BTC: Garness bounces back with Snetterton race 2 win

Race two of the eighth round of the 2021 British Talent Cup from Snetterton saw Johnny Garness start from pole position, as less than 20 points covered the top three in the championship going into this final race of the weekend.

It was Garness who made the holeshot once more, just as he had in race one, leading from O’Gorman. In rather unusual fashion for the BTC, the pack remained relatively calm in the first half of the race, as everyone sought to establish a rhythm. 

A group of six distinguished themselves at the front, with Garness, O’Gorman, Evan Belford, Carter Brown, James Cook and Harrison Crosby all in podium contention. 

Within the group, though, there were three distinct pairs. At the very front, Garness and O’Gorman were regularly swapping places, with the #57 of Garness being faster in the straights, but O’Gorman being stronger on the brakes. 

Behind them, Belford and Brown fought over third place with little regard for their being teammates – unsurprising, since they are also title rivals. Their battle was tough, but nonetheless fair, and they remained in contention until the very end.  

The third pair was that of Cook and Crosby, who were generally unable to make an impact on those ahead, but in any case did not seem to have much trouble maintaining the pace of the battling leaders. 

All six arrived to the final lap in contention for the podium and even the win, but it was O’Gorman that led the field onto the last tour. Almost immediately, though, the #67 was out-dragged by the #57 of Garness, who took the lead into turn one. O’Gorman tried to retaliate into turn two, but ran wide and Garness resumed the lead. 

The order remained the same until turn six, when Garness once more lost out to O’Gorman, and then came under pressure from teammate, Belford who was looking to get a bike between himself and Brown behind. 

O’Gorman led onto the back straight from Garness, but the speed of the #57 bike meant it was almost inevitable that they would switch on the straight, and so it turned out. Behind, Belford and Brown remained in third and fourth, respectively, but Brown made his move at the penultimate corner. The #74 went all the way around the outside of Belford on the final lap, and out-braked both O’Gorman and Garness into the final turn. 

Such a manoeuvre was bound to send Brown wide, and indeed he lost out on the exit to all three of the riders he just passed. 

Belford regained third place from Brown, but was powerless to do anything about either O’Gorman or Garness ahead and, similarly, the speed of Garness in the straight proved undeniable for O’Gorman, who was forced to settle for second. 

For Garness, it was a good response to his crash from the lead in Saturday’s race, and just about keeps him in championship contention: 41 points adrift with four races to go. 

O’Gorman’s second place ensured he continued the erosion of his points deficit to championship leader Belford. The #67 now misses just 10 points to Belford, with two rounds left. The momentum is certainly behind O’Gorman at the moment, so Belford will be hoping to start halting the charge of his rival in Silverstone, as he did today with respect to Carter Brown, thanks to their third and fourth place finishes, respectively. 

James Cook bettered his sixth place of Saturday with a top five on Sunday. The #34’s speed in general was much better in the second race, managing to run with the leaders throughout. Similarly, Harrison Crosby can be contented with his second race, in that he remained in the lead group until the end, and finished within a second of the win, even though his finishing position is two places lower than Saturday, as he finished race two in sixth. 

Cormac Buchanan had a relatively lonely ride to seventh place, finishing 10 seconds behind Crosby, and three seconds clear of Ollie Walker – who was not able to repeat his speed of race one – in eighth place. Jamie Lyons was just over one tenth of a second behind Walker in ninth, while Corey Tinker completed the top 10. 

Harley McCabe finished 11th, ahead of Harrison Dessoy, Alexander Rowan, Luca Hopkins and Kiyano Veijer who completed the points finishers; while Josh Bannister was 16th, ahead of Mason Johnson, Harrison Mackay, Rossi Banham and Peter Willis who completed the top 20. 

In 22nd place was Rhys Coates, from Rossi Dobson, Anthony Eagle, Lucas Hill and Holly Harris, who was the final classified finisher in 25th.