BRANDS HATCH, EASTER WEEKEND

The date the FII brigade had been waiting for – their first appearance at a major UK meeting. Teams had arrived on the Friday but had to wait until 17.55 on Saturday to get on track – there were still more spectators around then than at a club meeting.

It was a 'free practice' session but with 33 entered and only 28 spaces on the grid, everyone was keen to get out.
Nick Crowe and Mark Cox (Dave Hudspeth Carpets/HM Plant LCR Honda) were fastest at 51.022 but Ben and Tom Birchall (Mitchells of Mansfield LCR Honda) and Tim Reeves and Patrick Farrance (Gunther Reuschling Motorsport LCR Suzuki) were also in the 51's.
Dean Henry and Ian Smith (Magnam Racing Windle Suzuki) and Miles Bennett and Kevin Perry (Mad Cow Racing Shelbourne Honda) did 22 laps with another 11 outfits doing 20 or 21.

Unfortunately the session was red-flagged when Paul and Steve Sanderson (Sanderson Racing DDR Suzuki) pulled up going up to Druids with the marshals fearing oil on the track.
Unfortunately Sunday lunchtime's qualifying session was also red-flagged after a coming-together between Dave Lillie and Lee Watson (Ian Bell M/cs DMR Yamaha) and the luckless Sandersons at Graham Hill Bend. Fortunately the only serious casualty was Steve Sanderson with a knee injury which will keep him out for a few weeks.
Looking at the Daily Star photo, it is easy to see why Lee Watson has been offered a trial by the Kent Mens Rhythmic Gymnastics Team!

Reeves got pole from Crowe and Birchall with Steve Coombes and Paul Knapton (Dave Hudspeth Carpets Ireson Honda) and Simon Neary and Stu Bond (Neary Racing Baker Suzuki) also in the 51's. Unfortuately three teams, Matt and Jo Williams (MR Equipe Suzuki), Scott Rabin and Paul Jones (Mad Cow Racing Molyneux Suzuki) and Mike Lines and Mark Salmon (Steam 'n Glean Shelbourne Honda) failed to get within 110% of Reeves' time and so didn't qualify to race – regardless of the grid size.
That left 30 who had qualified and with the Lillie and Sanderson outfits too damaged, it meant the other 28 would form the grid.

RACE ONE

Crowe led from the line with Reeves second but third qualifier Birchall had lost places following a sideways drift at Paddock Hill bend and completed the first lap in fifth behind Coombes and Phil Dongworth (WAS Racing Ireson Honda), now with Gary Partridge in the chair. Neary was sixth ahead of John Holden and Andy Winkle (D&A Walmsley LCR Suzuki), Ian and Carl Bell (Ian Bell M/cs LCR Yamaha), Andy Laidlow and James Neave (Team LFR LCR Suzuki), and Roy Hanks and Dave Wells (Dorwingear Ltd Molyneux Suzuki), with Wil Smith and Sean Starbuck (Team Porter Racing Shelbourne Honda) in 11th – the leading FII Cup competitors.

The first few laps of this race were the highlight of the weekend – some tremendous racing with absolutely no quarter given. Birchall took fourth on lap 2 and hounded Dongworth until getting by on lap 5. He then began to close on Reeves with the fastest lap of the race – the first sub-51 second lap by a FII, which finally consigned the 1999 record of Tom Hanks and Steve Wilson to the history books.
This spurred Tim to close on Nick and he got the lead at Druids on lap 8 of the 15.

So, the leading 10 at half-distance were: Reeves-Crowe-Birchall-Dongworth-Coombes-Neary-Holden-Hanks-Bell-Smith. Laidlow had slipped to 11th ahead of Gary Horspole and Scott Parnell (Sleaford Plant Hire LCR Honda), Gary Bryan and Robert Bell (Drury Engineering Baker Yamaha), Dave Wallis and Steve Wareham (Team Petpals LCR Honda) with Henry second of the FII Cup competitors and in the last overall points position.

Reeves' move to the front had not slowed Birchall's charge and the brothers closed in on Crowe somehow finding a way through on lap 10. But any hopes they had of catching Reeves were dashed two laps later when they spun at Clearways and dropped to fourth. Neary took fifth from Coombes and that was that – Reeves taking the win by the comfortable margin of 2.3 seconds from Crowe and Dongworth.

Birchall stayed in fourth ahead of Neary and Coombes. Disappointment though for 7th placed Holden. He had been black-flagged on the penultimate lap when marshals spotted exhaust smoke. John was sure that the reason was overfilling with oil and that there was no serious problem so continued seeing no point in coming in with just one lap to go. Unfortunately he was disqualified from the results and ended up pointless. Tough but fair enough reasoned John.Quite simply the marshals have the brief to err on the side of caution plus it is quite obvious that at BSB nothing can be allowed to happen which could hold up the slick race programme (no pun intended!).

Hanks was seventh ahead of Bell, Smith (Impressive FII Cup winners) and Laidlow. 11th to 15th were Horspole, Bryan, Wallis with Henry and Stephen Kershaw and Robin Wilson (Blinkbonny Quarry LCR Suzuki) not only the last points scorers but also 2nd and 3rd in the FII Cup. Tony Baker and Fiona Baker-Milligan (Team Cumbria Express Baker Suzuki) were 16th ahead of Greg Lambert and Craig Kinsella (GL Racing GLR Honda) and Dean Lindley and Mark Sayers (Motorcycle Parts Leeds Bellas Yamaha), the latter having been in the points until the thottle worked loose, Dave Kimberley and Baz Stone (Just Landscapes Ireson Honda) and Bill Currie and Robert Biggs (LCR Yamaha) completing the top 20.

The last to finish were Nick Dukes and Mike Aylott (Team Dynobike BLR Honda), Miles Bennett and Kevin Perry, and Dave Atkinson and Jane Wheatcroft (DW Atkinson Bulders LCR Suzuki) – all pleased to have done so and all scoring FII Cup points. Retirements had been Howard Baker and Mike Killingsworth (D&J Bike Spares Lincoln Shelbourne Honda) last lap blown engine, Conrad Harrison and Lee Patterson (Printing Roller Services Shelbourne Honda) electrics, and Dean Banks amd Nigel Brogan (Pat Hodson Builders Baker Suzuki) and Matt Dix and Shaun Parker ( DWS Racing Baker Honda) with engine problems.


RACE TWO

It was always going to be asking a bit much to expect race 2 to equal or better Sunday's epic and so it turned out. Howard Baker was a non-starter while the Harrison/Patterson and Smith/Starbuck teams had warm-up lap problems. However the biggest 'drama', especially for the spectators, was the misfire that befell the Reeves/Farrance Suzuki, Tim touring in to retire at the end of the second lap.

Crowe led off the line from Birchall and Neary and had a lead of nearly two seconds after one lap.
Dongworth was fourth ahead of Holden and Coombes with the Hanks-Bell-Laidlow trio battling for seventh.
There were plenty of changes in the order of the others but once Holden took fourth from Dongworth on lap 3 with Coombes relegating Dongworth to sixth on lap seven, that was that as far as the top nine were concerned.
The pace was quick- Crowe's race winning speed was quicker than Reeves' from Sunday – it was just that there was enough of a gap between each pair to preclude any overtaking despite their efforts.

Birchall had cut Crowe's lead by half a second but with just two laps to go, the red flags came out following an accident to Gary Horspole on the exit from Druids.

Results were declared after 10 laps, and with the race having already been cut from 15 down to 12 laps (following a solo hold-up), there was no problem with the length of the shortened race. Bryan and Wallis were 10-11th with 12th placed Henry taking the FII Cup honours for the third time in four races.
Baker, Kimberley and Kershaw completed the points scorers with Kershaw runner-up in the Cup.
The remaining finishers were Lambert-Lindley-Currie-Dukes-Dix-Banks-Bennett and Atkinson. However, many of this group had passed by the stricken Horspole and there were more than a few concerned looks.With three red flags in our four sessions and a few near-misses which could/should have been avoided, it would be easy to be critical.

One thing which we must go for is whenever we have our two races split over two days, we must have at least one warm-up session on the second day.
On Eurosport's Qatar GP coverage they commented that the 250cc incidents were inevitable bearing in mind the waiting-all-day-for-the-race situation -- ditto the FII sidecars at Brands.
Plusses from the event: tremendous interest from the public on their paddock walkabouts, a truly wonderful first race and in general, some tremendous racing in mid-field.
No surprise there, you just have to look at the CV's of the teams concerned.

The championship is hotting up. Crowe leads on 70 from Birchall 69, Reeves 50, then Coombes 47, Dongworth 46, Holden 44 and Neary 43. Five of the next seven have scored points in all four races – consistency pays off!.
The top five in the FII Cup have also got 100% points-scoring records, Henry 95, leading from Kershaw 76, Lindley 58, Bennett 40 and Atkinson 36.

Three weeks before Round 3 at Cadwell Park – I think we need the rest!

John NewtonFSRA Press Officer