SNETTERTON 300 3RD & 4TH MAY 2025

RACE REPORT

SNETTERTON 300 3RD & 4TH MAY 2025

BSRC SUPER SERIES ROUNDS 4, 5 & DON’T ASK

ART FUL MORLEY HAS A VS WEEKEND

Liam Morley bounced back from a frustrating retirement at Silverstone to take two wins at Snetterton and put himself back on top of the Division 1 Super Series by a slender margin. Paul Platt extended his lead in the Mono class with a pair of victories while honours were shared in the F125 Open & KZ LC category between Ollie Holmes and Ella Stevens.

After a couple of test sessions the previous day and a free practice run on Saturday morning, the 48 drivers were ready for their 12 minute qualifying session at 3.45pm. The warm weather from the morning had disappeared and there was a distinct chill in the air with a crosswind at 90 degrees to the Senna and Bentley Straights. Tom Rushforth kept his local fans happy by setting the initial pace with a 1m 50.959s lap before Ross Allen shaved six tenths off. Liam Morley was the first driver to put in a sub 1m50s, clocking a 1m 49.866s, but Rushforth responded with a 49.599. Allen set the new benchmark moments later before Morley flashed across the line taking nearly a second off the Jade driver. Who was going to take pole position? Allen went quicker to set his best time of 1m 47.820s but Morley was flying. A lap of 1m 46.763s, only half a second off the 12 year old lap record, secured pole position for the Anderson driver by a massive 1.057s. Phew. Allen had to settle for the other front row slot but was pleased with his performance and wasn’t expecting to be as high as second. Reigning Super Series champion Lee Harpham had a new MS Kart chassis for this meeting and was still trying to dial everything in after its first run in testing on Friday. He chipped away at the times and posted a 1m 48.589s to head row 2. Rushforth had changed the gearing for qually and had bettered his earlier time. He was on for another improvement but was held up, so a 1m 49.137s secured his place on the second row. Jack Tritton was quickest in the earlier free practice session and hoping to match that time which would have put him on the front row of the grid. He was just starting to reduce his times when the rear caliper moved. Quick thinking under braking for Agostini’s saw him throw the kart sideways on the apex to scrub off some speed before skating across the grass, fortunately without contact with the barriers. His time of 1m 49.279s headed row 3 with Andy Gulliford alongside. Kosta Kyritsis had an unlucky Silverstone but was showing good pace at Snetterton and headed the 4th row only 0.049s ahead of Carl Hulme. Former GT and Praga driver Chippy Wesemael was still trying to get to grips with the handling of his ex-Steve Burton Anderson and wound up 9th quickest just ahead of Mark Edwards on the third of the MS Kart Harvey VM packages. Sam Moss had been third quickest in the free session and was hoping to match that in qually but a seized VM on the second lap coming around Coram left him down on row 18.

The F250 Mono class was headed by reigning champion throughout the session. His best of 1m 53.329s was 0.721s ahead of Samanatha Hempshall with Paul Platt a similar distance behind. Kirk Cattermole had the front brake caliper pins come out in the free practice session and with a lack of pads rammed into the back of John Busby at the Wilsons hairpin. After repairs to both karts they managed to qualify 4th and 5th.

Ella Stevens had a new Birel chassis for Snetterton with revised Jade bodywork. She headed the F125 Open KZ LC class by 2.853s from a deflated Ollie Holmes. He was using a different AK chassis from Silverstone in a bid to close the gap on the Series leader but struggled to get under the 2 minute mark. Joe Rippin was making his Super Series debut and wound up an impressive third quickest.

Ronan McClintock was the quickest in the F450 class on a 2m 01.890s with Nick Flint just over 8 tenths slower.

With a few delays due to red flags in the motorcycle races, the start time for Race 1 was later than expected and with a 6.30pm curfew looming things were looking tight. However, at least it took place over the allotted time of 12 minutes. Morley and Allen moved off together while Harpham got great drive from row 2 and was on the inside making it three abreast as they charged down to Riches. Harpham stuck to his line and took the lead into the first corner, while Morley had a slight lock up and Tritton had an even bigger lock up behind with the resultant tyre smoke causing a bit of uncertainty as to whether anyone had gone off. Fortunately, everyone got through the opening sequence of corners except John Busby, whose DEA motor bogged down on the warm-up lap and he failed to make the start. Harpham was already pulling away through the infield and at the end of lap 1 was 0.996s ahead of Allen and Rushforth. Morley had slipped back to 4th place a second clear of Gulliford and Tritton. Platt had made a good start to lead the Mono class and was 9th on the road, up five places. Cattermole was into second spot having jumped Hempshall and Plain who had both dropped back. Holmes headed the F125 class from Stevens while Clint Bridge tried to get up to third spot at Murray’s with a bold move under braking and promptly spun out leaving Rippin to complete lap 1 in 3rd. McClintock was clear of Chad Jenkins in the F450 category.

Harpham pressed home his advantage at the front and led by 2.309s after 3 laps. Morley had moved up to second after being embroiled in a scrap for third spot when he didn’t have confidence in his brakes. This left Allen, Rushforth and Tritton to fight over the final podium spot joined by Gulliford. On lap 4 Harpham set his fastest lap of the race but Morley was going quicker. When backmarkers came into play on the next lap Harpham’s lead had shrunk dramatically to 0.238s. When the MS Kart driver was compromised again on the entry to Riches, Morley pounced and the lead was his. Starting the last lap he’d put seven tenths between himself and Harpham and at the flag it had grown to 1.358s. The dice for third spot lasted the whole race with the positions changing on every lap. Rushforth made a slight mistake at Ago’s on the penultimate lap and almost had Tritton in the side. The MS Kart was able to draft past the Spyda along the Bentley Straight and a neat manoeuvre into Murray’s saw Tritton ahead of Allen. All three flashed across the line to start the last lap separated by only 0.175s. After his earlier braking issues due to the system not being bled properly after qually, Tritton was flying and determined to make third place his own. There was almost contact while lapping Ollie Ridout at Brundle but he continued and set the fastest lap of the race to secure the final podium spot by 1.729s. Allen just held off Rushforth for 4th while Gulliford lost ground over these two in the closing laps to secure sixth spot. Sam Moss made up a lot of ground on the opening lap from his lowly grid position and passed another 7 karts before race end to claim 7th spot. Chippy Wesemael had claimed 11th place on the last lap but a spin at Murray’s put him out.

The Mono class lost three runners on the second lap when Bailey and Connick collided at Murray’s and Reader went off at Oggie’s while dicing with Faulkner. But at the front Platt was in a safe position being towed along by the twin of Andy Waite. Hempshall and Plain caught and passed Cattermole and proceeded to have their own dice for second spot. On lap 6 they came up to lap Potkins at the Bombhole, but in the confusion about what was the best side, contact was made and both Hempshall and Plain went off and out of the race. This elevated Ben Ardern into second spot after he’d got past Cattermole on lap 4. Platt was compromised by the spinning Wesemael at Murray’s on the last lap but took the class win by 14.873s with Ardern getting his best ever result just over six seconds clear of Cattermole. Luke Burton was making a return to the Super Series after missing last year due to the wrist injury sustained at Oulton Park at the end of 2023 and finished a worthy fourth.

In the F125 Open KZ LC class Ollie Holmes held the lead for a couple of lap before Ella Stevens got past along the Bentley Straight on lap 3. But her lead was shortlived. On the next lap at the entry to Brundle, Chris Balderson had his Honda engine seize and Stevens had to take avoiding action across the grass. Fortunately, with no damage she rejoined but Holmes was 6.161s ahead. They both set their fastest laps on lap 6 but Stevens was 2.431s quicker. The Anderson AK driver lost another 2.588s on the final lap but crossed the line to take the class win by just under a second and a half. Aston Baker held third spot in the early laps before Joe Rippin pulled ahead on lap 4.

Ronan McClintock led all the way in the F450 category when Nick Flint dropped back on the opening lap and then lost 2 laps in the pits. Chad Jenkins claimed second spot.

Race 1 Results

1st Liam Morley Anderson VM

2nd Lee Harpham MS Kart Harvey VM

3rd Jack Tritton MS Kart Harvey VM

4th Ross Allen Jade IAME

5th Tom Rushforth Spyda VM

6th Andy Gulliford Anderson VM

13th Paul Platt PVP Gas Gas (F250 Mono class winner)

16th Kirk Cattermole Raider CAT TM (F250 Mono Cup winner)

18th John Faulkner Anderson FPE (Division 1 Cup winner)

20th Ollie Holmes Anderson AK TM R1 (F125 Open & KZ LC class winner)

23rd Ronan McClintock Anderson KTM (F450 National class winner)

With Bemsee having to carry over four motorcycle races from Saturday, Race 2 didn’t get underway until just after 3pm on Sunday afternoon, two hours behind schedule. As usual grid positions were based on a driver’s fastest lap from the previous race. Tritton had pole position with Morley alongside while Harpham and Gulliford occupied row 2. Paul Platt headed the Monos on row 7 with Plain and Hempshall in line astern behind him. Ella Stevens was the lead 125cc driver on row 10 right behind Hempshall with McClintock on row 15.

After one warm-up lap the lights went out and Morley took the lead on the run to Riches followed by Tritton and Harpham. That was the same order at the end of the opening lap with Morley’s advantage 0.736s. Rushforth had moved up from row 4 to slot into 4th spot ahead of Gulliford and Moss. Hulme was next holding off Kyritsis and then the Monos with Plain leading Platt. Holmes led the F125 class from Stevens with McClintock ahead of Flint in the F450s. Six drivers had retired on the opening lap with Nathan Barton pitting when the gear lever came off, soon to be joined by Paul von Gerard with a broken split link. Mono Cup leader Richard Connick had a day to forget when the ignition in his Honda failed.

Up at the front Morley had his hands full keeping Tritton and Harpham at bay as he messed around with the brake bias. But on lap 4 he set the fastest lap of the race and stretched his lead to 0.725s over Tritton. With the race being reduced to 10 minutes in an attempt to make up time, Morley took the win after 6 laps and set a new lap record of 1m 46.142s on the final lap beating the previous best set by Emmanuel Vinuales in July 2013. The double win by the Anderson driver has put him on top of the Division 1 Super Series by a single point. Tritton couldn’t match Morley’s pace in the closing laps as the chain had come loose and was whipping under acceleration. His deficit at the flag was 2.93s. Harpham’s new tyres took a couple of laps to come on but when the VM started jumping out of gear he had to settle for third place. Rushforth kept his fan club happy with fourth place but was disappointed that he wasn’t closer to the leading trio. When Sam Moss retired with a seized VM and Andy Gulliford stopped with a gearbox problem, both on lap 3, Kosta Kyritsis took full advantage to claim 5th place while Mark Edwards completed the top six. Ross Allen had a clutch failure in one of the IAME engines and was an early pit visitor and Carl Hulme dropped out when the temperature of his VM engine went out. Nothing to do with a leek in the airbox.

In the Mono class Platt took over the lead on lap 2 and settled into a dice with the twins of Tom Riley and Andy Waite. His lead increased over the course of the race and Paul crossed the line with a finger raised to complete the double. His Mono Super Series lead is a healthy 58 points. Plain held onto second spot in the class for a couple of laps before the spark plug broke and he was out. That gave Samantha Hempshall a clear run to the flag for second place and good points but a bit disappointed that she was 17.03s behind Platt. After his non-start in race 1 John Busby started from row 23 and was already up to 21st on the road at the end of the opening lap and 7th in class. By lap 4 he was up to third in class after the demise of Plain and had to fend off Ardern. After a great drive Busby did enough to hold onto third by just over a second from Ardern at the flag. With a repaired Honda Chris Balderson claimed 5th spot and maximum points in the Cup competition.

Holmes and Stevens were locked in a battle with the Mono kart of Rob Austin as they diced for the F125 top spot. Stevens had a braking issue in the opening laps with the kart pulling to the left, but took over on the penultimate lap and set the class FL on the final lap to win by 1.166s. Holmes was happier that he had managed to stay with the Jade driver and hadn’t lost any ground in the Super Series points standings. Joe Rippin had another solid drive to secure third in class.

Ronan McClintock maintained a safe advantage over Nick Flint to claim the 450 class win..

Race 2 Results

1st Liam Morley Anderson VM

2nd Jack Tritton MS Kart Harvey VM

3rd Lee Harpham MS Kart Harvey VM

4th Tom Rushforth Spyda VM

5th Kosta Kyritsis Anderson VM

6th Mark Edwards MS Kart Harvey VM

9th Paul Platt PVP Gas Gas (F250 Mono class winner)

15th John Faulkner Anderson FPE (Division 1 Cup winner)

16th Chris Balderson Raider Honda (F250 Mono Cup winner)

17th Ella Stevens Birel IAME (F125 Open & KZ LC class winner)

22nd Ronan McClintock Anderson KTM (F450 National class winner)

Unfortunately, Race 3 was cancelled due to ongoing delays and red flags in the motorcycle races but is being carried over to the next meeting at Donington Park where the 0 plates will be awarded in the Division 1 and F250 Mono classes.

Images courtesy of Richard Styles