The number 67 shoots clear as Garness crashes and Brown vs Belford decides the podium
Casey O’Gorman’s (Microlise Cresswell Racing) stunning return from injury continued in Race 1 at Snetterton, the number 67 escaping in the lead with Johnny Garness (City Lifting by RS Racing) before a crash for the latter. From there, O’Gorman kept the hammer down to keep four seconds in hand over the duel for second, which saw Carter Brown (City Lifting by RS Racing) take on teammate Evan Belford and come out on top.
Off the line, Garness made his customary super start to take the holeshot from O’Gorman, with Belford keeping third to make it an as-you-were initially. But the top two were immediately starting to pull away and make a gap, setting the scene for a duel for the win.
Behind, Belford was locked in battle with Ollie Walker (Moto Rapido / SP125 Racing) and Brown, with the latter making a good gain from where he started. A couple of incidents then injected some drama for the frontrunners, one for Cormac Buchanan (Microlise Creswell Racing) as the Kiwi crashed out, and then one right at the front: a crash for Garness. The number 57 fell from the lead for the second time in three races, leaving O’Gorman alone in some fresh air.
From thereon out, the number 67 kept the hammer down to maintain the lead to the flag, crossing the line four and a half seconds clear. Behind him, the fight for third saw another big twist as Walker went for a 2-for-1 on both Belford and Brown, the 48 getting through and then losing it and sliding out. That left a vital duel for the points and podium, with Brown needing to make up the ground on Belford and getting it done as the number 74 moved through and kept it.
Harrison Crosby (Banks Racing) won a duel against Rhys Stephenson (Rocket Racing) for what became fourth, with James Cook (Wilson Racing) in a lonelier ride to sixth but some solid points after serious bad luck at Silverstone.
Jamie Lyons (C&M Motors Ltd / Tooltec Racing) took seventh in another lonelier ride, with Kiyano Veijer (Microlise Cresswell Racing) heading up a group fight for eighth ahead of Corey Tinker (CT Racing) and Harrison Dessoy (Thorneycroft56 Racing), who completed the top ten and Dessoy with a best of the season by some distance. Mason Johnson (Johnson Racing) and JJ Cunningham (Thorneycroft56 JCRsupersport) the final riders in that group.
Sullivan Mounsey (iForce Lloyd & Jones) made contact with Lucas Brown (Amphibian Scaffolding / SP125 Racing) and then suffered a DNF too, and Rossi Banham (MJL Racing) was another faller early on.
It’s now just 14 points from Belford back to O’Gorman, and after the show in Race 1 could that even change as soon as Sunday? Find out when the lights go out for Race 2 at 14:05 (GMT +1).
