From a press release issued by Thundersport GB:
After labelling himself a ‘Specialist’ of Snetterton, Mark Lawes had directed some pressure onto his wings for the Norfolk round of the Buff Supermono and Nitro Moto 450 class.
In race one, Lawes had the bit between his teeth though and despite having the hungry looking Will Hodgson nipping at his heels behind throughout on his Aprilia 450 and Ben Gautrey also chasing in close behind the two, the ‘Specialist’ wasn’t going to have it all his own way.
As far as the Supermono results went though, behind Lawes, Jonathan Good and Aria Lane were pleased to take a decent podium finish ahead of Andy Turner, Martin Jarvis and Andrew Driver.
In the 450′s behind Hodgson and Gautrey, popular local rider Phil Canessa was on form to take his first ever podium on board the Aprilia 450 ahead of Phil Page and Acea Webb who did well to get a top five finish in the Moto 450′s considering it was his first meeting on one.
For race two, Hodgson was a lot closer to Lawes than either of them had anticipated and whilst entwined in their own personal battle for the lead of their respective championships, they were a full seven seconds clear of the battle going on behind for second in the 450′s between Danny Murphy and Phil Canessa.
As it was, Lawes just got the overall race win, just 0.006 of a second ahead of the excellent Will Hodgson to take the wins in their own classes by quite a distance and Jonathan Good had again finished sixth overall to take second in the Buff Supermono’s ahead of Jeff Claridge and Ivan Porter.
In the 450′s though, Phil Canessa was having the race of his life and after a great battle with Danny Murphy, Canessa took a fantastic second place finish to the absolute delight of his Dad Marc who was seen jumping for joy at the end of gasoline alley.
For the final race of the weekend, Hodgson fancied an overall win to complete the most perfect weekend but Lawes got off to the better start with Ivan Porter also going well on his Rotax 660.
But as the grey clouds grew larger and the circuit darkened, a ten second hail stone storm fell at the bomb hole and Lawes began the dumping procedure by falling first, dominos Hodgson, Canessa, Porter and then the unlucky Perry Goldstein all followed in close order.
The race was stopped as Hodgson and Canessa both received treatment and even though Canessa practically cleared the new banking at the bomb hole, he was lucky to only sustain a small break in his leg and some nasty knee ligament damage whereas Will Hodgson seemed to have injured his shoulder or collar bone after the pair had both enjoyed a great weekend until that point.
Gautrey it was then, that took a subdued 450 win ahead of podium first timer Liam Shellcock and Connor Tagg who had a rather a quiet weekend for him on his Aprilia 450.
Qualifying
1. Danny Murphy (Aprilia) 1:16.236
2. Ben Gautrey (Aprilia) 1:16.502
3. Will Hodgson (Aprilia) 1:16.774
4. Connor Tagg (Aprilia) 1:17.595
5. Phil Canessa (Aprilia) 1:17.822
6. Liam Shellcock (Aprilia) 1:18.475
7. Phil Page (Aprilia) 1:19.559
8. Acea Webb (Aprilia) 1:22.462
9. Robbie Robson (KTM) 1:34.629
Superpole
1. Will Hodgson (Aprilia)
2. Ben Gautrey (Aprilia)
3. Phil Canessa (Aprilia)
4. Phil Page (Aprilia)
5. Acea Webb (Aprilia)
6. Robbie Robson (KTM)
Liam Shellcock (Aprilia) DNF
Connor Tagg (Aprilia) DNF
Danny Murphy (Aprilia) DNF
Race 1
1. Will Hodgson (Aprilia)
2. Phil Canessa (Aprilia)
3. Danny Murphy (Aprilia)
4. Ben Gautrey (Aprilia)
5. Liam Shellcock (Aprilia)
6. Connor Tagg (Aprilia)
7. Phil Page (Aprilia)
8. Acea Webb (Aprilia)
9. Robbie Robson (KTM)
Race 2
1. Ben Gautrey (Aprilia)
2. Liam Shellcock (Aprilia)
3. Connor Tagg (Aprilia)
4. Phil Page (Aprilia)
5. Danny Murphy (Aprilia)
6. Acea Webb (Aprilia)
7. Robbie Robson (KTM)
Will Hodgson (Aprilia) DNF
Phil Canessa (Aprilia) DNF
