The first of the British Motorcycle Club’s visit to Donington Park saw the organisation use the GP layout and took place in ideal conditions, with warm - but not hot - and dry weather across the whole weekend.
In the ACU Team Green Junior Cup and Senior Ninja Series Lucas King and Dan Bray shared the victories across the four races, with the pair consistently at the front throughout. King took wins in races one and two, while Bray responded with victories on Sunday, in races three and four. Danny Huskinson completed the overall podium in three of the four outings, with Alfie Garrod also securing a podium finish in race three. King also headed the Junior class in each race, with Bray taking the Senior honours each time.
King edged out Bray by just over two tenths of a second after five laps in race one, with Huskinson a further four tenths back in third. Alfie Garrod narrowly missed the overall podium in fourth after finishing less than three tenths behind Huskinson and under a second off the win.
It was two wins from two starts for King on Saturday, with another win in race two. This time the gap to Bray increased to just over six tenths of a second, while Huskinson claimed third overall, a further six tenths behind.
Come Sunday, Bray turned the tables on King. In the first of the day’s two races the Senior runner won by just over a second after seven laps. The battle for third was more spread out, with Garrod finishing over seven seconds behind King, though he held off William Round, who was just under half a second off the podium in fourth. King did remain the leading Junior rider.
Penalties played their part in the results of race four, with both King and Huskinson hit by three-second time penalties for track limits violations. As a result, victory by half a second for King turned into a two and a half second loss to Bray. Huskinson was classified third.
Brothers Ronnie and Bill Harris shared the victories across the four races in the Properly Protected MRO Minitwins, with the Team Harris Racing riders dominating over the weekend. Ronnie Harris won races one and three, while Bill Harris took the honours in races two and four. Jack Noble was also the leading Rookie rider in every race, consistently finishing inside the top five overall.
Almost four seconds was the winning margin for Ronnie Harris over William Howarth in the class’ opener, with Bill Harris only a fraction further back in third, as just under a tenth of a second separated Howarth and Harris in the fight for the runner-up spot. Noble led the Rookie category in an impressive sixth overall.
The siblings switched places in race two, as Bill Harris responded with a narrow victory over Ronnie Harris, the pair split by less than half a second at the chequered flag. Steve Costin completed the podium in third, though he finished almost four seconds behind the leading duo. Noble again headed the Rookie class and claimed fifth overall.
Race three produced the tightest battle for the win of the weekend, as Ronnie Harris crossed the line just a quarter of a second in front of Bill Harris. Costin once more completed the overall podium, although this time he was more than six seconds behind the leading pair, and Noble continued his strong run by taking the Rookie win and fourth overall, missing the podium two tenths of a second.
The final outing saw Bill Harris complete his double with another close victory over Ronnie Harris, this time by just under three quarters of a second. Costin secured his third consecutive podium in third, less than two seconds away from victory, while Noble again led the Rookie category in fifth overall.
Tommy Philp and Brendan Mallinder shared the overall race wins across the four-race meeting, with Mallinder taking three victories and Philp winning race one. Scott Halliday was the most consistent runner behind them, finishing second in all four races and always in contention for the podium. Scott Stone and Philp also featured regularly in the top four, while Tommy Jones led the Clubman class in every race he finished. Michael Austin was the leading Retro 1000 rider throughout, finishing inside the overall top five in each race. The closest overall finish came in race one, where Philp beat Mallinder by just under five seconds, with Halliday only a fraction further back in third.
In the Seton Tuning MRO Powerbikes, Clubman 1000, and Retro 1000 races former Bemsee MRO 600 front runner saw Tommy Philp take a victory in race one, before time penalties and a crash hindered his results after that. Philp took victory over Brendan Mallinder, with Scott Halliday third after a close fight for the podium. Michael Austin topped the Retro 1000 class in fifth overall, Tommy Jones led the Clubman category in sixth.
Mallinder won race two over Halliday, who was classified second, after Philp was slapped with a nine second penalty for three track limits violations. He was classified third, with Austin securing another Retro 1000 win in fifth and Jones the Clubman victor in sixth. Race three saw Mallinder repeat his win, with Halliday again second and Scott Stone completed the podium, as Jones took Clubman honours in fourth overall ahead of a penalised Philp.
The final race completed Mallinder’s hat trick of wins in dominant fashion, finishing just over 13 seconds ahead of Halliday. Jones secured another Clubman win in an excellent third overall. Austin bagged another Retro 1000 victory in fifth overall.
Anthony Johnson took two wins from three races on his Sussex Independent Financial Advisers Triumph Daytona 675 in the Helmet City MRO Supersport and Clubman 600, while fellow Triumph-mounted pilot Jack Muir took the remaining victory.
Race one and Johnson secured a compelling victory by just under 10 seconds over Sam Hirst, with Muir a further four seconds back in third. James May led the Clubman class in 12th overall.
Muir responded in race two with Hirst again second, as Johnson failed to complete a single lap. Cunningham completed the podium in third, as May again took the Clubman win in eighth.
Johnson returned to winning form in race three, taking victory by a little over four seconds ahead of Hirst, who took his third runner-up finish of the weekend. Michael Mills completed the podium in third on his Yamaha R6. William Howarth was top Clubman runner in eighth.
In the Rookie 600 races Keaten Leatherland was unbeatable, winning four times from four starts.
Kevin Wholey dominated the Twistgrip Motorcycles Yamaha Past Masters races with a clean sweep of four wins, controlling all races at the front. Mark Haigh finished three times second and Haydon Smith also picked up a runner-up finish in race three.
Wholey’s first victory came by nearly six seconds over Haigh, with Smith only a fraction further back in third after a tight fight over the podium. Wholey was the winner again in race two, this time winning by just over a second in a shortened race, in front of Haigh and Smith.
Smith made it into second place in Sunday’s opening affair, swapping places with Haigh, as Wholey again ran out the victor, before the final race saw Wholey cement his dominance, winning by just over five seconds from Haigh and Smith.
There were three winners across the four races in the club’s 250 MZ class, as Alexander Mann took a brace of victories, the other wins being shared between Caleb Wright and Andrew Wales.
Mann was the victor in both Saturday and Sunday’s opening races. Wright took the spoils in the second race on day one of the meeting, followed by a win for Wales in the closer, after Mann retired at the halfway stage.
Wins were split evenly in the 2T Engineering Open 500s, with Sean Crone and Haydon Smith picking up two overall victories apiece. On his ZX-4RR Kawasaki Crone won the opener and with it the four-stroke class. Jake Donkersley - also on a Kawasaki - was second and Smith was third, the leading two-stroke runner aboard a TZ250 Yamaha.
Smith ran out victorious in race two, as Donkersley was credited with second overall and the four-stroke win after time penalties for Crone for track limits. He picked up another track limits penalty in race three, though it wasn’t enough to rob him of the win. Donkersley was again second, as Damian Lee took the two-stroke win in third overall.
Smith returned to the top step of the podium in race four, Crone was second, and Donkersley third.
Toby Finnis won three races in the TW Suspension Supertwins, but he was denied a clean sweep in the final race by Travis Rooker. Finnis, on a 660 Triumph, won from Ben Brown - also Triumph-mounted - in race one, with Rooker third on his Aprilia. Rooker progressed to second in race two, swapping positions with Brown on the podium, both still behind Finnis.
It was three from three for Finnis on Sunday morning, again taking the flag from Rooker and Brown, before Rooker halted Finnis’ march towards a perfect score, taking victory in the last race of the weekend. Finnis was second, and Brown again third.
In the Clothing Kings Thunderbike Sport Morgan Creasey notched a brace of wins, with victories in races two and three. Rob Saltmer won the first of the weekend, and Hayden Killworth the last.
Saltmer won from Adam Jamison and Logan Stone, before Creasey bested Saltmer and James Fearn, half a second covering the three of them. It was another win for Creasey in race three, this time from Jamison and Fearn, before Killworth took his only podium finish of the weekend with a win in the final outing. Jamison and Saltmer rounded out the podium positions.
Tyler Donovan took a hat trick of wins in the Thunderbike Ultra class - backed by TBR Performance - with the other victory going to Justin Rose. In the Extreme class, supported by TW Suspension, Tony Russo ran out a four-time winner.
In the SF Parts and Austin Jacobs CB500 races Luke Macrae and Benjamin Round split the honours even: Macrae did the double on Saturday, Round on Sunday.
Macrae’s wins on Saturday also gave him both C2 class wins. He won from Round - the C1 winner - and Adrian Kershaw, also a C1 runner, in race one. The C3 victory went to Max Macrae in third. Kershaw was the C1 winner later in the day, finishing second, with Max Macrae third overall to take another C3 win.
Round’s victories on Sunday meant he twice took the C1 win. His first victory came in dominant fashion, winning by six and a half seconds from C2 winner Luke Macrae. Kershaw was third, and the leading C3 rider was John Ashmead in 12th. Max Macrae returned to the podium in race four and in second place took the C3 win. Max Hardy’s fourth gave him 25 points in the C2 category.