The seventh round of the British Motorcycle Racing Club’s 2025 season took the club to Norfolk and the Snetterton 300 circuit, and despite the recent weather hinting at summer’s end, the action took place in dry conditions
This weekend the Reactive Parts MRO Powerbikes included the Clubman 1000s and the Clothing Kings Retro 1000s, as usual, however, the BMCRC Rookie 1000s also featured as part of the same grid.
And in a surprise twist: rookie Tommy Jones, riding his Honda Fireblade secured pole position with a 1:57.765 lap; the only rider to dip below the 1:58 mark all session. His pace edged out Dawid Krawiecki on the Code Blue LTD & D A East Electrical Yamaha R1 by over half a second, with Mindaugas Storpirstis, aboard the ANR Tyres Honda Fireblade, was just a two tenths of a second further back.
However, despite the shakeup in qualifying, it was Powerbikes series leader, Maximus Hardy that continued his winning streak, having won the previous six races in a row. Starting from the third row of the grid, Hardy cut through the pack and controlled the race to seal victory. Luke Wallington, piloting a Honda Fireblade for Roxo Rodina Racing, was second, with Krawiecki third.
Sam Cranstone took the Clubman spoile on another Honda for Fortis Racing, finishing fourth overall. Pole-sitter and rookie Jones finished seventh overall to take the class win, and the Retro 1000 victory went to Tyler Donovan who crossed the line in eighth overall.
Hardy made it eight in a row in race two, though this time he was made to work much harder for it, with Wallington only two tenths of second back when the chequered flag fell. Collins delivered a standout performance to take third overall and victory in the Clubman ranks, but he was seven seconds off the win.
Jones once again topped the rookie class with sixth overall, while Donovan repeated his Retro 1000 success with seventh place.
In the 10-lap feature race of the weekend Hardy was again the man to beat and extended both his winning run and championship lead. Wallington again pushed him all the way but was just over a second back at the flag, as Krawiecki took another third-place finish.
Collins once again triumphed in the Clubman category in fifth overall, and Jones maintained his perfect rookie record with sixth. This time, though, the Retro class was topped by Justin Rose on his J. Rose Roofing Services Yamaha R1 in eighth overall.
There was similar dominance on show in the Dart Motorsport MRO and Clubman 600s. The weekend began with Matt Pallett topping qualifying on his Kawasaki ZX636, which he converted into three consecutive wins. Henry Ross and Sam Hirst shared the remaining podium places throughout the weekend.
In race one Pallett won by four and a half seconds from Ross, who in turn had four and a half seconds in hand over Hirst. Paul Bloomfield secured his first of two Clubman wins in ninth overall.
Pallett won again in race two, this time from Hirst, who raced Ross all the way to the chequered flag, the pair split by just a tenth of a second, while Bloomfield took his second Clubman victory, again in ninth overall.
The final race completed Pallett’s clean sweep, as he crossed the line in front of a scrapping Ross and Hirst, the duo covered by less than four tenths of a second come the chequered flag. This time Rhys Forrest bagged the Clubman honours in tenth overall, finishing nearly seven seconds up on Bloomfield.
There were four races over the weekend for the Rookie 600 class. Peter Cannons bookended the weekend by winning races one and four, with Chad Shiner and Matthew Benton picking up a win apiece.
Dominance was the order of the weekend in the Fyne Audio-sponsored BMCRC Thunderbike 500 Championship for Honda CB500s, with Luke Macrae, riding for Northlands Fencing/EPS Pumps, winning all four outings. In turn, he notched all four wins in the C2 class and closed in on Daniel North at the top of the overall championship standings. North - on the Honda CB500 for B.E.D Electrical Distributors Ltd - recorded two runner-up finishes, as did Shaun O’Hara, riding with sponsorship from Advanced Vehicle Alarms.
In the opening race Macrae led from the off and finished over eight and a half seconds clear of North, who, conversely, had only a tenth of a second in hand over O’Hara at the flag. Jake Kourti was fourth overall and first in C1 class, and Ian Carter came home in seventh to win the C3 class.
Race two again saw Macrae at the front, this time with North in the runner-up spot ahead of O’Hara in third, while Kourti took another C1 win in fifth, while Carter once more led C3 in seventh.
On Sunday Macrae extended his winning streak winning ahead of O’Hara in race three and then North in race four. Kourti finished third overall and first in C1 in race three and won the C1 class again in fourth overall in rave four. O’Hara was third in the final outing.
In the C3 class Carter made it four from four, with a brace of fifth placed finishes on Sunday.
David Twyford took his season’s win tally to 20 in the Properly Protected MRO Minitwins, winning all four at Snetterton. It means he’s won every race he’s finished this season, bar one third place at the club’s previous visit to Snetterton in May.
Twyford, riding for IMP Racing/MHP took a clean sweep across the weekend, with Mitch Ducran and Del Dowds consistent podium finishers, and Ronnie Harris also featuring strongly in the top three. In the rookie class, William Howarth claimed the category win in all four races with a best finish of seventh overall.
In race one Twyford finished over seven seconds clear of Ducran, with Dowds third, a further five seconds back and only half a second up on Harris. It was the same podium order in race two.
In Sunday’s first race Twyford made it three from three and crossed the line first ahead of Harris and Ducran third. Ducran led a five-rider battle for the final podium spot, holding off Bill Harris in fourth by two tenths of a second
Ducran was the runner-up finisher behind Twyford in the final race, who held off Dowds by two tenths of a second, with Ronnie Harris only a tenth adrift of the podium in fourth, with Bill Harris fifth.
There was a clean sweep in the BMCRC Formula 400s, too, with Craig Dance dominating all four races on his Two Brothers Scaffolding Kawasaki ZX-4RR. Haydon Smith, Ollie Sims, and Luca Wilkinson shared the remaining podium places.
In the opener, Dance won ahead of Smith and Sims, while Jake Donkersley missed the podium by just two tenths of a second. The second race followed a similar pattern, Dance winning from Smith, with Wilkinson this time third third ahead of Sims and Donkersley.
Race three again went to Dance, from Smith and Wilkinson secured third, before Dance completed his unbeaten run, taking victory from Wilkinson and Sims.
Paul Whitby took his first ever wins in the DFDS Yamaha Past Masters championship, taking two victories over the weekend on his TZR250. Whitby won races two and three, with Mark Haigh taking 25 points in the weekend’s opener and championship challenger Alan Cooper winning the final race.
Haigh won from Cooper and Alan Bushell, before Whitby’s maiden triumph came ahead of David Ball and Haigh. Whitby then went on to win from Haigh and Cooper, as five riders streamed across the line, covered by a little more than one second. Cooper then tasted victory in race four, ahead of Haigh and Bushell.
Hudson Cooper and Arnie Carr shared the overall and junior class wins across the four ACU Team Green Junior Cup and Senior Ninja races, with Cooper taking three wins to Carr’s one, while Lewis Jones claimed the Senior honours each time.
In the opener Cooper dominated, six seconds clear of Jones, who was top senior runner, while Carr secured third overall. Race two was a more closely contested affair, this time with Carr winning by three tenths of a second with Jones again second and Cooper third.
Cooper reclaimed the top spot on Sunday to win both races, narrowly beating Carr by a tenth of a second in race, with Jones in third overall and the Senior winner. It was a repeat podium and similar story in the last race of the weekend, as Cooper fended off Carr by less than two tenths of a second.
Alexander Mann won all four races in the RevdCoin BMZRC 250 MZ series to extend his championship lead over Andrew Wales, who was absent from the weekend’s MZ action.
In the Clothing Kings-backed BMCRC Thunderbike Sport and TW Suspension Supertwins Morgan Creasey, on his FCB-Green Plant Satellite Suzuki, secured victory in all four races. Conversely, the Supertwin class produced three different winners across the weekend, with Zack Weston, Del Dowds, and Cameron Harris sharing the wins.
Creasey finished two seconds clear of Weston in race one, with third going to Yamaha R6-mounted Josh Harvey. In race two Creasey doubled up, beating Dowds by a huge 13 seconds, Dowds also taking the Supertwin win, while Harvey crashed out. Adam Jamison - currently second in the points standings - took third overall.
Race three produced the closest finish of the weekend, as Creasey edged out Harvey by two tenths of a second, while Harris completed the overall podium to secure Supertwin spoils. It was another close-run thing in the final race, which ended with Creasey winning by half a second from Harvey, with Weston seven seconds down in third, but first in the Supertwins.
Morgan Creasey was also in action in the TW Suspension Thunderbike Extreme and TBR Performance Thunderbike Ultra races, and shared the overall race wins and the Ultra class wins with Daryl Dance, while Tony Russo consistently headed the Extreme class.
Creasey won the opener and race three, Dance was victorious in races two and four. Tyler Donovan was twice runner-up on his Tinder Corp Kawasaki ZX-10R on Saturday, and also in the final race, with the other silver medal going to Dance in Sunday’s opener. Dance was also third in race one, Clinton Wood third in race two, Donovan in race three, and Justin Rose completed the rostrum in race four.
Tony Russo was the top Extreme rider in each race, with a best finish of fifth overall.
The BMCRC F1 and F2 sidecar races produced four different winners across the weekend, with the overall spoils shared between James Faiers and Jason Pitt, Ben Holland and Ricky Stevens, Will and Andy Smith, and Sean Hegarty and Jack Knapton in the F1 class, while the F2 victories alternated between Brian Ilaria and Lee Saunders and Greg Lambert and his alternating passengers of Robin King and Andy Javens.
Faiers and Pitt also took a brace of runner-up finishes, as Holland and Stevens and the Smith duo took a runner-up finish apiece. The Smiths and Holland and Stevens evenly shared the third place on the podium over the weekend.
Ilaria and Saunders topped the F2 class twice on Saturday, with a best overall placement of fourth, before Lambert and King/Javens earned the F2 spoils on Sunday, also with a best of fourth overall.
The penultimate round of the 2025 BMCRC championships takes place at Brands Hatch on 19-21 September.