening lap by a second, while Allsop completed the first lap in third.
Allsop moved into second at the halfway stage, while Harvey still led the way, but on the last lap the race one winner hit the front and pulled enough of a gap to take win number two.
Wilby finished third after the disappointment of finishing seventh in race one after starting on the front row.
It was a repeat podium in race three, this time with Allsop leading from start to finish, though with close attention from Harvey in second place. Wilby was again third, finishing at the head of the head of a four-rider battle for the last spot on the podium.
Race four and the same three riders stood on the rostrum, with Allsop making it four from four, this time in a more comfortable fashion.
Steve Jordan Motorcycles BMCRC Thunderbike Sport and Thunderbike Extreme
Adam Jamison turned a 28-point deficit into a slender single-point lead in the Steve Jordan Thunderbike Sport class, taking four second place finishes while Matthew Fedrick suffered a disastrous Saturday, with a technical issue seeing him take a 15th and a DNS. He recovered to take two wins on Sunday.
In the Extreme class David May took all four wins to inch closer to the title.
Less than half a second covered the Sport class win in race one, with Ricardo Branco bettering Jamison and Elliot Fricker.
It was a similar story in the Extreme class, as May took victory by less than a tenth of a second from Derek Cripps. Raymond Stagg was third, half a second back on Cripps.
Branco, on his IMP Racing Yamaha R6, was again the Sport victor in race two, two tenths up on the Team AJR Yamaha of Jamison and the Petwise.org Honda of Fricker.
Suzuki GSX-R750s finished first and second in the Extreme class, with May narrowly taking his second win from Stagg. Michael Hogarth took third.
After his disappointing Saturday, Matthew Fedrick bounced back to take a brace of wins on Sunday, and twice finished ahead of Jamison and Fricker.
May also took another two victories, both ahead of Stagg. Hogarth and David Spencer took a third place apiece.
INTA Motorcycles Blue Haze GP and Taymar Motorcycles Blue Haze GPF
Stuart Hall climbed from third to second in the championship standings and closed in on Bruce Dunn’s series lead, taking four wins around the Brands GP circuit.
He won from Ian Mackman and Josh Wainwright in race one, with Dunn retiring his Yamaha TZ250 on lap three.
Hall then won race two as Dunn recovered to take second, just, from Wainwright.
Wainwright and Dunn switched positions for race three, but it was again Hall out front as he took a dominant win, before Mackman returned to the podium in the final race, finishing second to Hall, with Dunn third.
In the road-based GPF class there was similar dominance from David Abraham, as he took all four wins.
In race one he won from Richard Hayward and David Ball, and in race two he took victory ahead of James Seath and Denis Halil.
Seath and Halil were second and third in race three, before Halil and Mark Haigh completed the podium in race four.