On the British Moto Academy supported Magnum Motorsport Honda Fraser Rogers added the overall series title to the GP3 Cup won at the penultimate round at Anglesey, to complete an impressive first season on the GP machine.
Going in to the last round at Rockingham Rogers held a comfortable lead of 58 points over nearest rival for the title Sam Hornsey, Rogers only needed to finish in the points to secure the Championship. Anyone however who has been in contact with the diminutive Wiltshireman over the season would know that settling for a few points was not his style.
Fraser qualifying in P7 on the second row for the Superpole race had a great start in what was the strongest field of the year, he knew he would have a hard race to try and secure the championship on the Saturday. The field entry had no less than seven 125 BSB regulars including on form Danny Kent and Adam Blacklock.
Going into the first turn Rogers had his customary good start but found himself boxed in whilst the front row qualifiers of got past. Rogers knew he had to finish behind Sam Hornsey to complete the double. Hornsey had got himself in a comfortable second position behind race leader Danny Kent, whilst Rogers was in fifth place battling with on form Arnie Shelton and Curtis Wright. Running out of time over the 18 lap race Rogers knew he could not clinch the title if he was lower than fourth place.
Entering the final corner he managed to turn the machine in and back on the gas quicker than Shelton to cross the line in fourth place. With only 50 points available out of the two races on the Sunday, the place was enough to give him the title in the first race of the weekend.
"Team manager John Davies and I had sat down and computed the various finishing positions between Sam and me, whilst not that good at Maths and trying to race a 130 mph GP bike at the same time, I had my eye on Sam at all times, I knew I had to finish fourth or better to secure the title," said Rogers.
"I had weighed up were I was going to try and pass Arnie, however I was running out of corners so it had to be the last one; I also knew I could not afford a DNF through rider error or a breakdown though, so I held my breath until I crossed the line."
The structure of the Thundersport GB GP3 championship caters for standard Honda race machines, and kitted engines producing 3- 5 Bhp more than the standard unit, this allows the young rider of modest means to run in their own championship alongside the more powerful machines in the same race.
JDF Team owner John Davies said "It allows for an interesting mix of riders to compete with each other that gives them a chance to gauge their standard as to whether there is an improvement in their performance or not; it also caters for riders who do not wish to compete at British Championship level due to limited financial resources or other reasons; the series has seen a steady migration of regular BSB riders over to the GP3 Championship when not on duty.
"We have seen some good performances from the regular GP3 competitors lined up with some of the up and coming riders from the BSB paddock, not least from young Fraser, not old enough to compete in the British championship he has taken on allcomers over the nine round series and come out on top on a standard Honda, this gives encouragement to other young riders particularly those moving up from the Aprilia Superteen series at Thundersports that to compete on a limited budget on a GP machine is ‘can do’ if they prepare themselves and the machine correctly."
The 2008 Superteen Champion has had a busy season. When not competing in the GP series in 2009, he was also one of the elite Red Bull Rookies competitors in the highly regarded Red Bull Rookies Cup support series at Moto GP. Rogers will again be competing in this series in 2010 so watch out for some impressive performances from this young man.
