Thursday September 19, 2019 at 4:30pm
Snetterton’s 300 circuit hosted the penultimate round of the British Motorcycle Racing Club’s season, with unseasonal sunshine making for two days of excellent racing. Reactive Parts MRO Powerbikes inc Racebuykz.com Clubman 1000 Michael O’Brien was crowned the 2019 Reactive Parts MRO Powerbike champion at Snetterton, the Yamaha R1 pilot’s second title in three seasons. The Clubman championship was also secured by Mark Bridger with three class wins. O’Brien stated his intentions from the off, setting a pole position time 1.3 seconds quicker than anyone else. He then backed it up with a dominant win in race one, taking the chequered flag nearly 15 seconds ahead of the chasing pack. Kevin Silvain took the runner-up spot, with Clubman champion-elect Mark Bridger third. It wasn’t plain sailing for O’Brien all weekend, the would-be-champion battling throughout the duration of race two with eventual winner Josh Wood, the gap between the pair at the chequered flag five hundredths of a second. Silvain was third, Bridger bagged the Clubman win in sixth. The new champion picked up his 15th win of the season in race three, taking the flag almost 12 seconds up on Wood and third place finisher Olly Savage. Bridger made it three from three in the Clubman class, taking fourth overall. L&W Contractors Rookie 1000 and Rookie 600 The Snetterton 300 circuit hosted the final round of the BMCRC Rookie 1000 and Rookie 600 series, supported by L&W Contractors, and while Cedric Bloch had already secured the 600 title, the Rookie 1000 champion was still being disputed. Seb Jenkins arrived at the Norfolk circuit with a 22-point advantage over Luke Dixon, with four second places enough to secure the title. Dixon was determined to do what he could, and raced unchallenged to victory in race one, but meanwhile Jenkins was doing what he needed to, and took the runner-up spot ahead of Daniel Tinsley. It was a repeat performance for the two championship protagonists in the second race, with Dixon winning from Jenkins as Paul Gallington took the final podium spot. Dixon got his break in race three though, and after bagging another win the time sheets showed Jenkins in third, behind Gallington. The gap was down to three points with a race to go. Another win for Dixon would hand him the championship. After three dominant wins, Dixon had a fight on his hands in the final race, as he and Jenkins contested the lead in the early laps. At the halfway stage, however, Dixon had pulled out an advantage, and was out of Jenkins’ clutches by some five seconds. Dixon led the final lap, but it, the race, and the campaign ended in heartbreak, as he crashed out. It handed victory and the championship to Jenkins, with Gallington and Tinsley second and third. In the Rookie 600 races four winners stood atop the podium, as Elliot Fricker, Toby Reynolds, 2019 champion Cedric Bloch, and Tom Vaughan all tasted victory. Team Green Junior Cup and Senior Ninja Series In the ACU Team Green Junior Cup Championship and Senior Ninja Series Ash Barnes looked set to take a big step closer to securing the junior title with three wins from three races, but a DNF in race four and win for title rival Lewis Jones means it will go down to the wire at Brands Hatch. But the Senior series was all wrapped up as three second place finishes for Tony Davies gave him the title, despite Martin Cooper taking four wins. Davies began the weekend with a colossal 198-point advantage, and as such ensured he played it safe to secure the title with a round to spare. He qualified second quickest in class, and three finishes behind Cooper were enough to give him an unassailable championship lead. Comparatively, coming into the weekend the gap was just nine points between Barnes and Jones in the Junior championship, and Barnes set about extending that advantage from the off, setting pole and winning twice on Saturday and once on Sunday. His Saturday wins came ahead of Christopher Johnson and Elliot Dufton, with Jones twice third. He then won Sunday’s opener, beating Harrison Dessoy and Dufon, as Jones took fourth. As a result, he’d extended his points advantage to 39 points, but the final race saw Jones whittle that down to 14 points with 100 to play for at the final round, as the pair battled at the front. Barnes led the opening lap, but Jones got himself in front a lap later, only for Dufton to make it three race-leaders in as many laps as five riders found themselves split by just one second. The lead continued to change; Jones held it on lap four, Barnes back in charge on lap five and six, but it all ended for the championship leader on the final lap as he crashed out along with Dufton, handing Jones the win and championship lifeline. Senior Ninja Series’ Cooper took his fourth win in fifth overall, as newly-crowned champion Davies not taking the start. Steve Jordan Motorcycles BMCRC Thunderbike Extreme & Ultra The Thunderbike Extreme championship may already have been decided, with Andy Saunders crowned champion at Cadwell Park, but it was all to play for in the Ultra class coming into the weekend. However, a win and three seconds handed Aiden Patmore the championship win after a disastrous weekend for rival Steve Palmer. The only challenger to Patmore’s title ambitions qualified second quickest behind Barry Chamberlain, with Patmore completing the front row. However, technical issues would prevent him from starting race one, in which the win went to Jason Byard with Patmore second. Third overall went to Dave Shelvey in the Extreme class. Palmer was again absent in race two, as Patmore and Byard reversed positions on the podium. Third again went to the Extreme class winner, this time Saunders on his SDC Performance Suzuki. Two non-shows on Sunday for Palmer cemented Patmore as this year’s Ultra class champion, with the series-winner twice second on the day. He finished behind May Construction Suzuki’s Byard on both occasions, with Michael Allen and Ande Friend taking a third apiece. Shelvey took both Extreme wins. Team Respro MRO 600 and MSS Performance Clubman 600 20 points split Jamie Kelman and Michael Mills at the top of the Team Respro MRO 600 championship ahead of the penultimate round at Snetterton, and after varying results for the both of them, that gap extended to 24 points for Kelman with a round to go. A third for Mills and a fifth for Kelman in race one - as he came from the back of the grid after a problem in qualifying - saw Mills recover ground in the championship chase. He crossed the line behind pole-sitter Hayden Platton’s NR Racing Kawasaki and the ZX-6R of Daniel Brooks. Nick Whitcher took the Clubman win sixth, with championship leader Michael White seventh. One and a half seconds split Kelman and Mills in race two, but in between them were Platton and Brooks, as the quartet battled for the race win. Kelman’s 25 points saw him extend his championship lead, as Mills collected 13 in fourth place. Whitcher’s sixth gave him another Clubman win, further eating into White’as advantage, as he finished fourth in class aboard his Race Lab Suspension Yamaha. Sunday’s first race gave Phased Out Racing’s Kelman another chance to increase his series lead, as he again won from Platton, with Shane Norval this time third, and Mills fourth. Dawid Krawiecki kept the pressure on White in the Clubman class, but a DNF for Whitcher dented his title hopes, as he crashed out of a winning position. Mills kept his title hopes alive with victory in the final race, but sixth for Kelman means he takes a 24-point lead into the final round. Stephen Draper and Norval completed the podium. Whitcher returned to the top step of the Clubman podium, finishing eighth overall, ensuring the title fight will go down to the final round at Brands Hatch, as White finished 10th, third in the Clubman class. Chilton Motors MZ Championship Chris Rogers will have to wait until the final round at Brands Hatch if he is to be crowned 2019 Chilton Motors MZ champion, but he remains the odds-on favourite with a round to go, after extending his series lead at Snetterton. Rogers missed out on the podium in race one, finishing fourth behind Robert Dessoy - who was still harbouring slim championship ambitions coming into the weekend - Alexander Mann, and Peter Woodall. After that it was a run of three straight second place finishes to extend his series lead. The first, in the second race on Saturday, came behind Andrew Wales as third went to Woodall, the trio racing across the line split by less than a tenth of a second. He was then runner-up again in both of Sunday’s races. He finished behind Mann in race one, with Wales third, before Woodall took victory in the final race of the weekend. Rogers was second, two tenths ahead of Wales. Rogers takes a 77-point lead into the final round next month. G-Force Motorcycles Blue Haze GP Four wins from four races for Phil Ellis saw him close in on Tom Barrett at the top of the GP championship standings, while Paul Toland extended his lead in the GPF production-based class. Ellis qualified on pole, but victory in race one went to GPF runner Andrew Burscough, with Toland second in class and second overall. Ellis was the GP winner in third ahead of Andrew Davies fourth and third in the GPF class, as the top four were covered by less than a second. It was a far smoother affair for Ellis in race two, as he raced to victory by 10 seconds. Burscough‘s second place gave him the GPF win, while Gael Machard took third. Ellis’ margin of victory then extended to a whopping 17 seconds in the first of Sunday’s two races. The GPF winner was Andy Davies in second overall, as Roger Marsh finished third overall, second in the GP class. An Ellis and Marsh GP class and overall one-two rounded out the weekend, with Burscough third and the GPF winner. RKB-F1 and F2 Sidecars Tommy Philp secured the RKB-F1 Sidecar Championship over the weekend at Snetterton, with a wild card appearance to come the following weekend at Assen the team chose to rest regular passenger Jonny Allum in favour of Tom Bryant. On Saturday Philp took a brace of wins with Allum in the chair of his Brian Gray/Powerbiking LCR outfit, before taking two more wins to secure the F1 crown on Sunday with Bryant in the chair. Allison Lawrence and Kez Hughes finished second in race one in front of Charlie Morphett and Paul Halliburton, who extended their F2 championship lead with the class victory. It was a repeat podium in Saturday’s second outing. Philp and new teammate Bryant raced to a dominant win in the first of Sunday’s encounters, with second going to Jon Bicknell and Pete Ensor’s LCR Kawasaki. Morphett and Halliburton added another third place finish to their tally and another F2 class win. It was an all-F1 podium in the final race, as Philp and Bryant won from Bicknell and Ensor and Scott and Lee Edwards, but Morphett and Halliburton’s F2 class dominance was complete with another win in fourth overall. DFDS Yamaha Past Masters Championship leader Doug Edmondson extended his 39-point championship lead by another 20 points at Snetterton, winning all four races and setting a new lap record along the way. His title rival, Scott Carson, managed the damage as best as he could, taking four second place finishes. Scott Grant - returning from injury - raced to an impressive third in race one from 12th on the grid, before Peter Branton took the bronze medal position in race two. Simon Clark and Geoff Mook took a Clubman win apiece. Grant added an additional brace of thirds to his results haul from the weekend on Sunday, as Mook and Neil Grant this time shared the Clubman spoils, finishing fourth in race three and four respectively.
The results mean Edmondson - who was in imperious form over the weekend - takes a 59-point lead into the final round at Brands Hatch. EDIasia Formula 400 Glynn Davies had already cemented himself as this year’s EDIasia Formula 400 champion, and at the penultimate round of the season Doug Edmondson clinched the Sub-64bhp class crown. It was Chris Burrage who set pole, and went on to win race one ahead of this year’s champion Davies, a second that gap between two riders who were the class of the field. They took the chequered flag 24 seconds before third place man Dan Ruth. Edmondson took the Sub-64 win in sixth. The action at the sharp end was much the same in race two, with Davies this time getting the better of race one-winner Burrage. The gap came down, as well, to two tenths of a second. Matthew Scott was third, nearly half a minute back, but he was only half a second ahead of Edmondson in fourth, as he added another class win to his name. It was a Davies, Burrage, and Scott podium in the first of Sunday’s two races, but after a mistake on the opening lap cost him nearly 20 seconds, Burrage had to come through the field to claim his runner-up spot. Fifth gave Edmondson another Sub-64 win. Davies rode unchallenged to the win in the final race, with Burrage absent from proceedings. Edmondson raced to an incredible second overall to take the Sub-64 honours and seal the championship in the process. Scott was third. In the Junior Supersport class, which shared a grid with the EDIasia Formula 400s, Owen Jenner picked up three wins, with the fourth going to Kam Dixon.