The penultimate round of the 2025 Bemsee season took the club back to the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, with a number of classes seeing champions crowned.
The weekend also saw the club hand out its Champion of Brands trophy, awarded to the most successful rider across its MRO Powerbike and 600 classes over the two visits to the Brands Hatch circuit in a season. This year it went to Scott Halliday in the Powerbike series.
The Rookie Champion of Brand was also awarded and followed the same format, but across the club’s Rookie 1000 and 600 classes, with Tommy Jones collecting the accolade.
Completing the set of special awards handed out at Brands Hatch was the revered Vince Bennett trophy, awarded by Viv Bennett to Maximus Hardy.
Hudson Cooper was crowned ACU Team Green Junior Cup champion with a round to spare, while Daryn Busa secured the Senior Ninja title after the opening two races of the weekend. Cooper, on his Rides R Us/NW Racing Kawasaki claimed the overall victory in race one before finishing fifth in race two, while Busa, on his iActiveRC Kawasaki, made it two class wins from two in the Senior class.
With their titles secured, both riders sat out the final two races as Arnie Carr and Lewis Jones stepped forward to take the remaining honours.
Race one was settled by just a tenth of a second, as Cooper held off Carr for the overall and the Junior win, with Greg Marshall, on the Upstaged/EBC/Redline/Cobb & Jagger Kawasaki, completing the podium. Ruben Bray led the second group home in fourth, while Busa was the first Senior across the line in seventh overall, narrowly ahead of Michael Stone.
Carr struck back in race two, taking the flag ahead of Bray, who took the runner-up spot by the finest of margins, as Marshall crossed the line in third, a mere two thousandths of a second behind.
Travis Rooker - Swedish Car Connection Kawasaki - and Cooper rounded out the top-five in a close contest among the Juniors, as Busa again topped the Senior class in 11th overall.
Race three and Carr was again victorious, this time finishing over five seconds clear of Bray, with Rooker securing his first podium of the weekend in third. Jones took his first Senior win of the weekend in ninth overall.
The hat-trick was complete for Carr in the final outing, as he held off Lucas King and Bray in another close Junior battle, while Jones took another Senior win, this time in fourth overall.
Alexander Mann clinched the RevdCoin BMZRC 250 MZs title at Brands Hatch, after sharing the wins equally with Kevin Wholey. Mann opened with victory in race one before Wholey struck back in race two. The pair then traded places again as Mann edged the third race before Wholey took victory in the final outing.
Peter Woodall completed the podium in Saturday’s two races, while Gordon Ryan took third in the final pair.
On his IMP Racing/MHP/Chris Cowan Suzuki SV650, David Twyford clinched the Properly Protected MRO Minitwins championship with a round to spare, taking his season win tally to 23 in the process. Across the weekend’s four races, Twyford collected three victories, with Ollie Sims taking the win in the opener on his Motorbodies Weston Ltd Suzuki after Twyford crashed out.
Race one began with drama as series leader Twyford crashed out early, leaving Sims to take a narrow win ahead of Ronnie Harris and Jack Bettis. The champion-elect returned to form in race two, however, winning by over five seconds from Sims, with Darren Dowds completing the podium.
The third contest proved the closest of the weekend, with Twyford edging Sims by less than half a second, while Dowds was a fraction of a second further back in third, just one hundredth of a second behind Sims, and the top three covered by less than half a second. Twyford then signed off the weekend with another win and cemented himself as the 2025 champion. He crossed the line ahead of Dowds and Sims.
In the Rookie class William Howarth secured all four victories, with a best finish of fifth overall, which he claimed in both of Sunday’s races.
In the TW Suspension Supertwins races Zack Weston ran out a four-time winner, each time ahead of Toby Finnis and Darren Dowds.
The BMCRC F2 Sidecar Championship had already been decided before a wheel was even turned at Brands Hatch, yet 2025 champions Greg Lambert, with Andrew Jevans and Robin King taking turns in the chair, still took all four class wins in the club’s F1 and F2 sidecar races.
Ben Holland and Ricky Stevens took the overall win and with it the F1 class win in race one, before Paul Kirby and Ema Salmon took the remaining three victories overall and subsequently in the F1 class. However, Jim Faiers with passengers Mark Fox and Jason Pitt were crowned the class champions. A third and fourth on Saturday was enough to put their championship lead beyond the reach of Will and Andy Smith.
Luke Macrae made sure the club’s CB500 class - the Fyne Audio and SF Parts BMCRC Thunderbike 500 - would go down to the wire. Arriving at Brands Hatch in second in the championship chase behind Daniel North, he won all four races on his Northlands Fencing/EPS Pumps-backed machine.
Across the four races, Adrian Kershaw of ADK Racing and North, on the ROAM Café Bistro Honda were consistently in the mix, with Jake Kourti also featuring strongly as the lead C1 rider on his Red Mist Ltd/GK Tree Surgeons Ltd/JWG Motorcycles Honda.
Race one saw Macrae narrowly defeat his brother Oliver by just two tenths of a second, with North completing the podium, less than half a second adrift of the leader. Kershaw and Shaun O’Hara were also in contention throughout, the top five covered by just over a second at the flag.
In class honours, Macrae led C2, Oliver Macrae topped C3, and Kourti secured C1 after climbing through the field from 15th on the grid.
In race two, Luke Macrae again controlled proceedings, this time winning from Kershaw and North, with Kourti taking another clear C1 win in sixth overall. The C3 victory went to Ian Carter, following a disqualification for Oliver Macrae, who held off Colt Dwyer in a close finish for the class spoils.
The tightest finish of the weekend came in a red-flagged race three, with Macrae edging Kershaw by just five hundredths of a second after a race-long battle. North was again close in third, less than a second behind when the race was stopped.
Kourti was the leading C1 runner in fourth while Carter repeated his C3 success with eighth overall.
The final race saw Macrae complete the clean sweep and keep his championship hopes alive, finishing ahead of Kershaw. Kourti delivered his strongest result of the weekend with third overall and first in C1, edging North by less than a tenth of a second in a late battle for the podium. The result also saw Kourti confirm himself as the C1 class champion.
Dwyer came through to take the C3 honours, though Carter claimed the category championship, finishing fourth in class to give himself an unassailable lead with one round remaining.
The Reactive Parts MRO Powerbikes and Clubman 1000 produced three incredibly close races - the final 18-lap race decided by just four thousandths of a second - and saw Tyler Donovan wrap up the Retro 1000 title and Sam Cranstone secure the Clubman 1000 crown.
Maximus Hardy all-but sealed the overall MRO Powerbike Championship, set to be decided at Donington Park in October.
Race one went the way of Scott Halliday, who narrowly beat Hardy by four tenths of a second, with Stephen Draper taking third. Aaron Collins claimed the Clubman honours in fourth overall, just ahead of Cranstone, while Donovan took Retro 1000 victory in ninth overall.
Halliday doubled up in race two, again resisting Hardy, with Draper repeating his third-place finish. Collins once more led the Clubman contingent home in sixth, ahead of Cranstone, while Jamie Thomas inherited the Retro 1000 win after Donovan didn’t make the start.
Conor Thomson made his way onto the top step of the podium in the final race after an incredible race for victory. His winning margin was just four thousandths of a second, ahead of Hardy, with Halliday third after leading for much of the race.
Tommy Jones was the top Clubman runner in fifth overall, while Justin Rose won the Retro 1000 class.
In the Rookie 1000 class Tommy Jones scooped all four race wins in dominant fashion, his biggest margin of victory a whopping 18 and a half seconds, to secure the championship title with a round to spare, thanks to his nearest rival in the points standings, Mindaugas Storpirstis, absent from proceedings. The wins took Jones’ season tally to 12.
Henry Ross dominated the three DART Motorsport MRO 600 and Clubman 600 races, completing a clean sweep with three victories from three starts. Behind him, Sam Hirst and championship leader Matt Pallett were consistent podium finishers. In the Clubman class, Rhys Forrest took maximum points, with a best overall result of ninth.
Ross claimed race one victory from Anthony Johnson, with Hirst close behind in third. Pallett missed the podium by less than two tenths of a second in fourth.
Races two and three followed a similar pattern, Ross winning both with small but decisive margins over Hirst and Pallett. In the second outing, the trio were covered by just over three seconds at the flag, before Hirst and Pallett again chased Ross home in the final race.
There was similar dominance in the Rookie 600, where William Howarth bagged all four race wins. Series leader Daniel Preston took a quartet of fourth place finishes, ensuring the championship will be decided at the final round at Donington Park.
Tyler Donovan arrived at Brands Hatch with a five-point advantage in the TBR Performance Thunderbike Ultra championship and left with that gap doubled to ten, when Daryl Dance failed to finish the final race after outscoring his title rival in the weekend’s earlier races. In the TW Suspension Thunderbike Extreme class Tony Russo all but secured the crown with another strong weekend, taking two class wins and two second places.
Dance won three races from Donovan, turning a five-point disadvantage into a 10-point series lead. Sadly for him, a DNF in the final race and a win for Donovan means he has to do it all again at the final round. Connor Swyer was twice third on Saturday, and third in the final race. Clinton Wood was third in race three, but secured the runner-up spot in race four after Dance’s retirement.
In the Extreme class Tony Russo took two class wins and extended his series lead on Saturday. He was aided by the disqualification for his nearest title rival, Darren Corkett, in the weekend’s opener.
Corkett responded to take two class wins on Sunday, keeping the title fight alive to the final round, though Russo’s two second place finishes in class mean he goes to the final round with one hand on the title.
In the Clothing Kings Thunderbike Sport the focus was on Josh Harvey, as he raced to four victories. However, the story of the weekend was how, with four second place finishes, Adam Jamison assumed the championship lead from Joe White, heading into the final round. White was three times third, after finishing fourth in race one behind Logan Stone.
Luca Wilkinson bagged all 100 championship points available in the BMCRC Formula 400s to extend his championship lead to 36 points with one round to go. He was chased across the line on all four occasions by Ollie Sims, his nearest title rival.