Who said Snetterton was dull?
Thu, 16 Jul 2009
SOME would say that with all the beautiful and testing circuits we have in Great Britain, Snetterton is perhaps not a place that whets your whistle with excitement, due to its flat scenery and "speed circuit" reputation.
Those that were present at the Norfolk venue are now witnesses to prove the circuit is not guilty as charged for boredom, as some of the best racing action we've seen this season was right in front of our eyes at Snetterton.
As usual the weather forecast was wrong for all three days of the event, which meant we were pulling out the shorts rather than the rain coats for 95% of the time, and it seemed to bring out the best in everyone as the atmosphere in the paddock and pit lane was as exciting as it's ever been at Thundersport GB meetings.
In the big boys class, the GP1 and Supertwins, sponsored by CIA Insurance, were on full chat as the Revett straight welcomed the fast powerbike machines and grumbling twins, with local rider Peter Baker setting the qualifying pace into the 1.08's.
People naturally assume that with Snetterton you just need a fast bike and the rest is easy due to the fact that the circuit isn't technical, but those that choose to use the above statement are a little blurred in the vision department because at Snetterton, having a quick bike is one thing..... Getting every corner right is another.
Following behind Baker in qualifying was a reformed Stuart Hall, the usually fast Phil Crowe and a determined Rob Hoyles who was nursing a collar bone injury sustained at Oulton Park last month.
Race one on Saturday was the Superpole points race, a chance for the top four finishers to get a front row start on the Sunday and within just two laps we lost Phil Crowe from fourth, leaving Hall and Hoyles chasing Baker in front.
After 18 long laps around the 1.9 miles circuit, Baker's times were just a few tenths quicker than Hoyles when they needed to be and Baker deservedly won 2.6 seconds clear of Hoyles in second and Stu Hall in third, amazingly his best finish of the season.
Further behind, Scott Kelly had taken fourth, his best result of 2009 after so much bad luck and Gary Smith was fifth overall, taking the overall Supertwins race win ahead of Chris Norris (11th overall) and Brian Greenfield (13th).
The second race on Sunday was re-started due to one or two crashes including that of Pete Baker who was now forced to use his number two bike and there was nothing to choose between the trio that triumphed in race one until a few laps from the end when Baker once more put the hammer down and won the race from Hoyles in second and Hall third again.
This time, John Fisher came home in fourth, cementing his presence amongst the top ten in the championship, and Chris Norris won the Superwins race ahead of Michael Price and Clinton De Tarnowsky after Gary Smith fell on lap four.
The final race of the day was the pick of the bunch though and a definite 'must see' on TV in a few weeks. Baker, Hall and Hoyles were once again the three that shot away but this time, Hoyles was leading.
After a few laps of tossing and turning though, Stu Hall made his move on Hoyles and then Baker came past to take the pair of them with a few laps to go, creating a last lap dash for the win. Across the line, Baker just made it to take three from three, but Hall was second, missing out on his first ever win by just 0.03 of a second, with Hoyles finishing 0.04 behind Hall for third.
Kelly again took fourth and Norris won his second Supertwins race from Price and De Tarnowsky, to close the championship standings right up before Donington Park at the end of the month.
The chasing pack are getting closer to Baker and co. and it could make for an interesting second half of the season, but with Gary May retiring from every race this weekend, Baker remains the man to beat.
The first of the BSN.com Junior Powerbike races was a joy to watch, Elsmere, Coventry and a returning Alex Hutchinson could not be split throughout all ten laps, but thanks to some slick riding by championship leader Elsmere, he and his IN competition Aprilia RRV 500 won the race by just 0.04 of a second to Alex Hutchinson in second and Coventry in third.
Tim Jones was dominant with a win in the Minitwins, miles ahead of a battling Boland and White, and Will Hodgson's return to racing since that injury back in October of last year, saw the young man from Wigan win the Moto 450 race at the first time of asking ahead of championship leader Darren Smith.
Apart from Coventry who fell in race two and Will Hodgson taking a tumble on his Moto 450, the following three races were much the same. Alex Hutchinson struggled to get off the line and by the time he'd battled through to the front, Elsmere was too far in front for him to catch. In fairness to Rob, his remaining three victories were far from easy, the Sidcup rider didn't put a foot wrong in any of the races, leaving Hutch with no choice but to play second fiddle for the remainder of the weekend.
Clive White was delighted though as he took three thirds, and Tim Jones clocked up wins 150, 151 and 152 of his career in the Mintwins races, finishing third overall and taking the lead of the championship away from Leigh Hutchinson, who was made to sit and watch Boland take another three second place finishes and Jamie Morris and Clive White sharing the thirds.
Will Hodgson went on to win the last two Moto 450 races to take his new points tally to 75, but Darren Smiths consistency means he now holds a healthy lead in the championship.
15-year-old Andy Reid held a 51 point advantage over Wayne Ryan coming in to Snetterton in the Aprilia Dunlop Superteen Championships, and were it not for some stunning rides by three separate characters this weekend, he could have left Norfolk in a whole lot worse position than he's in now.
Although not in order, the first six spaces on the grid belonged to the top six championship contenders with Newcomer Danny Murphy taking his first ever career pole position ahead of Aussie Matt Davies, Lee 'bob' Jackson, Connor Tagg, Andy Reid and Wayne Ryan.
In race one though, Murphy's bad start left the hole-shot to Davies who was being closely followed by Jackson, with Ryan third, Tagg fourth and Reid in fifth. Amazingly though as if my magic, one by one each of the championship rivals dropped out of the race.... first Ryan, then Tagg, then Reid, then Jackson, before Murphy himself dropped out after a collision with local rider Phil Canessa.
This left Matt Davies from Australia completely alone at the front and he duly delivered with his third win of the season ahead of ' Bouncing' Ben Gautrey and a career best third for Tommy Mountain, who himself finished ahead of another career best finisher Josh Daley.
Race two was completely reversed though and as with his other race wins so far this season, he dropped out of the following showdown, leaving the five that had dropped out earlier to battle for the prizes. After constant ovetaking and slipstreaming though, it was Lee Jackson that came home to win his first race since Cadwell Park, just 0.17 of a second clear of Wayne Ryan in second who had won the battle against championship leader Andy Reid who finished third, a good result considering his weight disadvantage.
Race three was another close one, this time though Davies was present, as he, Wayne Ryan, Lee Jackson and Danny Murphy had cleared off to fight for the podium places. On the final lap, Davies came from nowhere to slipstream Ryan and Jackson to take a narrow victory by 0.03 of a second from Wayne Ryan, who was starting to think it may be an idea to put his transponder at the front of the bike, with Lee Jackson who is without doubt back to his best taking third.
The final race of the day saw the dissapearance of Davies again, a mechanical failure meant that he was once again denied the opportunity to take two wins on the bounce as he entered gasoline alley on lap eight. This left two soldiers to fight for the win, and guess who they were? Yes, Wayne Ryan and Lee Jackson were 14 seconds clear of third place when they crossed the line, and almost as if justice had been served, Ryan was the rider to take the victory this time by 0.09 of a second from Jackson, taking his fifth win of the season, his tenth podium, and close the gap on Andy Reid to just 23 points.
Newcomer Tommy Mountain beat six bikes to the line for third, to equal his best performance earlier in the weekend, moving up to tenth overall in the main championship and top the Nitro Newcomers points table.
With Tagg finishing fourth and Reid in fifth, I dare you to bet on which one of the top six riders in this amazing championship will end up as the 2009 Aprilia Superteen Champion.
Earlier in the season, it seemed John Butcher was unstoppable. The senior superstar was near on impossible to catch in the Bridgestone Thundersport 500 class until Pembrey and since then a new man has taken over the lead of the championship and is looking just as invincible.
In all four races, Butcher tried all he could to beat Darlington's Jonathan Harrison, failing on every occasion, as the skill and patience of Harrison's riding was too much for anyone this weekend as he now moves 35points clear of his season rival.
Third place was shared over the weekend, Matt Bainbridge had taken it twice but two new men were introduced to the podium and both had commendable rides that could bolster their championship hopes as Jordan Whatling and Barry 'Flipper' Rudge both made third spot at Snetterton, with Rudge claiming three fourth's too.
The Metzeler Formula 600 class welcomed a new rider to the class to sit on pole position for the superpole race as Mark Cronshaw won the first race of the weekend after John Simpson fell despite posting the fastest lap of 1.10.682 on lap 11. Michael Price in second was the best of the rest as he grabbed second ahead of Chris Mort in third.
In race two on Sunday Cronshaw mysteriously fell on the warm up lap, leaving Price to take his first ever victory in the class as he held off local rider Andrew Sennett who ended up second ahead of John Simpson whose bout of flu was hampering his progress.
In the third and final race, the top three was a repeat of the earlier race with Simpson setting a fast early pace, only to be pushed down to third behind Sennett with Price taking the double and moving to within just two points of Gary May, who might just end up wishing he'd kept hold of his 600 after this weekend.
The E2E Solutions GP3 class welcomed back Tom Weeden this weekend at Snetterton, as the youngster who it has to be said has grown a few inches since '08, tried his luck out in the new and improved GP3 grid that was double the size of the numbers he'd raced against last season.
Weeden had qualified tenth and within two laps, he had forced his way to the front and was battling with championship leader Fraser Rogers for the lead whilst Gavin Lupton, Joel Williams, Andy Reid and Sam Hornsey battled it out for the remaining podium step.
No matter what Fraser threw at Tom, he couldn't find a way past the British Championship rider and on lap 11, Fraser mounted his challenge into Russells chicane only to out brake himself, forcing him to lift the bike up and run across the grass. This gave Weeden a three second lead by the time Fraser had rejoined the circuit and with the pair posting almost identical lap times, with a few laps left, Fraser gave up on his chase and settled for the important 20points ahead of Gavin Lupton, who doubled his seasons points tally with a personal best third in class.
Race two was looking like following a similar pattern, Weedeen had never won a GP3 race outright until the day before and looked every bit as strong and focussed to do the same again, and Fraser didn't want to give up the chase, even though he knew Weeden posed no threat in the championship.
On lap 7 though, Fraser was forced to retire due to a flat front tyre, leaving Weeden to win his second race of the weekend a full six seconds clear of superteen rider Andy Reid who proved that although he's a tall lad, he can still pull a trick or two onboard a GP 125 machine. Third again was Gavin Lupton, whilst Williams settled for fourth ahead of Jamie Ferguson, Sam Hornsey and his team-mate Tom Carne who won the GP3 Cup battle.
The final race of the day involved Weeden and Fraser again, but this time Joel Williams and Sam Hornsey had upped the pace to join in with the battle for first, whilst Adam Blacklock, Gavin Lupton and Tom Carne were involved in their own party for fifth overall.
As the end of the race approached, Weeden had broken away and on the last lap, he had a 2.4 second lead over the trio of Rogers, Hornsey and Williams who all thought the winner of the battle would end up second. As Weeden approached Russells chicane for the final time, the gap had closed between himself and the chasing pack but still looked comfortable until something strange happened.
In one of the strangest drags to the line in Thundersport GB history, some say Weeden celebrated too early, others say he missed a gear, but whatever he did, he lost the race on the line as Hornsey slipstreamed the #11 bike perfectly to snatch the win by 0.11 of a second much to the anger of Weeden who only just managed to hang on to second spot with Fraser and Joel ending up 0.43 seconds behind the winner Hornsey.
The Pirelli Superstock 600 class had two new local riders amongst the action at Snetterton as Michael Russell from Kings Lynn and Alex Barkshire from Norwich joined in the fun.
In race one on Saturday, Russell, who is more used to racing in the Manx than short circuit racing, made a solid start and held a good lead going into the final eight laps of the race. Championship leader Dan Miles meanwhile had fought his way through the pack and was catching Russell, posting a fastest lap of 1.11.116 in the process before the red flags came out and ended the race, leaving Russell as the winner, Miles in second and Alex Barkshire finishing in third ahead of Erol Ahmet and Tom Gazzard.
Race two on Sunday was all about championship leader Dan Miles, he quickly got down to a fast pace and was able to stretch away a lead over Erol Ahmet who was heading for his best finish of the 2009 season. The battle for third meanwhile was a five bike affair and after Simpson retired into gasoline alley on lap 4, the final podium prize went to Tom Gazzard who had this time got the better of Barkshire, Wickens and Chivers in sixth, whilst the win went to a jubilant Dan Miles and an even happier Erol Ahmet came home in second.
The final race of the day started off in its usually crazy manner, six bikes were into the 1.11's and with Miles missing the edge he'd previously had in earlier in the afternoon due to tyre fatigue, it looked like Gazzard was going to take the spoils until the very last lap.
Going into Russells, Gazzard had the lead just from John Simpson, only for Alex Barkshire to pass the pair going into the final bend and also get the drive to the line to win the overall race. To make matters even more interesting, Gazzard lost drive coming out of the final chicane and with Simpson slipstreaming Tom, catastrophe struck as the pair hit each other and ended up in the middle of the circuit.
Luckily both men were up and ok, leaving a lucky Miles to take yet another podium and Ashley Chivers to claim his first podium of the year in third ahead of Wickens, Brown and Ahmet, who also struggled with rear tyre problems but now moves up to third overall in the standings and remains the only rider in the championship to have scored points in every race.
The GiMoto Streetfighter A & B class were reunited at Snetterton as Andy Denyer looked to punish his rival Jamie Wilkins for his lack of consistency in the 'A' class and Barry Utting looking to inflict more pain on Ian Popplewell in the 'B' class.
Race One was a great watch, Denyer and Wilkins were at it like a pair of jack russells until the final lap when traffic got in to the way of Denyer to leave Wilkins to take win number 11 of the year and Chris Matthews taking third.
In Streetfighter 'B' Craig Morley stepped up to the mark once more to win in style ahead of Utting, with Chaz Beale taking third.
Race two was a carbon copy, Wilkins and Denyer fought it out yet again and it was Jamie that took win number 12, but still unable to shake off Denyer who came second and this time Keith Smith took third ahead of Matthews, with Morley winning another Streetfighter 'B' race from Utting and Beale finishing second and third.
In race three, Keith Smith got a flyer and was keeping the chase on Denyer with Wilkins in the mix once again, but then Wilkins went for a do or die move, resulting in nearly dying as he went grass tracking, pushing him down to 12th overall and leaving Smith and Denyer to go it alone.
Further behind, Utting had upped his pace too and for once got the better of Morley across the line, stopping the run of wins that Morley had taken recently and extending his gap over Popplewell who finally made the podium in third.
The win then went to Denyer with Smith delighted in second and amazingly third going to Wilkins, who raced all the way through from 12th to take 16 precious points in the championship.
The final race of the day seemed like pay back, Wilkins determination was clear and he looked focussed on the line, but once more, his efforts to break his opponent failed and although he took win number 13 of the season, Denyer came home in second to take his 18th podium from 18 starts, to keep his championship lead healthy.
Morley also got payback on Utting, finishing nine seconds clear of Utting and breaking the Streetfighter B lap record with a 1.15.110, and Phil Page made an appearance on the podium to keep his points tally ticking over nicely.
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