Scott Hudson took a double win at Brands Hatch this weekend to seal the 2011 BMCRC Rookie 600 championship, with two rounds remaining. The 23 year old’s title was made more impressive by the fact that he won every race he started.
After taking both wins on Saturday, he opted out of taking part in Sunday’s races to focus on the MRO Stocksport races. His only other non-score previously had come at Snetterton the round before, where clutch problems meant he was unable to make the restart after red flags had called a halt to proceedings.
After sealing his title he said, “It’s good to win the championship, but next year I’m hoping to go the national level, I’m just not sure what class yet. I’ve got support from TK Cope, but more sponsorship would really help”.
Hudson (Yamaha R6) took his first win on Saturday by five seconds, with Lloyd Sutton-Foster (BAH Yamaha R6) second and Matthew Stone (Oakley Design Yamaha R6) third. The two of them had been locked in a close battle throughout the race, along with Jay Budgen (CMS Coachworks Yamaha R6), who finished fourth.
In the second race Hudson was joined on the podium by Stone, this time in second, with Greg Wright (NEOS-IT Honda CBR600) third.
On Sunday, Hudson’s absence meant everyone else was in with a chance of a win, however both went the way of Stone.
As the lights went out in Sunday’s opener, Stone, Matt Ogden (Honda CBR600) and Sutton Foster made a break at the front.
Stone led the way early on, before Ogden went to the front at Surtees on lap four. As they streamed across the line to start lap five, Sutton-Foster made an ambitious move to go from third to first. He quickly surrendered the lead again to Ogden, but maintained second.
Two laps later and Stone went back to second at Paddock Hill, and began to chase down the leader.
It was soon a two horse race as Sutton-Foster struggled to maintain the pace at the front. Ogden led until the last lap, until Stone went for a spectacular move around the outside at Clearways and onto Clark Curve, and in a drag race to the line he took the win by less than one tenth of a second.
Ogden took second from Sutton-Foster.
Stone’s second win came by another slim margin of half a second, with Daniel Helyer (Suzuki GSXR600) second, and Sutton-Foster third, after he just held off Ogden and Budgen, the three of them split by just half a second.
In the MRO Supersport and Stocksport 600s Jordan Simpkin qualified on pole position ahead of Tommy Mountain, Alex Olsen, and David Heal.
Simpkin (Go Racing Yamaha R6) then followed that up with three wins from three, extending his championship lead to 95 points over Mountain (Mountain Motors Yamaha R6), and further staking his claim for a ride in the national series next season.
In Saturday’s race Simpkin led the first lap, before being passed by both Mountain and Olsen (Triumph 675).
The three of them diced for the lead, before Simpkin managed to retake it on lap on lap eight. He immediately gapped the chasing duo, and took the win.
Mountain bettered Olsen on the last lap to nab second, leaving Olsen to take third.
The three of them were also the leading Stock 600s, while David Shelvey (Seton Tuning Suzuki GSXR600) was the leading Supersport rider in eleventh, ahead of Colin Martin (David Simon Honda CBR600) and Michael Bradley (Hemmingway Spares Honda CBR600).
On Sunday Simpkin completed his weekend’s clean-sweep, the first win of the day coming by just over a second, with Olsen this time bettering Mountain in the fight for second and third.
Earlier in the race Simpkin’s teammate Lewis Wright made a flying start and hit the front, before he ran wide at Druids and travelled all the way to Graham Hill bend on the grass. He stayed upright and finished in fifth.
In the Supersport class Bradley took the win in eleventh overall, ahead of Spencer Casely (Jacasey Racing Yamaha R6), with Stuart Gill (Slipstream Performance Suzuki GSXR600) third.
Simpkin’s final win came in a more comfortable fashion, taking the flag nearly five seconds ahead of the four-way battle behind.
Olsen took second after bettering Mountain with four laps to go, while behind but never far away, Wright just bettered Hudson to fourth.
The newly crowned Rookie 600 champion held off Wright for the entire race, until Wright slipstreamed him to the line on the last lap to beat him by two hundredths of a second.
Hudson still managed to show is talent and potential, and pick up two overall fifths and a seventh in the MRO class.
Shelvey took the third Supersport win from Casely and Gill.
In the MRO Powerbikes and Stock 1000s Mike Goodfellow (Carbontek BMW S1000RR) took pole, and then followed up with two Stock 1000 and overall wins. He was up against reigning Stock 1000 champion Dan Johnson, who took the other class win and overall race win.
On Saturday Goodfellow took the win from Peter Baker (Morello Suzuki GSXR1000) and Rob McNealy (McNealy Brown BMW S1000RR), who were first and second in the Powerbike class.
Dan Fowler (MG Sear Plant Hire Yamaha R1) and Jon Waghorn (JW Smart BMW S1000RR) were second and third in the Stock 1000s, ahead of Michael Neeves (Park Lane BMW S1000RR) who was the third Powerbike in sixth.
Race one on Sunday ended with Johnson (CFC Racing Kawasaki ZX10-R) taking the win in the Stock 100s with Goodfellow second. They were also first and second overall.
Behind them Baker, McNealy and Neeves took the podium places in the Powerbikes, while in sixth Waghorn completed the Stock podium.
Mechanical trouble meant Johnson couldn’t complete his double, and he had to retire from the race lead on lap six in the final race.
Goodfellow seized the opportunity and took his second win, ahead of Baker, McNealy and Neeves.
Second and third in the Stock championship went to Waghorn and Fowler.
In the Rookie 1000s Gennaro Esposito arrived leading the championship from Tim Cripps by 39 points.
And he left with the gap extended after taking three second placed finished to Cripps’ second, third, fourth and fifth.
However he did crash out of the race lead in the final race of the weekend.
Wesley Crozier took three wins, with the other going to Louis O’Regan, while Cripps shared the bottom step of the podium with Tim Todd, Jamie Loveday, and Louis O’Regan.
In the EDI Asia Formula 400s Steven Murphy extended his championship lead with four wins from four, while Michael Smith saw his fading championship hopes go from bad to worse after a huge crash on Sunday.
He did manage two seconds on Saturday, with Colin Martin third in both races.
However in Sunday’s opener oil dropped by Colin Martin caught out the reigning YPM champion, and he went down whilst braking for Paddock Hill.
The front wheel tucked and he chased the bike into the air fence. The bike catapulted into the air, and came down with an expensive crash. He was unable to make the second race of the day.
Second in the championship Richie Welsh also saw his title hopes diminish after a no-score in race one and a fifth in race two on Saturday, but he did manage two seconds on Sunday, with Phil Polden and Gary Henning sharing the bottom of the step of the podium.
Max Symonds kept the pressure on championship leader Jordan Gilbert in the MRO Superteens.
Three race wins to Gilbert’s three seconds brought the gap down to just 57 points, with two rounds remaining.
Gilbert’s DNF in Saturday’s second race allowed Oliver Fitz-Patrick to take second, while Luke Harris and Asher Durham shared a third each.
On Sunday, Gilbert couldn’t capitalise on Symonds no-score, and Fitz-Patrick took the race win in the opener, with Durham third. The race had to be restarted after red flags for Shaw Allen’s crash at Paddock Hill. The young rider unfortunately had to be air lifted to hospital.
Symonds took the final win ahead of Gilbert, with Durham again third.
Reigning champion Andy Saunders took two wins on Saturday in the BMZRC 250 MZs, moving him past twice champion Chris Rogers in the hunt for the 2011 title.
Rogers didn’t score any points on Saturday as he was plagued by mechanical trouble.
Nick Murton-Jones took two seconds ahead of Darren West and then ahead of Giles Spencer.
On Sunday Rogers didn’t manage the start of race one, allowing Saunders to edge out a lead in the championship with another win, ahead of Spencer and Murton-Jones.
Rogers was present in race two, and took second, but Saunders took another win, with Spencer third.
In the Bumpstop.co.uk Thunderbikes, James White extended his championship lead with three wins and a second. The other win went to Scott Adam. Adam took a second on Saturday with Chris Matthews third twice.
On Sunday Rowan Miller and Matthews were second and third in both races behind White.
In the Open Championship Goodfellow took all four wins, however history was made when Richie Welsh raced the ARC EV1 TTXGP bike against petrol bikes for the first time in Europe. He had to start from the back of the grid due to ACU rules, however he still managed to beat petrol bikes and the zero-emissions lap record of the Indy circuit.
In the British Historic GP Steve Tomes took three wins, the other going to Chris Firmin.