While others threw street parties over the jubilee weekend, the British Motorcycle Racing Club was in action at Oulton Park, with Thursday practice followed by races on Friday and Saturday.
ProperlyProtected.co.uk MRO Minitwins
It was a perfect jubilee weekend for David Twyford in the MRO Minitwins, as he qualified on pole and took all four wins.
He set a pole position time over half a second quicker than anyone else, and led every lap of race one to take 25 championship points.
Kevin Lilley finished second. He ended lap one in fourth but climbed into the runner up spot after two laps. He began steadily gapping Alex Mann and Mitch Ducran, leaving the pair to tussle over third place. In the end it was Mann that took the final spot in the top three, with Ducran fourth.
Brandon Wright in seventh took the Rookie class win.
Twyford again led every lap in race two to seal another victory. Mann made a strong start and held second early on but faded backwards as the laps ticked by. His race would be made worse when slapped with a 10-second jump start penalty, demoting him eighth after the flag.
Nik Baker and Andy Smith became the two duking it out for the runner-up spot, and would take the chequered flag just a tenth of a second apart, with Baker taking it.
Wright took fifth place by half a second to collect another 25 points in the Rookie championship.
It was a repeat podium in Saturday’s eight-lap opener, with Twyford notching his third win aboard his MHP Suzuki. Baker took a secure second place, three seconds down on Twyford and four seconds up on Smith. Wright’s sixth gave him another Rookie class win.
Twyford’s domination was complete in the fourth outing, as he raced away from everyone else to win by nearly eight seconds.
Smith was running in second place until the penultimate lap, when he crashed out, leaving Baker to take another runner-up finish ahead of Mann.
Rookie Wright made it four from four, and finished fourth to complete his perfect record.
Steve Jordan Motorcycles BMCRC Thunderbike Ultra
Mark Wilby set pole and took a solitaire victory in the Thunderbike Ultra races, with Daryl Dance, too, taking a win before Greg Allsop doubled up on Saturday.
In qualifying Wilby was nearly two seconds faster than his nearest challenger on his Stannah Stairlifts GSX-R1000, and led every lap of race one. However, Dance kept him honest, sitting less than half a second off Wilby’s exhaust pipe until a mistake on the final lap cost him any chance of launching an attack.
Dance took the flag three and a half seconds adrift in the end on his 2 Brothers Scaffolding Yamaha, in front of Luke Wallington on his BW Bespoke Developments Yamaha.
A red-flagged race two, for an incident involving Matt Hinnells, ended with Dance as the winner, though he had already pulled a two and a half second lead at the point the race was stopped. Wilby was second, with Chad Hashmi third.
After two non-finishes for technical issues on Friday, Allsop managed to get going on Saturday, and won both races in differing fashions. His first win came by some 10 seconds.
Coming from 14th on the grid, he made swift progress to lead by lap four of eight, and in just four more laps was 10 seconds clear on the rest of the field. Wilby was second, with Ritchie Thorton third.
If he romped to victory for his first win, it was an entirely different affair in race four. He led until half race distance, before being passed by Wallington, who led until the penultimate lap before crashing out.
Allsop assumed the lead once more, and took the win from Dance and Thornton.
Steve Jordan Motorcycles Thunderbike Extreme and Thunderbike Sport
Though he qualified on pole, Andy Scanlon had to watch David May take three wins in the Thunderbike Extreme and Thunderbike Sport races, before finally tasting victory in the weekend’s final race.
In race one there was little to split the front three, despite May leading every lap of the race. It was an all-Extreme class podium, and on his ELP Racing Suzuki GSX-R750 he crossed the line just a tenth of a second in front of pole-sitter Sanlon’s Continental Ducati 996, who was, in turn, three tenths up on Michael Hogarth on his Honda SP1, supported by WHR Racing.
Adam Jamison crossed the line in sixth place to take the Sport class win on his Team AJR Yamaha R6.
After narrowly missing out on the win in race one, Scanlon took an early lead in race two but with May hot on his heels. On lap three May made the move and assumed the race lead, before Scanlon crashed out attempting to keep pace with the new leader.
May was left to ride to victory unchallenged, and took win number two. A photo finish for second saw Hogarth take it, only to be demoted to third following a 10-second penalty for jumping the start. Paul Quinn instead collecting 20 championship points.
There was an equally intense battle for the Sport class win, with just one second covering all three podium finishers. Matthew Fedrick took the win in eighth overall, in front of Colin Walkey and Jamison.
In race three May secured his trio of wins, as he again led from the off to take the win. Hogarth held second but was under constant pressure from Scanlon in third. With three to go Scanlon made the pass but Hogarth remained in tow, with the gap just a tenth of a second as they started the last lap.
Head down, Scanlon set the fastest lap of the race on the final go round to pull away from his pursuer, and narrow the gap to May to under two seconds at the line, as it finished May, Scanlon, Hogarth.
Victory would finally come Scanlon’s way in race four, as he bested May to deny him the perfect weekend.
Shadowing May at the front for six of the eight laps, he moved into the lead on the penultimate lap and pulled half a second right away. Trying his best to stay in touch, a mistake for May on the last lap left Scanlon to ride to a five second win in the end. May salvaged 20 championship points by a tenth of a second, as he narrowly held off Derek Cripps.
Fedrick took a comfortable Sport class win in fifth overall, in front of Jamison. Shaun Wallis completed the class podium in eighth.
ACU Team Green Junior Cup and Senior Ninja series
There were three overall winners from the four ACU Team Green and Senior Ninja series races, though despite only taking the flag first on one occasion, Phil Atkinson collected all four Senior class wins.
The other wins all went to Junior Cup runners, with Sam Hirst picking up one and Lennon Docherty a brace of victories.
Atkinson qualified on pole, but could do nothing against a horde of youngsters and finished race one in seventh, though still as the top Senior runner.
Maximus Hardy led early on, but Hirst soon hit the front and pulled away to take a comfortable win. James O’Mara and Docherty finished second and third, with early leader Hardy, fourth.
Four Junior Cup riders and Atkinson delivered a thrilling spectacle in race two, as all five took the chequered flag within half a second.
Docherty collected his first win, less than a tenth of a second in front of Hardy, with Dylan Mellor completing the podium. Zach Weston finished fourth with Atkinson fifth.
In the third race two of the leading gaggle hit the deck, with Docherty and Mellor crashing out. That left Atkinson to edge it from Hardy, with Weston climbing onto the bottom step of the podium.
Despite the earlier mishap, Docherty was back and on form in the final race, winning another close-run thing at the front. This time a second covered the top-four, with Hardy, Mellor second and third, with Atkinson fourth to make it another perfect weekend in the Senior class.
RKB-F1 and F2 Sidecars
In three of the weekend’s four sidecar races the F2 pairing of Sean Hegarty and James Neave picked up three overall wins, with the other going to the F1 duo of Luke Williams and Anthony Hildige.
Williams and Hildige qualified on pole and converted that to victory in race one. Hegarty and Neave were the F2 meat in an F1 sandwich, finishing second overall, with Gordon Pottinger and David Dodd third.
Hegarty and Neave then went on to win three races outright and, as a result, take three F2 wins in the process.
The win in race two came in front of the F1 pairings of Dean Nicholls and Tom Bryant, and Pottinger and Dodd.
On Saturday the pair took the flag in front of Chris Wright and Paul Bailey, who took the F1 win, and fellow F2 pairing Craig Goodier and Mark Stone.
Pottinger and Dodd then claimed second in race four to take the F1 win, with Wright and Bailey third.
DART Motorsport MRO 600, GP2, and Clubman 600
Barry Dimelow took three wins in the DART Motorsport MRO 600 races, with Lewis Arrowsmith taking a solitary victory.
Dimelow was untouchable in race one, leading each lap to ensure a comprehensive win. Arrowsmith was in a lonely second, with James Bull third, just in front of polesitter Martin Morris. Owen Mellor was the Clubman winner in fifth.
On his AJC Construction Kawasaki Dimelow was victory again in race two, this time with Bull in second and Lynden Leatherland third.
Mellor was again the Clubman winner in fifth.
After two relatively processional races on Friday, Saturday’s opener finally delivered some close action at the front.
Dimelow led from the off and led every lap bar the one that matters most. In the early stage Bull held second, closely followed by Arrowsmith.
On the penultimate lap Arrowsmith moved into second, before striking on the final lap to take victory on his CBR600 Honda. Dimelow had to settle for second, with Bull third.
Mellor was fourth, and again top Clubman runner.
For Dimelow, usual service was resumed in race four, and took a comfortable win, leading from start to finish to cross the line four and a half seconds in front of Arrowsmith and Bull. Again fourth, Mellor took the Clubman win.
Reactive Parts MRO Powerbikes and Clubman 1000
Josh Wainwright turned pole position into two wins in the Reactive Parts Powerbikes, winning Friday’s feature race and the first of Saturday’s double header.
He qualified nearly a second up on Greg Allsop, and then pulled a one second lead on the opening lap. He steadily increased his lead and took a comfortable win on his JW MOT Centre Honda Fireblade, with Allsop in a lonely second place on his Allsop Construction Services Yamaha R1.
Max Symonds was third, with 15th placed Luke Wallington the Clubman victor.
The story was much the same in the first of Saturday’s two 11-lap races, with Wainwright leading from the front and steadily building his advantage. Allsop remained in touch early on, but Wainwright pulled it out to four seconds, managed it, and brought it home to take win number two.
Allsop took another second with Symonds, on the J&C Symonds LTD BMW third, and Wallington 13th and again the Clubman class winner.
In the third and final race Allsop dug in, and as Wainwright tried to make another break at the front he stuck with him, and took the lead on lap three.
The position changed hands again, the two fighting it out for the final win of the weekend, and in the end Allsop was able to deny Wainwright the cleansweep and took the win by two tenths of a second.
Making a trio of third, Wainwright completed the podium, as Seamus McGlynn prevented Wallington making it three from three in the Clubman category, taking the spoils in 12th place.
DFDS Yamaha Past Masters
The DFDS Yamaha Past Masters provided some of the most exciting action over the weekend, with class veteran Peter Branton taking three wins, the other going the way of Kevin Wholey.
Fine margins were the order of the weekend, and in the opening race less than a second split the top four. Pole man Wholey led the opening lap, before Branton hit the front. He was never out of reach of the chasing pack, but enough dicing was going on behind to allow him to hold station at the head of the field.
Wholey, Alan Cooper, and Scott Grant were the ones doing the scrapping, with only two of three able to fill the podium spots. Cooper grabbed it on the penultimate lap, with Wholey, who’d dropped to fourth, denying Grant a podium on the final lap.
Branton won race two by a similarly slender margin of two tenths of a second, this time with Wholey managing to go one better to take the runner-up spot in front of Cooper. Grant was again fourth but this time in isolation.
From third to second, Wholey continued his ascent and took the win in race three, pulling a last lap move on Branton to take victory while behind Grant was able to deny Cooper another podium, taking third place.
The fourth and final race saw Branton return to the top step, this time stamping authority on things to win by nearly three seconds.
He made a strong start, but Grant and Anthony Johnson fighting for second in the opening laps helped him escape the rest of the field.
Come the chequered flag Grant and Johnson would be split by less than a tenth of a second, but in fourth and fifth place, as Wholey and Cooper managed to pass them both to fight for second position. Wholey claimed second, with Cooper third.
Illuminate Design BMZRC 250
Scott Grant was also in action on a 250 MZ in the Illuminate Design-supported series, and took three wins over the weekend.
It was Alexander Mann that qualified on pole and took the win in race one, but by the narrowest of margins as he and Grant drag raced to the line. Seven hundredths of a second covered the pair as the chequered flag fell.
Andrew Wales and Chris Kent duked it out for third, with a third of a second the gap between them at the line.
From there, however, Grant took all three wins.
He won race two from Peter Woodall and Andrew Wales, before bettering Wales and Kent in race three.
Mann, after winning race one, was back on the podium in race four, but was second to Grant but two tenths of a second in front of Kent.
Taymar Motorcycles Blue Haze GPF
You’d have been given very short odds on David Abraham winning all four races in the Blue Haze GPF class, after he set a pole time five seconds faster than anybody else.
He then led every lap of race one apart from the last one, when a retirement saw him score no points.
Richard Lambourne inherited the victory, with James Seath second. He crossed the line just over a second off the win, but was given a 10-second jump start penalty. Thankfully, for him, he had enough in hand to keep second, as Paul Toland just beat Mark Haigh to third.
Determined to make amends, Abraham won race two comfortably, with Lambourne second and Seath third.
On Saturday he twice beat Seath and Toland.
L&W Contractors Rookie 600 and Rookie 1000
Despite racing in four Thunderbike races and three Powerbike races over the weekend, Luke Wallington was also in action in the four Rookie 1000 races over the weekend, and secured all four wins.
He set pole, and comfortably won race one from Harry Hinchcliffe and Lee Healey, the latter two split by less than a tenth of a second.
He then went on to win race two from Ben Cheeseman, with Hinchcliffe third, Healey fourth, and Anthony Brandish fifth, the four riders behind the winner covered by a second.
On Saturday Healey and Hinchcliffe were on the podium in races three and four
In the 600s Henry Ros was fastest in qualifying by Michael Shepphard beat him to victory in race one, with Pete Marsh third, and it was a similar story in race two.
With Shepphard crashing out on the final lap of race three, Ross took his win for the weekend, in front of Marsh and Craig Bicknell, before Shepphard returned to the top step in race four, with Marsh and Toby Cook on the rostrum, as Ross crashed out.