British Talent Cup: Donington Park mastercall earns O’Gorman title

Casey O’Gorman (Microlise Cresswell Racing) clinched the 2021 British Talent Cup with a double victory at Donington Park. A one-rider demolition job in a wet Race 1 gave him a one-point advantage over Carter Brown (City Lifting by RS Racing) and he bagged the title with a commanding Race 2 win.

O’Gorman had to fight back from a momentary 91-points championship deficit due to injury sidelining him earlier in the season. A run of great results and his title rivals fading in too many instances resulted in an astonishing comeback story.

Brown finishes runner-up by six points while early table leader Evan Belford (City Lifting by RS Racing) ends the season third in the standings.

RACE 1

O’Gorman maintained P1 from pole shadowed by Brown and the duo proved best at managing the wet conditions early on. They pulled a gap, but soon, O’Gorman’s pace became too much for Brown who fell into the clutches of the chasing group.

The #74 battled with Rossi Banham (MJL Racing), Jamie Lyons (C&M Motors Ltd/Tooltec Racing) and Lucas Brown (Amphibian Scaffolding/SP125 Racing) while Johnny Garness (City Lifting by RS Racing) successively dropped positions. Carter Brown and Lyons eventually edged away and great results were lost for namesake Lucas and Banham as they both crashed out, promoting Garness into fourth.

Cormac Buchanan (Microlise Creswell Racing) was on the move and swiftly claimed the position from Garness to hunt down the pair ahead. He took up to three-second chunks out of the gap and had closed in on his rivals by Lap 10. The Kiwi only needed a few turns to sweep past and he instantly gained some distance.

Out front, O’Gorman was untouchable with his advantage momentarily up to as much as 20 seconds. He cruised to victory while Buchanan safely brought P2 over the line. Brown had lost some touch to Lyons but had his head down for a late attack. He caught his opponent and a last-lap fight went right to the wire with the two riders separated by only 0.036 seconds in Lyons’ favour.

The result saw O’Gorman take the cup lead with one race remaining, albeit by only a single point over Brown. Belford’s chances were already reduced to being purely mathematical, sitting on a 17-points deficit.

RACE 2

O’Gorman stole the holeshot at the lights and locked together on track with Brown, the duo pulled a marginal gap. Lyons had some breathing space in third while Garness beat Buchanan to fourth.

From Lap 3, O’Gorman pulled the pin and put distance between himself and title opponent Brown. Lyons was hanging in in third, but no one else could match the trio’s pace and the field dropped away.

While O’Gorman kept setting fastest laps, Lyons closed in on Brown. The City Lifting rider held on to his position but could not get rid of his opponent.

At halfway distance, O’Gorman’s advantage was up to four seconds. Brown still defended from Lyons who relentlessly shadowed him. A battle had emerged between Belford, Buchanan, Garness and Rhys Stephenson (Rocket Racing) who fiercely contested P4.

O’Gorman made no mistake and stormed towards the race win and the cup title. Brown had edged away from Lyons over the last few laps and crossed the line in second. Belford prevailed in the fight for fourth from Garness and Stephenson while Buchanan highsided out on the start/finish straight going into the final lap.