French Wild Card Jeremie Warnia dominated the third round of the Willcock Holeformers British Championship at Foxhill on Sunday with three impressive race wins – but behind him the battle for the title between the regulars was as close as it gets.
Yamaha-mounted Warnia was simply a class apart on his first visit the former GP track, dominating qualifying by over three seconds, winning each race by comfortable distances and setting the fastest lap each time, which gave him a 27 point winning margin.
However, second place through to sixth was split by just five points, with Ulster’s Dean Colhoun just nicking second from compatriot Justin Reid thanks to a better finish in the last race.
Colhoun was the only man who came close to matching Warnia’s stunning speed, but he admitted afterwards he could only keep up that pace for a few laps whereas as Warnia banged in lap after lap.
The former European and WORCS champion showed his intent in the first race by taking the holeshot and stretching out a 44 second winning margin.
As the race settled down an excellent three-way battle for the remaining podium positions developed between championship leader Paul Holmes, Luke Cooper and George Callaway. However, when Cooper rear-ended Holmes in a tight turn and they struggled to separate their machines the way was left open for Callaway to secure second.
Cooper and Holmes eventually restarted and came home 11
th and 13
th respectively, effectively scuppering their podium hopes.
Third place eventually went to Carl Bunce, who just kept reigning champion Paul Winrow (having a one-off rider in the series) and ex-champ, Reid, at bay despite a lot of late pressure.
The holeshot in a spread out race two went to Colhoun, who had finished 12
th in race one after pitting to fix a loose seat. For four laps he led but Warnia hunted him down, setting the day’s fastest lap on lap three, before moving ahead to secure a 13 second win.
Colhoun, still struggling with the wrist he injured at Desertmartin three weeks ago, in turn settled in a nice rhythm which gave him an eight second margin over Holmes, who in turn was 17 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
The battle for fourth was an excellent one with Reid, Cooper and Carl Bunce going at it hammer and tongs for much of the race to finish in that order split by just over a second at the flag.
Callaway’s hopes of an overall podium finish ended in race two when he crashed after clipping another rider and had to ride back through the field to 10
th.
In race three Colhoun again took the holeshot but this time it took just two laps for Warnia to hit the front where he then pulled put a 15 second winning margin over Colhoun, who had another lonely ride to second. That place was crucial though as it tied him on points with Reid, who could only manage sixth in the final race.
Holmes eventually secured third after overhauling Cooper at half distance than easing out a three second gap after a good scrap for a couple of laps. Holmes series lead has now been trimmed to 20 over Colhoun at the halfway stage.
In the Under 21 class Colhoun increased his championship lead over Callaway to 21 points after he bounced back from his first race disaster to win the last two races. Callaway won the opener.
Round four of the NORA championship was also held at Foxhill and in the Clubman class Tom Chell notched up his first win of the year thanks to two seconds and a third. However, a stroke of bad luck for his EDR Racing team-mate Dafydd Davies in the final race proved to be the deciding factor.
Davies, who has only lost one moto in the class all year, won the opening two races with ease and was leading the third when his axle snapped in one of the big jumps handing the race win to Mark Hadden, and the overall to Chell.
Belgian visitors Davino Bruneel and Roderick Dutry filled the remaining podium positions with Davies’ earlier efforts enough to give him fourth. In the Clubman B group, a third and to wins secured Bradley Cockrem victory.
Lady luck worked for the Davies family in the Masters class, which was one by dad, Ed. He’d been beaten in race one by Paul Winrow, but a broken swingarm in race two ruled him out, leaving the way open for Davies to win that, and the third, with ease. In the Masters B Group Gary McKenna took victory
In the 250 class Ayton Knowles again took victory after winning the first two races, then only losing a fiesty third race by half a second to title rival Lorne Sinclair.
Third overall went to Belgian, Thibault Deprince who had topped qualifying and led race one briefly.
Josh Birch dominated toe 150 group with three wins, Harry Carmichael took the 250 Modifieds after a third (after stopping to put the chain back on) and two wins. Daniel Hares won the Standard class with two seconds and a win.
Finally in the 100 Group, Marcus Sprason won with a fine maximum, with Luke Berlyn second overall. Berlyn did secure the fastest lap in race three when finishing just five seconds behind Sprason, his smallest winning margin. Jago Jackson and Lewis Humphris also secured maximums while winning the 50s and Raptors respectively.
RESULTS
BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP:
Overall: 1 Jeremie Warnia, 2 Dean Colhoun, 3 Justin Reid, 4 Carl Bunce, 5 George Callaway, 6 Paul Holmes.
Under 21 Overall: 1 Dean Colhoun, 2 George Callaway, 3 Luke Cooper, 4 Randy Navaux, 5 Murray Graham, 6 Etienne Sannier
NORA CHAMPIONSHIP:
Clubman: 1 Tom Chell, 2 Davino Bruneel, 3 Roderick Dutry, 4 Dafydd Davies, 5 Mat Burroughs, Tom Yates.
Clubman B: 1 Bradley Cockrem, 2 Harry Grant, 3 Sam Holmes, 4 Sam Turner, 5 Oscar Hurley, 6 Marco Zaffino.
Masters: 1 Ed Davies, 2 Gary Adlington, 3 Darren Bridge, 4 Matthew Kirk, 5 Mark Stepney, 6 Darren Jukes.
Masters B: 1 Gary McKenna, 2 Marcus Knight, 3 Shaun Eaton, 4 Dave Lickfold, 5 Simon Pritchard, 6 Rick Jones.
250 Group: 1 Ayrton Knowles, 2 Lorne Sinclair, 3 Thibault Deprince, 4 Jack Norris, 5 Harry Carmichael, 6 Connor Paxton.
250 Open: 1 Ayrton Knowles, 2 Lorne Sinclair, 3 Thbault Deprince, 4 Jack Norris, 5 Connor Paxton, 6 Connor Sims.
250 Mod: 1 Harry Carmichael, 2 Iestyn Rowlands, 3 Catrin Davies, 4 William Booth, 5 Bradley Watson, 6 Scott Berlyn.
250 Standard: 1 Daniel Hares, 2 Scott Irons, 3 Joseph Jukes, 4 Vassna Willcock, 5 Bradley Lightfoot, 6 Shanice Mott.
150 Open: 1. Josh Birch, 2 Shelley Smart, 3 Terence Palin. No other finishers.
100 Group: 1 Marcus Sprason, 2 Luke Berlyn, 3 Tom Fitzgerald, 4 Alfie Walker, 5 Lewis Humphris, 6 Dylan McKenna.
100 Geared: 1. Marcus Sprason, 2 Luke Berlyn, 3 Tom Fitzgerald, 4 Alfie Walker, 5 Dylan McKenna, 6 Dillon Stepney.
100 Mod: 1 Aled Davies. No other finisher
Raptor: 1. Lewis Humphris, 2 Tom Bainbridge, 3 Callum Lockett. No other finishers.
50: 1 Jago Jackson, 2 Logan Paxton, 3 Nadine Barnes. No other finishers.
WORDS/PICS: Rob McDonnell