The season is coming to a close but there’s plenty to play for before the curtain falls on a record-shattering campaign
The 2022 Honda British Talent Cup has arrived at Donington Park for the final round of what has been a record-breaking season. With 12 different podium finishers so far, there’s already been more rostrum finishers in one season than any other season of BTC action and with two races left to go, who’d bet against there being more? Johnny Garness (MLav VisionTrack Academy) has the title won but could become the first rider in the class’s history to achieve ten consecutive wins, making Donington Park as exciting as ever along with the other battles in the field.
The title race is over going into the final round of the season, with Garness already crowned Champion, and the rider from Devon heads into the final round of the season remaining the favourite for victory. With less to play for, will we see the opposition catch up? Not if he can help it, as Garness is aiming to make history to become the first rider to make it ten in a row in the BTC. After a double DNF last time out, Carter Brown will hope to finish his season on a high and bounce back for Donington Park, where he won at earlier in the year, whilst there’s a big battle for third overall with Rhys Stephenson (Rocket Racing) currently occupying it, level on points with Harrison Crosby (Banks Racing). Third courtesy of more second place finishes, Stephenson is keen to hold on to the position ahead of Crosby, who took a podium at Snetterton when Stephenson failed to finish. Stephenson can mathematically finish second but 31 points behind Brown make it a challenge.
Fifth place in the Championship standings belongs to Kiyano Veijer (Microlise Cresswell Racing), a race winner from Silverstone back at the start of the season. He’s been out injured since Thruxton but is keen to return to maintain a top five overall, and is level on points with Harrison Dessoy (Microlise Cresswell Racing/Eastern Garage), who likewise hasn’t scored points since a fifth place at Silverstone in August. He will aim for a return to the podium, something he’s been without since the last Donington Park meeting. Likewise in the battle for fifth overall and just five points behind both Veijer and Dessoy, seventh-placed Lucas Brown (SP125/Amphibian Scaffolding) has scored points in every race so far, with a career-best fourth place last time out.
It’s close behind with Ryan Hitchcock (City Lifting by RS Racing) occupying eight place, some 24 points behind Brown, and he took a sixth and seventh last time out. Second place last time out and having missed the first five races of the season through injury, Evan Belford (City Lifting by RS Racing) hopes to climb up the overall standings. With four podiums since he returned, including a victory at Knockhill, Belford currently lies tenth overall, just five points ahead of Julian Correa (Microlise Cresswell Racing).
There’ll be plenty of other riders to keep an eye on at Donington Park, all with plenty of points to prove before the end of the season. Harrison Mackay (Wilson Racing/Super Soco) is two points behind Correa and aims to remain in the fight for a top ten, whilst Harley McCabe (MLav VisionTrack Academy) hopes to repeat his podium success of Silverstone’s August meeting. He’s tied on points with Bailey Stuart-Campbell (SP151s/Lextec) who was back inside the top ten last time out at Snetterton, whilst Clayton Edmunds (MJL Racing), Sullivan Mounsey (Wilson Racing/J&S Accessories) and Ollie Walker (SP125) all seek a strong close to their season.
Two thrilling races await the 2022 BTC field, with Race 1 kicking off on Saturday at 14:00 local time (GMT+1) for a 15-lap battle, whilst Race 2 on Sunday and the final race of 2022 gets underway at 14:05 local time.
