Thundersport GB visited the hills of Lincolnshire this weekend for Round 2 of their Championships taking place at the mountain circuit of Cadwell Park. With record breaking numbers attending yet again and full grids, the quiet and tranquil setting was disturbed for one weekend only.

BRIDGESTONE THUNDERSPORT 500

Since their introduction at Mallory Park last month, the Thundersport 500 class continued to wow us with a grid busting at the seam and again, some fabulous racing action this weekend.
With four and five way battles for the lead, a betting man would struggle to predict eventual winners although the safest bet would’ve been Championship leader John Butcher.

It wasn’t too much of a surprise then to see Butcher take race one victory from pole sitter Adrian Cox and Jonathan Harrison in third. It was a surprise however that he was an unstoppable force for the remainder of every other race as Butcher made it four from four, extending his Championship lead to 39 points.

Harrison’s consistency keeps him in second, whilst Adrian Cox’s great weekend shoves him up to third ahead of Chris Pickersgill.

METZELER FORMULA 600

If I was to tell you that defending champion Gary May extended his lead to 59 points after just two rounds, you’d probably presume it was an easy weekend for the Hungerford rider. Instead it was another rider taking the headlines as May was made to play second fiddle throughout the weekend after a huge highside in practice on Sunday which damaged his collarbone.

With Michael Price being declared unfit to ride after a horrific crash during morning warm-up on Sunday, Lee Jackson, Uncle of Superteen rider Lee Jackson, made his debut to the Thundersport scene and ripped his opponents to shreds at his local circuit.

Grabbing pole on Sunday and then three from three stunning race wins, Jackson is now third overall on 75 points, just one behind a consistent and quick James Henry in second who is the full 59 behind May and despite the Championship looking predictable, with Jackson planning to attend for the remainder of the season, May will be hungry for Pembrey glory next month.

GIMOTO STREETFIGHTER

A grid full of Streetfighter machines battled it out this weekend for glory at one of Britain’s best circuits and the glory belonged to one man, Jamie Wilkins.

After making life a little difficult for himself during race one and two on Easter Sunday, his smart thinking through the traffic earned him an overnight lead of the championship before blitzing the field for another two on the Monday, making it four from four and holding a 19 point lead now over Andy Denyer who grabbed four second placed finishes himself.
Chris Matthews and Rob McNealy had some good battles for third and fourth, with Matthews prevailing with the better of the results and ending the weekend in third overall.

In Streetfighter B, Barry Utting made four excellent podium visits including one win to take 81 points away from Cadwell Park making him an all new contender for leader Ian Popplewell, whose three wins gives him a 30 point lead over Utting.

Martin Stanier still holds onto third, but with Morley, Parrott and Page all looking hungry, the battle for third is on!

APRILIA DUNLOP SUPERTEENS

Northern Ireland’s Andy Reid grabbed pole and three deserved victories to climb to the top of the Superteen leader board after some master class riding by the 15-year-old from Belfast was too much for the field to cope with at Cadwell.

Connor Tagg remains second overall after securing three podiums but will really need to work hard if he’s to gain an advantage over Reid at Pembrey.

Local rider Lee Jackson Jnr won the final race of the day and keeps himself in the hunt overall but with good rides from Ben Gautrey, Wayne Ryan, Nick Anderson, Ashley Jones and so on…… the Superteen race for the title, is well and truly on!

Of the Nitro Newcomers, Danny Murphy looked impressive at times but slips down to fifth overall as Aaran Climpson, Sam Davis, Josh Daley, Tommy Mountain, Ryan Davies and Scott Pitchers surround him, leaving the title that Fraser Rogers won last year wide open.

BSN.COM JUNIOR POWERBIKES, S/TWINS & M/TWINS

With Steve Tomes concentrating on his Moto 450 for the weekend, Alex Hutchinson had a championship lead to defend, with Rob Elsmere sniffing his exhaust pipe in third overall on the IN Competition Aprilia 550 in the Junior Powerbikes this weekend.

Despite Alex having the better of the early exchanges on Sunday, consistency from Elsmere paid off when Hutch came off, wrecking his bike on the Monday leaving Rob to take both victories and ending the day just one point behind Alex overall.

In Supertwins, Michael Price’s absence and defending Champion Lee Reveley out of the running also thanks to an injury, the points table was open and Brian Greenfield made the best of the weekend with three podiums including one win to lead the Championship by just two points from Chris Norris who had his best weekend by a long way on the #22 Ducati.

The Minitwins championship was much the same situation, with Dan Hopkins missing and Chris Boland on duty in Afghanistan, it was left to Richard Willshire to take glory and although he did take two wins, Andy Ward shared the spoils and prevented Willshire from leading the points table, this was left to Leigh Hutchinson whose three podiums gives him an 11 point lead overall.

Paul Turner and Darren Smith were once again amongst the battles and grabbed some well earned points in the Moto 450 class as Steve Tomes struggled with set up and didn’t end up scoring a single point all weekend.

E2E SOLUTIONS GP3

Three action packed races provided crowds with plenty to watch as the 125 GP machines hurtled around the Lincolnshire circuit and Fraser Rogers was the ‘young’ man to watch as he stuck it on pole on Sunday before clinching victory number four of the campaign.

On Easter Monday, all eyes were on Rogers again but after dealing with some pressure from Norwich’s John Lea, Fraser’s race took a tumble as he went down leaving Lea to win ahead of Neil Durham and Arnie Shelton with local female Sam Burman rushing through the field to earn her a solid fourth.

The final race had much the same pattern although this time, Rogers was on borrowed machinery. Having ruined his Magnum prepared JDF machine during the earlier race, Rogers was offered Andy Reid’s Honda to ride and on cold tyres, Rogers showed why he’s attracted so much interest of late, with a stunning victory ahead of a chasing Sam Hornsey who held off Arnie Shelton for third.

Rogers now leads the Championship by 39 points from Hornsey who himself is 14 points ahead of the tight battle for fourth between Neil Durham and Arnie Shelton.

PIRELLI SUPERSTOCK 600

After grabbing pole, Daniel Miles cruised to victory on Sunday from team mate Ricky Simmonds who battled off RAF’s Tom Gazzard for second in an interesting first Superstock race.

On the Monday, Simmonds and Gazzard were keen to prevent the same happening again and in the beginning it looked possible. High pressure from both riders made Miles work hard, but with Simmonds dropping out and snapping his suspension in the process, it was left to Gazzard to do the business who himself had Rob Brown to fend off and three finished as they were with Miles winning.

The final race of the day was to be without Simmonds who was unable to repair his bike in time, and this time Tom Gazzard stepped up as the challenger and took the race to Miles in front. After various manoeuvres, Miles ran wide and rejoined the circuit in sixth, some seven seconds behind Gazzard in front.

In the end, Gazzard won with a classy ride ahead of a tight battle for second won by Dean Brown, ahead of Rob Brown as Miles ended up crashing out with a lap to go.

Miles still leads the championship though, but with Dean and Rob Brown close behind and some sturdy competitors in Gazzard, Ahmet and Simmonds behind….. It should make for a very interesting championship.

CIA INSURANCE GP1

Local rider Phil Crowe stunned the likes of May, Baker and Hoyles this weekend with a great pole position and super pole race win as the GP1 Championship became ever so unpredictable this weekend.

After losing Martin Buckles whilst in second, Crowe battled well to win his fist Thundersport GB race ahead of Baker who pinched second from a quick Hoyles on the final lap.

On the Monday, Hoyles was eager to win and from the off looked impressive, taking to the front ahead of Buckles again in second. Hoyles was tipped for victory until lap seven when his quick shifter packed in resulting in a retirement. Moments later, a serious crash involving Buckles again meant the race was stopped and declared meaning that Crowe was again crowned the victor, with Baker in second and this time, defending Champion May in third.

The final race of the day was the cream of the crop though and again some fantastic riding from Rob Hoyles saw him fending off not only Gary May, but Peter Baker and Stuart Hall too.
With three laps to go, Baker made his move past May and chased Hoyles and on the final lap he came back to haunt Hoyles once more, snatching victory and climbing to the top of the leader board, 13 points ahead of May who is now only 12 points ahead of rival Hoyles in third. Phil Crowe’s excellent weekend, sees him now move up to fourth and gives him a massive boost of confidence going into Pembrey.