Words: Rob McDonnell
Pictures: Rob McDonnell and Paul Tuckey
THE former AMCA track at Brakehill Farm, Brigstock was back in business on Sunday after a lengthy absence when the NORA club staged its fourth championship round at the much widened, lengthened and improved hillside venue.
NORA, which has taken over the lease and has put weeks of work in to the track, was rewarded with its best event of the year with cracking racing, no injuries and a meeting that ran like clockwork.
Fittingly, it was the star-studded Expert group which threw up the day’s best race with multiple British champion Paul Winrow and current British number two, Carl Bunce, duking out a cracking final third race (picture above) to decide the overall victory.
In the end Winrow made his move on the very final lap to ensure overall victory by just one point. He had earlier also won the first race convincingly before battling back to fifth in race two after a first lap tangle. Bunce won race two.
The official Yamaha pairing of Stefan Murphy and George Callaway took third and fourth, with each taking a second as their best finish. Callaway’s results were also enough to give him victory in the Under 23 Group.
Current champion Luke Cooper had been quickest in qualifying, but ended up 23rd overall after a terrible day including a snapped chain, a broken axle carrier and a big crash.
The ACU British Masters Championship saw Bunce’s Rocketman Suzuki team-mate Ant Barrett win after championship leader Ed Davies broke down on lap one while leading the third race. He’d earlier won the first two races from Barrett each time.
Gary Aldington was second overall thanks to three third places with Darran Bridge third overall, with second in race three his best showing. The Masters B group was won by Trevor Humphris.
The 34-strong Clubman group went to Jamie Morgan who bounced back from a fourth in race one to win twice. Fellow Rookie Jack Naylor won the first race and also took a fourth and second in the last race.
Third overall went to Tom Yates, who was the first Clubman in the overall standings. Second in race one was his best result.
The standout performance in the youth ranks was undoubtedly that of Catrin Davies who dominated the 100 Group, and the very competitive 100 Geared class.
She won the first race, held on a very slick track after a rain shower, by just over two minutes from Marcus Sprason, thanks to some impressive quad control. She then proved it as no fluke by taking the dry second race by 15 seconds from Joshua Birch.
In the third race she split Sprason and Birch to secure a five point overall victory.
In the other sub classes in the group the 125 Raptors threw up some brilliant racing. Despite only having four Raptors in the 19 strong field the quartet spent most of the three races locked in battle.
Indeed, in the second race, Reece Swann, Vassna Willcock and Josh Talent were split by less than two seconds at the flag. Their race two order was also the eventual overall finishing order.
Of the other classes, Tom Fitzgerald won the 100 Modifieds and Elis Humfryes the 50s.
In the ACU 250 Youth British Championship, Estonia’s Martin Adamson continued his relentless march towards the title with his fourth straight victory as, once again, his rivals matched his speed but not his consistency.
In the opening race the current champion Connor Fitzgerald converted his pole in qualifying into a fine win, with Lawrence Whyte having his best show of the year in second.
Adamson meanwhile had to come from near the back of the field up to third after he was late to the gate and had to start at the back of the 29 strong field!
In the next two races however he went on to win with comfortable margins, though in the second race he had to work hard for half the race to overhaul a fast starting and determined Jack Holmes.
Whyte secured second overall thanks to a 2-4-2, after Fitzgerald did not score again all day following mechanical problems, Bailey Edwards scored poorly in race one after mishap and Holmes was black-flagged from race three after losing a nerf bar.
Fourth overall in the group and again winner of the 250 Modified class was Dafydd Davies who took three wins, twice ahead of Harry Carmichael and once from Ayrton Knowles, who rode impressively considering he broke his collarbone just a few weeks ago.
Two wins and a third gave Daniel Hares victory in the Standard Class ahead of Oliver Martin.
And, finally, a picture of the sweetest sounding machine at the meeting - Geoff Otway's EVO winning Banshee!
RESULTS:
Experts: 1 Paul Winrow, 2 Carl Bunce, 3 Stefan Murphy, 4 George Callaway, 5 Oli Sansom, 6 Murray Graham
Under 23: 1 George Callaway, 2 Murray Graham, 3 Jake Smith, 4 Sheldon Seal, 5 Luke Davies, 6 Harry Miller
Clubman: 1 Jamie Morgan, 2 Jack Naylor, 3 Thomas Yates, 4 James Bevan, 5 Connor McKenna, 6 Toby Thipthorp
Rookie: 1 Jamie Morgan, 2 Jack Naylor, 3 James Bevan, 4 Jamie Smith, 5 Alex Bethell, 6 Harry Walker
ACU Masters British Championship (incorporating EVO class): 1 Ant Barrett, 2 Gary Aldington, 3 Darren Bridge, 4 Clint Eagle, 5 Chris Murphy, 6 Ed Davies
Masters B: 1 Trevor Humphris, 2 Richard Clark, 3 Andrew Willcock, 4 Simon Pritchard, 5 Tony Atkinson, 6 Rick Jones
ACU 250cc Youth British Championship: 1 Martin Adamson, 2 Lawrence Whyte, 3 Bailey Edwards, 4 Dafydd Davies, 5 Ayrton Knowles, 6 Harry Carmichael
250 Open: 1 Martin Adamson, 2 Lawrence Whyte, 3 Bailey Edwards, 4 Josh Waring, 5 Ryan Spratt-Wyatt, 6 Joshua Cane
250 Modified: 1 Dafydd Davies, 2 Harry Carmichael, 3 Ayrton Knowles, 4 Thomas Chell, 5 Bradley Cockrem, 6 George Hill
250 Standard: 1Daneil Hares, 2 Oliver Martin, 3 Harry Ruby, 4 Joseph Jukes, 5 Elysha Crane, 6 Declan McKenna
250 Stock: 1 Shanice Mott. No other finishers
100 Group Overall: 1Catrin Davies, 2 Marcus Sprason, 3 Joshua Birch, 4 Alfie Walker, 5 Woody Jackson, 6 Tom Fitzgerald
100cc Geared: 1 Catrin Davies, 2 Marcus Sprason, 3 Joshua Birch, 4 Alfie Walker, 5 Woody Jackson, 6 Dylan McKenna
100cc Modified: 1 Tom Fitzgerald, 2 Shelley Smart, 3 Mari Humfyes
Yamaha Raptor: 1 Reece Swan, 2 Vassna Willcock, 3 Josh Talent, 4 Lewis Humphris. No other finishers
50cc: 1 Elis Humfyes, 2 Aled Davies. No other finishers