Bemsee: Round 7, Brands Hatch

Though a number of championships had been sewn up heading into the British Motorcycle

Racing Club’s final round of 2024, there were still a number of champions to be crowned at

the season finale.

Both the ACU Team Green Junior Cup and the Kawasaki Senior Ninja Series were still to be

decided, with just a solitary point splitting Phil Atkinson and Ben Brown in the senior series.

And despite Atkinson qualifying on pole, Brown got off to the better start and took the class

win in race one, with Atkinson second in class, the pair sixth and seventh overall. From there, though, Atkinson was untouchable in the Senior class and took three victories –

with a best of second overall – to secure the 2024 title.

In the Junior Cup there were 61 points separating Luca Wilkinson and Ollie Sims, with Kade

Watt just 10 points further adrift in third. But with such a healthy advantage Wilkinson didn’t need to put everything on the line. He was part of an eight rider train fighting for third overall, that crossed the line in race one with just over a second covering the lot of them. He took the flag just behind his title rivals, but only sacrificed two points to Sims, while the race win was taken by junior runner Henry McCartney.

Wilkinson’s fifth in class in race two was enough to clinch the championship, as he finished

one spot ahead of Sims in sixth in class, while McCartney took another overall victory.

On Sunday Watt at least ended the season on a high, taking both overall and class victories. Wilkinson was second in the first race and finished his season with sixth overall in the final race of the year.

Though the DART Motorsport championship was still to be decided, with a 94-point

advantage coming into the weekend Anthony Johnson was always a shoe-in for the crown,

and with four second place finishes over the weekend he lifted the 2024 trophy. On all four

occasions he crossed the line behind Fenton Seabright aboard his FHS Racing Yamaha.

With two class wins from the four races Aaron Monk had his name etched onto the Clubman 600 trophy.

James Lord overturned a 22-point deficit in the Rookie 600s to clinch the title at the final

round of the year by 10 points. Aaron Hickmott arrived holding the series lead, but without a single visit to the podium at Brands to Lord’s two seconds and two thirds, the championship trophy went the way of Lord.

Josh Wainwright picked up another Reactive Parts MRO Powerbikes title, after winning the

2022 championship, with a trio of victories on his JW MOT Centre Honda. He beat another

former class champion, Peter Baker, to the 2024 gong.

Kieran Smith won the final race of the season, and with it his second Retro 1000 race win of the weekend, the other two going to Jamie Thomas. Morgan Creasey took three Clubman wins, after Clinton Wood took the spoils in the opener.

In the Rookie championship Dan Chamberlain arrived at Brands Hatch with an 81-point lead, before doing his best to give up the championship to his closest rival, Ben Wood. Two DNFs on Saturday and two wins for Wood saw that lead slashed by 50 points, but a win in race three and a second in race four gave him the championship win.

Despite arriving with a five-point deficit in the BMCRC Formula 400 standings, Andrew Gill

overturned Kade Watt’s advantage to win this year’s title. David Lindemann won all four

races over the weekend, but Gill’s three thirds and a fourth were enough to pull himself back to the top of the points table when it counted.

Watt did collect the Sub-64bhp championship, doing enough to hold off Steve Rapa.

David Twyford took his win tally to 11 for the season to win the MRO Minitwin

Championship. Twyford was just one of three riders to win a race in the class this season,

with Darren Dowds finishing the year on nine and David Lindemann eight, after taking two

wins at the season finale. However, after beating Dowds in every race – including a Dowds

DNF in race one – Twyford secured the title.

The Thunderbike Sport title had already been awarded to Matt Wetherell, and he finished his year with two wins at Brands Hatch. The other victories went to Adam Carson and Josh

Harvey. The Thunderbike Extreme class, too, was also settled, with David May the victor. At Brands Hatch, Mark Biswell and Shaun Wallis took two wins each.

However, the Thunderbike Ultra class was still to be decided, but two third and two seconds

gave Morgan Creasey the title, while all four of the weekend’s wins went to Kieran Smith.

The ever-growing Supertwin class ended its maiden season with Craig Cowton as

champion, despite the fact Cowton only managed a best of eighth over the weekend. He

finished behind title rival Malvern May in three of the four races, but May was unable to

collect enough points to overhaul Cowton in the title chase. At the pointy end Fenton

Seabright took three wins after Max Hardy won the weekend’s opener.

Both of the club’s F1 and F2 Sidecar championships were already decided ahead of the final

round. Kevin Cable and Charlie Richardson won twice on Saturday in the F1 class, with Paul

and Tom Kirby and Andy Peach and Ken Edwards winning a race each on Sunday. In the F2

class Ross Buchanan and Adam Evans took a hat trick of wins, before Mark Hegarty and

Alex Ludlow took the spoils in the final race of the year.

After dominating the DFDS Yamaha Past Masters championship in 2024 Kevin Wholey

converted pole into four victories, taking his season’s tally to a whopping 26.

Bemsee now concludes its 2024 season, however details on the 2025 are available on their website : Here

Words: James Sharpe

Photography: Rachel Bourne