Tuesday March 24, 2009 at 12:00am
The NG Road Racing Club’s 2009 season got off to a fine start at Brands Hatch this weekend, with two days of action packed racing.
The 250GP ACU National Championship & NG Cup was no exception, as Jason Davis clearly stamped his mark on the Fraser’s of Gloucester and Dunlop Motorsport backed series from the outset with a stunning double win giving him a 10 point advantage in the title standings.
True to form, the drama started during unofficial testing on Friday afternoon when Toby Markham crashed his C&L Racing RS Honda on the fast downhill approach to Graham Hill bend. Despite the high speed tumble, pre event favorite Markham escaped injury but damage to the Honda was terminal.
A trip home and a long night rebuilding his own TZ Yamaha ensured he got out in qualifying on Saturday morning. Sian Brooks was another casualty of an early testing spill, but this time the unforgiving Paddock Hill bend ensured Sian took no further part in the weekend, a desperate blow to her NG Cup title bid.
Qualifying saw Jason Davis put his BM Groundworks Yamaha on pole mid-session, with a lap of 48.82 just one tenth ahead of Mark Davies’ D&MR Yamaha. Incredibly, Ashford’s Toby Markham took a front row 3rd position on the newly built and untested TZ, with Newark’s Rich Grinling making up the front row with his Honda and showing very promising early form.
Ant Hodson finished 5th despite suffering a huge highside at Clark Curve after only 13 minutes. Damage to his MDJ Racing TSM Yamaha ensured Ant’s lunch went cold with a desperate attempt to get on the grid for round 1 later in the day.
The Yamaha’s of Andrew Sawford and Alex Kenchington, and Chris McAloran’s Honda completed the second row. Heading the third row was a very impressive Ross Willshire. Riding Darrell Higgins’ TZ for the first time, and wearing a novice jacket, early reports hinted that Ross would stir the Championship up and mix it with the big names up front.
The reports were true! Race 1 was a short lived affair as the red flags came out with less than a lap on the chart. The luckless Toby Markham’s highside exiting Graham Hill bend left him knocked out trackside, thankfully with no lasting effects. Sadly the incident spelt the end of a traumatic weekend for the Ashford ace.
As the race restarted, it was pole man Davis who took the hole shot and was never headed off. Mark Davies sat in a comfortable 2nd and Rich Grinling 3rd for the duration, however there was a war for 4th as Alex Kenchington battled his Dennis Trollope Yamaha with Corsham’s Ross Willshire in his first ever 250 race, and wearing his orange novice jacket! Andrew Sawford was also no innocent bystander and got involved lap after lap.
Despite holding 4th at the end of lap 1, Ant Hodson dropped back to 7th still feeling the effects of his mid-morning flight at Clark Curve. With Jason Davis, Mark Davies and Grinling holding positions and taking the podium slots, the battle for 4th went in favor of Somerset’s Kenchington beating the St Neot’s M/C’s Yamaha of Sawford by just 0.5 of a second at the flag and Novice sensation Willshire in 6th on the Darrell Higgins’ Yamaha. Ant Hodson, Mike Russell, Mark Linton and Phil Guillou rounded out the top 10.
With Willshire taking a comfortable NG Cup win with his 6th on the road, Dave Hampton took his RS Honda to 2nd and Jonathan Stamper completed the NG Cup podium on his Graham File Tuning TZ. Sundays Round 2 was held under blue skies and once again Chester’s Davis planted his number 3 Yamaha at the front from the off.
This time it was Rich Grinling who took chase with Mark Davies 3rd, Ant Hodson 4th and an impressive starting Chris McAloran up to 5th and Sawford in 6th. All eyes were on Ross Willshire though as the young gun newcomer sat in 9th at the end of lap 1.
By lap 8 of the scheduled 17, and with Davis in command, Mark Davies slipped by Grinling into 2nd but Willshire was coming to play. Having dispatched Alex Kenchington, Mark Linton, Andrew Sawford and even taking Ant Hodson on lap 5, he found himself up to 4th with Rich Grinling’s Honda in his sights. Sawford was also on the move picking off Alex Kenchington and by lap 11 he had squeezed past Ant Hodson as well in a bid to stay with Willshire.
At the flag Jason Davis completed the full house with the win by 4 seconds from Mark Davies, who was frustrated that a new quickshifter could have been the reason for his inability to challenge Davis in the race. Rich Grinling took 3rd place for the second day running and demonstrated he will be a title challenger. Ross Willshire fulfilled his charge to 4th and given another lap should have enjoyed a National Championship podium as he was only 0.25 seconds behind Grinling at the flag.
Andrew Sawford was 5th, Ant Hodson 6th Alex Kenchington 7th, Mark Linton’s Exactweld Yamaha 8th, Mike Russell in 9th and Chris McAloran was disappointed with 10th despite running a very quick pace in 5th early on. The Dunlop Performance of the Day awards were presented to Ross Willshire for his 6th place in his first ever 250 race on Saturday, and Jason Davis who never put a foot wrong all weekend, taking the double, pole position and fastest laps in both races.
The NG Cup was dominated by the Ross Willshire story with Dave Hampton and Jonathan Stamper completing the Cup podium in a repeat of Saturday’s result. There has been a promising boost for the series with the introduction of an additional round. 250GP racing will return to the BSB paddock as a support race for the Donington Park round on 24th 25th May, on the GP circuit.
This gives the popular series a chance to stretch it’s legs in front of a large audience as round 7 will take place smack in the middle of Bank Holiday Monday race day.
Championship standings after 2 rounds are: Davis 50, Davies 40, Grinling 32, Willshire 23, Kenchington 22, Sawford 22, Hodson 19, Russell 15, Linton 15, Guillou 11. NG Cup: Willshire 50, Hampton 40, Stamper 32, McCullagh 24, Lou Goddard 21.