2022 BSB Round 5 Brands Hatch

Hi everyone, and welcome back to another blog of racing action.

Bit of housekeeping first, and mega congratulations to all the riders who took part in the TT races that happened the other month.

Since then, the British Superbike season took a little break but is back now. But before then, a World Superbike round took place at Donington Park. Ben Currie was taking part in the Supersport class, but making a guest appearance was Harry Truelove on his Yamaha R6. Also, this round was supported but the Junior Supersport championship. In the junior Supersport class, Finn Smart Weeden finished in 10th and 13th in the races to grab a few valuable championship points, and Oliver Morgan Edwards finished 24th in the second race of the weekend.

In the Supersport races, Ben qualified in 26th place after having a crash in the free practise session; it left a massive job for his team to do as they needed to rebuild the bike to get it ready for the qualifying session. Harry was just in-front in 25th position.

The first race was a write-off for both the J&S-backed riders as Ben suffered from mechanical issues, and Harry also had an issue with his bike just before the start of the race.

Race two and Harry pulled into the pits to retire after suffering from brake fade; it’s not surprising as the temperature was sky high, and a few of the other teams also suffered from the heat. Ben just missed out on some championship points by finishing in 19th position.

Now that’s out of the way, let's get back to the British Championship. The race this weekend came from Brands Hatch and the longer GP circuit.

Honda Talent Cup first, and Alfie Davidson qualified in 30th place on the grid for the first race with Sullivan Mounsey in 10th and Harrison Crosby in the middle of the second row in 5th. The first race saw Harrison finish in 2nd place while Alfie just missed out on the last points scoring place but finished in 18th position. Sullivan missed out on the race after suffering a crash and was pretty beaten up and decided to rest up for the second race on Sunday.  

The second race saw Alife fail to finish, while Harrison missed out on a podium place by coming home in 4th. Sullivan took part in the second race and came home just outside the top 10 with 11th place.

Junior Supersport is now a good weekend for the J&S-supported riders who all improved from the starting positions to move higher up come to the end of the only race of the weekend. The only riders who didn't improve were Ed Best and Osian Jones. Ed had his best result of the season so far. After qualifying in 4th place for the race, he would finally finish in 6th. Osian Jones started and finished in 18th Position. Jacob Hatch moved up from 37th to 21st, Zak Shelton started in 31st and crossed the line in 22nd.

Superstock 1000 and once again a massive grid for this round. Ant Moore was returning after having a few rounds off with injury and started in 36th position, Charlie Nesbitt in 19th, Matt Truelove qualified in 15th and teammate Tom Ward in 8th place. Joe Francis had a grid slot down in 14th position, while Honda rider Lewis Rollo would start from the inside of the second row in 4th place. But once again, Billy McConnell would start from pole for the first race of the weekend.

Race one would see Lewis fail to finish. Matt missed out on the final point by grabbing a 16th-place finish. Charlie improved to 12th, Joe moved up to 9th and was just beaten by Tom, who was in 8th, and Ant made a great return and finished in 27th position. But it was the Aussie again who stood on the top step of the podium to take his third win of the season.

The second race of the weekend, and once again, points were scored by most of the riders. Matt and Joe both suffered from DNFs in the second race. Ant finished in 30th place. Lewis missed out on the top 10 by crossing the line in 11th, Charlie came home in 7th, just behind Tom, who would finish in 6th, Again Billy finished on the podium, but this time it was the bottom step with a solid 3rd place finish, and now leads the championship by 10 points.

Supersport championship now, and Harry Truelove carried on his great form this season. Harry qualified in 4th for the first race of the weekend. So two races over the weekend for the Supersport riders and Harry turned them into two podium finishes. A 2nd and 3rd for Harry in the races and more points added to his championship total. 

The final action comes from the Superbike class. Leon Jeacock started the first race from 24th on the grid, Dan Jones 21st with Luke Mossey just in front in 20th, Glenn had a small crash in the first race and failed to finish, while Leon finished in 21st, just behind Dan Jones in 20th and Luke came home in 16th just outside the points. 

Race two saw bad luck for Both Luke and Dan as they both failed to finish. Leon snuck into the top 20 by finishing in 20th place, and Glenn crossed the line in 10th.

The third and final race once again saw Dan not finish, Leon managed to come home in 22nd, and Luke in front in 17th. Glenn rounded off a mixed weekend and stood on the podium as he took 3rd place to grab some more championship points towards the end-of-season showdown.

That's all from me for now until the next round, which comes from Thruxton over the weekend of 12th-14th August. So thanks for reading once again, and I'll catch you next time.

Danny