Bevan draws on his experience in tricky conditions

Qualifying for the Phoenix open saw Luke Jones and Luca Marconi on a pair of MV Augusta’s and Josh Day on a 675 Triumph quickest. Reigning champ Phil Bevan with his ZX-10R was on the second row with Peter Baker and Daniel Cooper.

It was Jones on the MV along with Day that set the pace whilst behind a great scrap between Bevan and Cooper kept the attention. The win went to Luke with a series of stunning laps that were just outside the lap record. Peter Baker was vying for a podium but the gremlins hit his ZX10 on the final lap and he went from fifth to 10th in half a lap.

The Open had two more championship races on Sunday, but by then the predicted Siberian winds had hit Brands, and that allied to mizzly rain caused many riders to make the call not to go out. It may have been the wise decision as many succumbed to the conditions. That left the vastly experienced Bevan to step up and take both wins, although he had to work hard for the points as Peter Baker and Michael Blank, both benefiting from the ZX10 traction control pressured Bevan right to the flag.

Bevan had to settle for second in Saturday’s Switchgear Systems Powerbike behind Daniel Cooper on his Fireblade, with no more that a couple of bike lengths between them full race. With Cooper a no show on Sunday Bevan bagged the win over a sunning ride from David Irons on his Tom Warner Racing 1198 Ducati who got the better of Michael Blank and Peter Baker in the latter stages

First win for Luke Jones on the MV Agusta

Luke Jones will ride the Tsingtao Racing Hampshire MV Agusta in BSB Supersport and proved that despite still running a standard motor and electric’s the bike will be a potent tool.

Even in the chilly conditions on Saturday he set a new NG 600 Open lap record in the Simon Consulting 600 as he attempted to chase down BSB Evo front runner Josh Day.

Day was lucky to be on the grid after the team had to drive the 3 hours back to Gloucester to collect another 675 motor after Josh blew one Fridays test day. The motor arrived late at 10:30pm and was installed by 2:30am Saturday morning to get the Ruby Racing rider on the grid. Jones was closing in on Day but with less than two laps to go the race was stopped for an incident involving another MV man Max Alexander on the Cooper straight, giving Day the win with Matthew Truelove third.

Sunday’s race was run in horrible conditions but Sean Montgomery on his Preston Power steering ZX6R looked set for the win as his newly set up machine courtesy of 100% Suspension, seemed firmly planted on the slippery track, but with just Clark Curve and the run to the flag to do and with a full second in hand over Shane Smith, Montgomery launched the bike into the gravel trap leaving the way open for acknowledged rain-man Smith to take a stunning win on his Ridemoto.com 675.

Hodson bags early National 250 GP win

This weekend saw the first two rounds of the ACU National 250cc Championship and NG Cup championships. Late entry Phil Atkinson on the Declans Racing TZ started the first race from pole and won the 14-lap race in cold but dry weather conditions.

Ant Hodson was second and N G Cup competitor Matthew Truelove in third place. Sundays wet cold conditions saw Atkinson struggle and Ant Hodson won the second race, which he led from start to finish to lead the championship on the FCL Racing TZ.

Behind Hodson was a great dice for second and third between Gary Vines and Dave Hampton, Vines held onto second and notched up his first National podium. Former champ Dan Jackson is back on the grid for 2015 but his race lasted just a couple of corners as the front end of his TZ washed out at Graham Hill on lap one.

Best of the rest
Dave Irons dumped his 1198 Ducati at Druids whilst leading Saturdays Sound of Thunder race in the early stages, then Paul Willis ran his KTM RC8 through the gravel at Clark, although we are still not sure how he managed to stay on board. He even set a fastest lap on the very next circulation. Up front Josh Day and Sam Thompson squabbled over the win which eventually went the way of Day on his Ruby Racing 675.

Sundays taxing conditions held no fear for Shane Smith, Paul Willis and David Irons as they went wheels to wheel for the podium spots. Smith took it to add to his 600 open win, making it his best weekend’s racing.

Formula 125 honours were shared by 2014 series runner up Cameron Horsman and former MiniGP UK front runner Caleb Smith who after some 6 years on the MiniGP bikes has now stepped up to the big circuits, taking and impressive win first time out. Taz Taylor dominated the 125GP Moto3 on Saturday setting a new lap record on his way to the win over Gorgina Polden, both used 250 KTMs.

Sunday saw the two strokes up front with Harry Rowling just taking it from Liam Delves. Reigning NG125 champ Mark Clayton had a tough start to the year after high-siding his RS125, giving the team a fair bit of work to do before round one of BSB Motostar in just two weeks. Tim Bradley bagged a pair of wins in the A and R racing F400 to start his season of perfectly as defending champion Dan Tilliey was forced out with and oil leak. Fire Systems Services Aprilia RRV man Michael Caines was untouchable in the Bluebell Lakes backed GP45, Caines also took Sundays 500 open win, after Taz Taylor had won on Saturday.

Mini Twins wins went to Richard Goode and Mason Williams, although Alan Russell on his new SV Suzuki leads the series after Brands with a pair of runner up spots. Wayne Axon kicked 2015 off with a bang with a full compliment of Super Twins victories as he prepares for his road circuit assault starting with the TT.

Phil Webber was ready to jack-it-all-in on after Saturdays Pre Injection after he said his bike was in need of a lot of work, being well down on power. That frown turned into a grin as he won Sundays wet race after his 2014 championship rival and defending champ Chris Hobbs binned his R6 at Graham Hill. Mike Hobbs upheld Hobbs family honour with a pair of win in the 1300 Pre Injection to kick off his title defence in style.

Paul Williams is being tipped as one to watch in 2015 on his BMW S1000R, and he is living up to that billing by taking both Streetstock finals and the Newcomers race setting a new class lap record to boot. The smaller 700 street class saw Richard Blackwell take one win whilst Chris Whitehouse just piped Justin Collins and Leif Williams for the second.

Paul Williams took the Cutronas Open Newcomers but there are also 500 and Mini Twins classes and they went to Kevin Miller and Alan Peace respectively

There were sidecars too
As ever NG are strong advocates of keeping sidecar racing alive at club level, and this weekend saw a raft of open and F2 outfits testing and racing in preparation for the National series. Ricky Stevens and Ryan Charlwood dominated on Saturday with their new LCR Kawasaki, but Sean Reeves and Mark Wilkes on the Reeves water Services LCR600 Suzuki were the early pace setters. Behind them we has National front runner Ben Holland and Lee Watson getting some valuable test laps on the Finning Cat LCR ZX10. In Sundays wet and cold Reeves and Wilkes had it all their own way after dealing early race with Andy King/Paul Skinner and Tom/Thomas Quaye.

Performance of the meeting
Cameron Horsman was awarded the Performance of the meeting award, for a stunning set of rides on his F125 Aprilia. Despite tipping of the bike on Saturday he bounced back on Sunday to beat all the GP125s on his production based machine as he mastered the cold, wet and slippery Brands Indy Circuit. It was just a shame he could not taste the bubbly that accompanied the award, that was confiscated by his dad.