Members of the British Motorcycle Racing Club swapped chocolate eggs and forced family get-togethers for a weekend of racing this Easter, travelling to Wales and the Pembrey circuit.
ACU Team Green Junior Cup and Senior Ninja series
A two-time winner at round one last time out, Zack Weston took his season’s win tally to five, with a hat-trick of victories around the short-but-demanding Pembrey circuit. Fellow Junior Cup competitor Crag Dance took the other available win.
Phil Atkinson took four Senior wins, with a best of second overall.
Weston was quickest in qualifying, besting Atkinson to pole by two tenths of a second. From the time sheets it looked set to be a two-rider fight for the wins all weekend, with no other rider within a second of the pole-sitter Weston.
And while Weston led from start to finish, a bad opening lap for Atkinson saw him cross the line for the first time down in eighth.
Robbie Park slotted into second, but crashed out on lap four, with Dance inheriting the spot he would hold until the chequered flag, with Atkinson using all eight laps to recover to third.
In race two Weston again assumed an early lead, with Dance fourth at the end of lap one. Park again slotted into second, but by the end of the opening lap Weston was already over a second ahead.
However, Dance was on the move, and at the end of lap two he was second, and he hit the front a lap later. From the halfway stage Weston and Dance raced for the win, and though less than a tenth of a second was the gap at the end of eight laps, it was Weston who added another win to his record.
Atkinson took the flag in a safe third, and took the Senior class win.
The first of Sunday’s two races was a corker for spectators, with Weston and Dance constantly swapping the lead between themselves, neither able to break away from the other.
With eight of the race’s 10 laps complete, Dance had the advantage, and Weston, pushing to retake the position, crashed out of contention.
Dance was unable to simply cruise round to victory, however, as Atkinson was charging hard in third, and crossed the line just over half a second behind the winner. Junior runner Pack finished third and completed the podium.
Despite the disappointment, Weston took the fight to Dance again in race four, with Atkinson again in the fray, just behind the main two protagonists.
The lead again swapped between the two Junior riders, and though Dance started the last lap in front, Weston pounced and took his third victory of the weekend. Dance was second, and Atkinson - the Senior winner - again third.
ProperlyProtected.co.uk MRO Minitwins
With his MHP Racing Suzuki SV650 shod with the number one plate, David Twyford showed why he’s the class champion and smart bet for this year’s title, taking all four wins in dominant fashion.
It was a perfect weekend for Twyford, as he qualified on pole, too. He was fastest by a second, and won an eight lap-opener by over nine seconds, and race two by over 11.
At the front of a fairly processional race one, Kevin Lilley finished second, three and a half seconds up on Barry Mantell, himself seven seconds in front of Stacey Killworth. Toby Finnis took the Rookie Minitwin spoils in sixth overall.
In race two Killworth was second, with Lilley third, while Finnis was again the rookie victor, with another sixth place finish.
While Saturday’s races went against the Minitwin class’s reputation, amends were made on Sunday.
Twyford may have disappeared at the front, but behind, four riders were covered by a second in the battle for the runner-up spot.
Lilley was second and Lee Ellis third, while Killworth and Mantell missed out on the podium in fourth and fifth.
Another sixth for Finnis gave him 25 Rookie Minitwin championship points.
Twyford went four-from-four in the final race of the Easter weekend, winning by six seconds. Behind, it was another close battle for the second spot on the rostrum, as just over a tenth split Killworth and Mantell after 10 laps of the Pembrey circuit.
It was a full house of sixth place finishes for Finnis, as he took another rookie win.
Reactive Parts MRO Powerbikes and Clubman 1000
Josh Wainwright, winner of all three races at the MRO Powerbike season-opener at Brands, was on BSB duty at Silverstone over the Easter weekend.
With the reigning champ’ absent, Nicky Wilson, aboard his Demon GP/Haslemere Motorcycle Suzuki, took the role of rider to beat, something no one was able to do all weekend.
After qualifying on pole position by over a second, Wilson won Saturday’s 10-lap race by over six seconds, leading every lap to take a convincing win. Behind, however, there was a thrilling fight for the remaining podium spots.
Less than half a second covered the three riders fighting over just two places on the podium. Jack Croucher, Charles Hardisty, and Seamus McGlynn diced and fought for the duration of the race, and Hardisty began the final lap at the head of the battle.
Unfortunately for him, a last lap move by Croucher saw him snatch the position away, while McGlynn missed out on silverware.
In seventh place, Clayton Grover, on his Grover Stunts Yamaha R1, secured the Clubman win.
Sunday saw two 13-lap races, both won by Wilson. Another start-to-finish victory in race one came comfortably ahead of Croucher, on the Trendy Lofts Kawasaki ZX-10R. In turn, he was five seconds clear of McGlynn’s S and D Build and Design Yamaha.
10 seconds back again was Clubman winner Grover, who took fourth ahead of Seb Jenkins.
In the final race, Wilson was again victorious, leading every lap to complete a dominant weekend, with Croucher again second. Third went to Hardisty, and fourth to Clubman winner Grover.
DART Motorsport MRO 600 and Clubman 600
The theme of runaway winners continued in the DART Motorsport MRO 600 races, as Fenton Seabright chalked up four wins from four races, his smallest margin of victory still a sizeable nine seconds.
What makes Seabright’s victory in race one more impressive is the fact that he failed to set a time in qualifying, and so started from the back of the grid.
Unbelievably he was third by the end of lap one, and was leading by a second at the end of lap two. Six more laps pass by, and Seabright takes the chequered flag nearly 11 seconds ahead of Harry Fowle, with pole-sitter Alex Latham third.
10th place went to Jack Muir, who claimed the Clubman win. He took the victory by two tenths of a second, with fellow Clubman runners Henry Ross and Aaron Dalrymple 11th and 12th.
Nearly 16 seconds was the margin of Seabright’s victory in race two, with Fowle again second.
Any award for most improved rider would have gone to Ross, the Clubman runner-up in race one taking an impressive class win, finishing third overall.
It was more of the same in race three. Sunday’s opening race again ended with Seabright winning, this time by nearly 19 seconds on his Yamaha R6. Fellow Yamaha pilot, Fowle, was again second.
Less than one and a half seconds covered the five riders battling over second, with Fowle holding off Joey Lambden, Clubman winner Ross, former MRO Minitwin Grant Robertson, and Latham.
It was a repeat podium in race four, Seabright’s win this time coming by nine seconds. Fowle was second, two seconds up on Lambden. Muir took a second Clubman win, finishing fifth.
L&W Contractors BMCRC Rookie 600 and 1000
With three wins and a second from the second round of the championship at Pembrey, Karl Thompson doubled his season’s win count and looked like the rider to beat to this year’s Rookie 1000 crown. In the 600s, Callum Manley - the early series leader after three wins at Brands Hatch - took two wins, with Toby Finnis taking the other two.
Thompson circulated in second place in race one, following Sam Cranstone for four laps before taking the lead and taking victory in the eight-lapper. Teammates Scott Dermott and David Wilkins, on their TwoClicksOut Racing Yamahas, finished third and fourth.
It was the same top four in races two and three, before Cranstone claimed his win in the final race, a spectacular race that saw Wilkins lead the first half, before being passed by his teammate, Dermot.
His lead lasts two seconds, before he crashes out. Cranstone, now second at this point, inherits the lead and goes on to win. Thompson was second, with Wilkins third.
In the 600s, Manley won both of Saturday’s races, with Finnis and Jason Gamble taking a second and a third each.
On Sunday, Finnis won from Manley and Gamble, but a crash for Manley in race four elevated Gamble to second, with Tom Walker third.
Illuminate Design 250 MZ
In the usually unpredictable and hotly-contested Illuminate Design 250 MZ class, Andrew Wales flew in the face of convention and won all four races, and in convincing fashion.
Wales beat Alexander Mann and Chris Rogers by five seconds in race one, leaving the pair to fight it out over second place.
It was a repeat podium in race two, though this time with Mann closer to Wales and Rogers further adrift.
Wales was credited with the win in a red-flagged race three, with Mann and Rogers again second and third.
Race four went the distance, but it was the same trio on the podium, in the same order, as Wales won from Mann and Rogers.
DFDS Yamaha Past Masters
All four wins in the DFDS Yamaha Past Masters went to early championship leader Kevin Wholey, after he took three of the four available at Brands Hatch last time out. But, despite looking dominant on the results sheet, he still had his work cut out.
Race one was his more comfortable win, and after following Peter Branton around for three laps, he hit the front on lap four. From there he pulled out a lead of over six seconds and took the win.
Branton took second, a second up on Doug Edmondson in third.
Race two was an entirely different affair, and Wholey’s win came by less than a tenth of a second. This time, he sat behind Edmondson for seven of the eight laps, pouncing on the final circulation to steal the win away. Branton finished third.
Unfortunately for Edmondson, the first of Sunday’s races told a similar story, and after leading the way for much of the race, Wholey grabbed the lead when it mattered; on the final lap, and took victory number three.
Four riders covered by less than a second and a half battled over the final podium position. Rik Ballerini came out on top and took the bronze medal spot, in front of Richard Hayward, Peter Branton, and Paul Welch.
In the final race of the weekend Wholey made it a perfect score, doing so by leading every lap to take victory. And while he never looked troubled, he had to keep his head down to avoid slipping into the clutches of Edmondson, behind, who again finished second.
Branton was third, just ahead of Welch.
BMCRC F1 and F2 Sidecars
Three of the four BMCRC Sidecar races were won by an F2 outfit, with Tim Reeves and Mark Wilkes winning twice on Saturday and again on Sunday morning. However, after failing to make the start of race four, they left F1 runners Andy Peach and Ken Edwards to take the final win of the weekend.
Reeves and Wilkes, on their Bonovo Action and Rich Energy-sponsored outfit, won both of Saturday’s races from Martin Kirk and Kyle Masters on their LCR Yamaha, who, in second place, took two F1 class wins.
Taking a brace of thirds in the overall classification was another F1 pairing of Simon Gilbert and Anthony Hildige on the West Ewell Fencing Ryde 1000.
Sunday’s 10-lap opener was dominated by Reeves and Wilkes, who took win number three by over 20 seconds. In their wake, however, four pairings diced for two podium positions.
Gilbert and Hildige were in the mix, but a mistake on lap eight of 10 dropped them out of podium contention, and they crossed the line in fifth.
Kirk and Masters ended lap eight in second, but were passed by both the pairings of Dan Knight and Ben Hughes - on their F2 class LCR Honda - and Peach and Edwards, who went on to finish second and third respectively, with Peach and Edwards the F1 class winners. Less than half a second covered the three machines from second to fourth at the chequered flag.
An all-F1 class podium in race four was headed by Peach and Edwards, with Sam and Jack Laidlow second and Gilbert and Hildige. In fourth, Rob Handcock and Basil Bevan were the F2 winners.
BMCRC Formula 400
There were three winners from the four races in the Formula 400 championship, with Andy Gill collecting a brace of victories, while Haydon Smith - on his open class Hi-Precision Engineering Ltd Kawasaki - took one win and his teammate Nick Smith, on the Sub-64bhp class ZXR400, taking the other.
Just over a second was all that covered the four riders racing for victory in race one, with Haydon winning from Nick Smith, with Gill third and Alan Major missing out on a trophy in fourth.
Gill was victorious in race two by just over a second and a half, as the Smiths crossed the line side by side in second and third. Haydon, with the extra power, pipped Nick to the runner-up spot.
Gill also looked set to win race three, and led from the off until just over the halfway stage, before dropping out of contention on lap seven.
With Haydon Smith also watching from the sidelines from lap four, Nick Smith took the win, and headed an all Sub-64bhp class podium. Major was second, and Steve Rapa third on his Honda RVF400.
It was back to winning ways for Gill in the final race, and he took the chequered flag by over four seconds, with Haydon and Nick Smith again second and third, and split by less than a tenth of a second.
Steve Jordan Motorcycles and TBR Performance BMCRC Thunderbike Extreme and Ultra
A grid increasingly dominated by Ultra class machines, all four races end with three Ultra spec bikes on the overall podium. Chad Hashmi took two wins, Jamie Thomas and Stacey Killworth a win apiece.
In the Extreme class there were also three winners from the four races, with Barry Mantell and Darren Corkett winning a race each on Saturday, before Shaun Hennessy doubled up on Sunday.
Suzuki GSX-R1000s filled the top seven positions in race one, as Hashmi won form Seb Jenkins and Morgan Creasey. In 11th, Mantell took the Extreme win.
In race two Thomas won from James Fearn, the pair both on GSX-Rs, with Creasey again third. Corkett, in seventh, won the Extreme class.
On Sunday morning Hashmi took win number two, from Creasey, Fearn, and Hennessy, with less than a second covering the four. Hennessy, at the back of the quartet, took the first of two Extreme class wins.
His second came in the final race, in which he finished fifth overall. Killworth took victory, ahead of Creasey and Jenkins.
Steve Jordan Motorcycles BMCRC Thunderbike Sport
After winning three of the four races at round one, Jeremy Hill went one better and tasted victory in all four races at Pembrey for round two.
On the Silver Racing Yamaha R6, he beat Tony Russo into second place in both of Saturday’s outings, with David May twice third.
On Sunday Andy Denyer took a brace of second runner-up finishes, with Russo third.
Running in the newly-formed Supertwins class at Bemsee, Michael Allen took four wins.
Blue Haze GP and GPF
Rik Ballerini took two comfortable wins in Saturday’s Blue Haze GP races for classic two-stroke race bikes, with Tom Barrett and Doug Edmondson winning a race each on Sunday.
Ballerini was in dominant form on the first day of racing, and won by nearly six, and then over seven seconds in races one and two.
On both occasions Edmondson was second, and Barrett third.
It looked as though Ballerini would go three from three in the first of Sunday’s races, but he retired from the lead, and with it cost himself the chance of a perfect score.
Edmondson also retired, with Barrett left to ride unchallenged to the win.
Despite being unable to get close to him on Saturday, less than a second covered Edmondson and Ballerini by the end of race four, as they battled for the win. Edmondson took the 25 championship points, with Ballerini having to settle for second. George Prinos was third.
In the GPF class - for road-based machines - David Ball bagged two wins, winning races one and four over the weekend. Andrew Burscough won the second race on the programme, with Liam McCarter winning Sunday’s opener.
It was a Ball, Burscough, and McCarter podium in race one, before Burscough and Ball reversed positions in race two.
A red-flagged race three ended with McCarter the victor, with Burscough, the cause of the stoppage, not classified as a result. Damian Lee and Darren Cooper completed the podium.
Ball was back to winning ways in race four, taking victory from McCarter. Burscough was unable to make the start, allowing Lee to take another podium finish in third.