Guiver wins Race 1 in the wet but crashes out during the Race 2 warm-up as Collier goes on to claim his 8th win of the season.
Rob Guiver finds wet-weather confidence to win Race 1
Race 2 incident during warm up damages Guiver’s championship challenge
Joe Collier extends his championship lead
Race 1
Rob Guiver (Ducati Romford / Hyside Racing) lined up at the front of the grid at Brands Hatch for Race 1 after scoring his first pole of the season during qualifying on Friday. Boast Plumbing’s championship leader Joe Collier and teammate Jonathan Railton completed the rest of the front row. But the action was initially delayed as rain started to fall. A wet race was declared with the distance reduced from 12 laps to 8.
As the lights went out it was Railton who got the holeshot to lead from Highsparks Motorsport teammates Mark Cheetham and Phil Atkinson while pole-sitter Guiver’s poor start saw him drop all the way down to 7th.
Guiver was not to be outdone and as the riders started their 3rd lap Guiver had already made his way back up to 5th. He went on to pass Jon Waghorn (JW Smart Services / Laguna Motorcycles) for 4th before passing championship leader Collier on the 4th lap to take 3rd position.
Guiver was now on a charge in the wet conditions, getting the better of Atkinson into Druids for 2nd and had Railtonin his sights who had led the entire race so far. Guiver’ with a new-found confidence in the wet managed to get the better of Railton to take the race lead.
As the race moved into its last quarter the rain was coming down heavily, bringing out the red flag and ending the race prematurely. Guiver claimed his 2nd win of the season, with Railton and Atkinson finishing in 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Championship leader Collier finished 4th and would start Race 2 just ahead of Guiver after posting the fastest lap of the race with a 1:45.095 on his final lap.
The top 899 finisher was Paul Slade (PPR) who started the race from 20th position. Slade claimed an impressive 9 positions on his opening lap alone, eventually crossing the chequered flag in 9th.
Guiver’s race 1 victory saw Collier’s championship lead over him reduced to just 6.5 points, with Atkinson a further 44 points behind in 3rd.
Rob Guiver (Ducati Romford / Hyside Racing #13) – Race 1, 1st
“I’m lost for words. The last 5 years in the wet I’ve just had no confidence in the rain at all. And it was the same again sitting on the grid waiting to go. I just thought I’m going to drop back and back and back. But I just felt so comfortable. Every slide I felt good. Even when I’d lost it and my feet were off the peg I still felt comfortable and I could push. I was just smiling. I was thinking to myself ‘what’s going on, I’ve just taken the lead of the race?’. The last 2 laps the rain was getting really heavy so it was a good call to stop it. I’m absolutely over the moon!”
Race 2
After the high of winning Race 1 the previous day Guiver was cruelly denied his chance at doing the double as his second race of the weekend was over before it began. On the warm up lap there was a coming together with Taryn Skinner (Highsparks Motorsport), causing title challenger Guiver to crash out with two suspected broken hands. The incident also resulted in Nick Ford (Tech 5 Racing) and Nicky Wilson (NWR) crashing out of the race and is currently under investigation.
After being red-flagged with the restarted race was reduced to just 6 laps.
Railton got a good start from the front row as the lights went out to lead pole-sitter Joe Collier (Boast Plumbing) and Mark Cheetham as the riders entered Druids. Sean Neary (Zoek Racing Team) soon passed Cheetham for 3rd before Collier managed to pass Railton to take the lead on Lap 2. Neary was then also able to pass Railton before the trio started to pull away from the rest of the field.
Neary posted the fastest lap of the race on Lap 5, but despite this was not able to get the better of Collier, who took his 8th win of the season. Neary crossed the finish line just 0.179s behind in 2nd, with Railton a further 1.273s behind him in 3rd.
Despite starting on the back of Row 10, David Shoubridge was able to make a pass on Skinner on the final lap to become the first 889 finisher in 10th place.
Before Race 2 there just 6.5 points difference between championship leader Collier and Guiver. But with Race 1 winner Guiver out of action, Collier extends his championship lead over his title-rival this weekend by 13 points, having now amassed a total of 200.5. Phil Atkinson currently sits 3rd in the championship with 131 points.
Joe Collier (Boast Plumbing #4) – Race 2, 1st
“With the Ducati we are making big progress and in yesterday’s race in the wet we seem to have got a good setting now. So, going forward we know what we’re doing in the wet. But today it was just a bit of a shame that the lads fell off at the start. Obviously, Rob went down as well, which is never good because you like to race everyone in the race. But I made the most of it, enjoyed it and onwards to Thruxton.”