The British Motorcycle Racing Club kicked off another season of racing, with Brands Hatch hosting the opening round of 2026. The oldest motorcycle racing club in the country continues to provide competitive multi-class racing, from modern superbikes to lightweight twins and historic two-strokes.
In the Seton Tuning MRO Powerbikes and Clubman 1000s races, the overall victories were shared between Lee Healey and Scott Halliday, while Donald Gilbert consistently rounded out the podium positions. Halliday secured two victories to Healey’s one, while the Clubman honours went to Luke Blackford and Tommy Jones.
Race one produced a nail-biting finish. Healey, on his Staxson Ltd Honda Fireblade, edged Halliday on his Performance Fitness Gym Honda by just a tenth of a second after 12 laps of the Brands Indy circuit. Gilbert, aboard the S and N Tyres Suzuki GSX-R1000 secured third, some eight seconds behind the winner but comfortably clear of the chasing group. Craig Kennelly finished fourth on the Resideo Racing Honda Fireblade while Luke Blackford claimed the Clubman 1000 victory aboard his Trelisk Motorcycles and Ameera Groundwork Kawasaki ZX-10RR.
Race two reversed the order at the front, as Halliday claimed victory by the narrowest margin of the weekend, beating Healey by less than a tenth of a second across the line. Gilbert again finished third, this time only three tenths off the winner. Kennelly was once again fourth overall, while the Clubman class was won by Jones.
The final race again delivered a three-way battle at the front. Halliday notched his second win of the weekend, taking the flag three tenths up on Healey after sixteen laps. Gilbert made it a trio of third position finishes, only two tenths further adrift. Kennelly took another fourth as Jones again took the Clubman win.
The Helmet City MRO Supersport 600 and Clubman 600 category delivered two closely contested races between Henry Ross and Anthony Johnson, before Ross failed to make the start of race three.
Ross was victorious by just half a second after 18 laps of racing, with Johnson taking the runner-up spot. Harrison Crosby finished third, but over 11 seconds behind the winner. William Howarth secured the Clubman victory in 12th overall.
Race two and Johnson turned the tables. He led Ross home by two tenths of a second in another tight finish between the pair. Hirst improved to third overall after taking fourth in the opener. Further back, James Lord claimed the Clubman class victory in 14th overall.
Johnson secured his second consecutive win in race three. He won ahead of Sam Hirst and Michael Mills, as Howarth again secured the Clubman category spoils.
The Properly Protected MRO Minitwins and Rookie Minitwins races produced some of the closest finishes of the weekend, particularly between Ronnie Harris and William Howarth. Harris won three races while Howarth claimed one. Jack Noble took three Rookie wins.
Race one was the most sedate affair, in terms of race action at the front. Harris won ahead of Howarth, the gap nudging four seconds. Haworth had his hands full with David Lindemann pushing him all the way to the flag. Lindermann completed the podium, just under three tenths of a second behind Howarth. Further back, Bryant secured the Rookie win.
By contrast, race two produced a finish that saw just over a tenth of a second the margin between Harris - who again led the field home - and Howarth. Lindemann again finished third as Noble claimed the Rookie victory.
Howarth finally took a win in race three, beating Harris by a similar margin to race two. Steve Costin took his first podium of the weekend in third. In eighth overall Noble again won the Rookie class.
The fourth race returned Harris to the top step, but with only half a tenth of a second the difference between he and Howarth. Costin again completed the podium, while Noble made it three Rookie wins for the weekend.
The SF Parts and Austin Jacobs Thunderbike 500 class was dominated by Luke MacRae, who won all four races on his Northlands Fencing and EPS Pumps Honda CB500, and as a result took all of the wins in the C2 class. Behind him, Adrian Kershaw and Benjamin Round over the runner-up spots along with Shaun O’Hara.
Luke MacRae secured a comfortable victory ahead of Adrian Kershaw in race one, wit Kerhsaw the C1 winner. Benjamin Round completed the podium, as Max MacRae won the C3 category in 10th.
It was less comfortable for Luke MacRae in race two, as he won by half a second over Round, who took the C1 win. Kershaw dropped to third. Again in 10th Max MacRae again secured the C3 win.
Luke MacRae extended his winning streak in race three, crossing the line ahead of C1 winner Round and Kershaw. Ian Carter claimed the C3 victory this time, finishing eighth overall.
The fourth race delivered Luke MacRae’s fourth and final win of the weekend. He crossed the line 11 seconds to the good in front of Kershaw after 10 laps. O’Hara completed the podium, less than a tenth of a second behind Kershaw while Round finished fourth. Carter again won the C3 category, this time in seventh.
In the ACU Team Green Junior Cup and Kawasaki Senior Ninja series races, Lucas King, Harley Baker, and Marco Holt shared the junior victories across four races, with King also taking two overall wins, and Baker one. Senior rider Max Hardy also secured an overall victory.
Race one was won by King riding his NW Racing / Cable House Kawasaki Ninja 400. King finished nearly five seconds ahead of Baker, who had his hands full in a scrap with Holt only two tenths of a second behind in third. Danny Huskinson claimed the Senior victory.
Hardy took the overall win and his only class win of the weekend in the second outing, though only by a narrow margin of two tenths of a second ahead of King. Annabelle McCarthy finished third overall and second in the Junior category.
Sunday’s opener went the way of Baker on the KGB Property Maintenance Services Kawasaki. He held a comfortable margin of a couple of seconds over Huskinson, who also took another Senior win, while William Round finished third overall, and runner-up in the Junior ranks.
The last race of the weekend saw Lucas King return to the top step of the podium, winning ahead of Holt. Alfie Garrod completed the podium. Dan Bray claimed the Senior category victory in fifth overall, just a tenth of a second in front of Huskinson.
The smell of two-stroke fumes will again fill the BMCRC paddock this season, and the Yamaha Past Masters series was in action at Brands Hatch to kick-off its 2026 season. The TZR250-dominated races were all won by Kevin Wholey. Luke MacRae and David Ball shared the silver and bronze medal spots evenly, while Paul Nield consistently secured the Clubman class wins, with a best finish of fourth overall, which came in races one and two.
The Clothing Kings Thunderbike Sport and TW Suspension SuperTwins races saw overall victories shared between Adam Jamison, James Fearn, and Toby Finnis.
Jamison opened the meeting with victory on the AJ Racing Yamaha R6, and with it took the Thunderbike Sport class win, beating Toby Finnis - the SuperTwin winner - by just under a tenth of a second after nine laps. Ben Brown completed the podium and took second in the Supertwins on his Hunts Motorcycles Yamaha R7.
It was Jamison on the top step again in race two, this time over Fearn riding the Greenplant Satellite Team Yamaha R6. Travis Rooker finished third overall and won the SuperTwin class aboard the Swedish Car Connection Aprilia RS660, leading a train of six riders across the line, all covered within one second.
Fearn improved from second place to victory in race three, defeating Jamison by a slender margin of two tenths of a second, with Finnis back on the overall podium and back on the top step of the rostrum in the SuperTwin class.
The final race went to Finnis, who ran away at the front to take a commanding win by over 10 seconds. Jamison was second and the Thunderbike Sport winner, and Travis Rooker finished third overall and second in the SuperTwin class.
There was more Thunderbike action in the TBR Performance Thunderbike Ultra and Thunderbike Extreme races. The Ultra category wins were shared between Tyler Donovan, Ramone Hunte and Clinton Wood, while Donald Gilbert and Tony Russo battled for the Extreme honours.
Donovan took the overall win in Saturday’s race one and won in the Ultra class, before Hunte took the second class and overall win of the day. Wood then grabbed both the class and overall wins on Sunday.
Gilbert took three Extreme wins with a best finish of third overall, which came in race four. Russo’s fourth in race two gave him an Extreme win.
There were two-stroke fumes coming from the 2-T Engineering Open 500s, which shared a grid with the latest crop of L&W Contractors Rookie 600s.
Frazer Lysaczenko took three of the four Rookie 600 wins, winning Saturday’s race and the first of Sunday’s triple-header, with race two carried over from the day before. He also won the final race, with the win in race three going the way of David Waters.
Henry Ross took two Open 500 wins in races one and two, before Luca Wilkinson took the class win in race three and the final 25 points of the meeting went to Jaker Donkersley.
Across the four BMCRC Sidecar races there were four different outfits that took the chequered flag first. Sean Hegarty and Jack Knapton won first, and took the F1 win in the process, before Luke Williams and passenger Kevin Kolsch won the second outing and claimed an F1 win. James Saunders and Rob Coppock took both F2 wins on Saturday, with a best result of fourth.
On Sunday Saunders and Coppock took an overall win in race three, with Eddie Wakley and Ben Hughes just behind in second overall and the first F1 outfit across the line. Saunders and Coppock followed it up with another F2 class win in race four, finishing second overall to F1 runners Ben Holland and Ricky Stevens.