The British MotoGP delivered another action packed round of the R&G british Talent Cup.

By Ed Lewis

Free Practice & Qualifying: 
No change to the script in the dry, but difficult conditions, the RS Racing pairing of Evan Belford and Amanuel Brinton once again showed us that they are in a class of their own. We need to remind ourselves that Brinton, in his rookie season had never seen the Northamptonshire circuit. The Valencia based British teenager looked immaculate in his debut and overcame Belford’s early dominance of FP1 to take the early spoils with a 2:20:154. The Saxelby boys both held a near two second advantage over the trailing  second group duo of Lucas Brown (SP125) and Sullivan Mounsey (Wilson racing).  FP2 was a similar story but with Mounsey gate crashing the front group splitting the RS racing teenagers- Belford though showed who’s boss, a second faster than his pursuers. Qualifying saw the trio of Belford, Brinton and Mounsey all dip into the 2:19s, Rhys Stephenson worked hard to gain his best qualifying position of 2023 but 1.3 seconds off the lead pace. 

Race 1:
As expected the rain came down, not a dry line to be seen. The action started on the out lap as wet race specialist Alexander Rowen (Mortimer Racing) unceremoniously went down at turn one. Scott McPhee’s luck didn’t fare much better as his grid starter wouldn’t grip the rear wet in time for the sighting lap. Belford on pole fired off the line with Mounsey in tow, both seemed to ignore the cautious approach and by lap five had a 25 second lead – let’s understand this is a standard class, one manufacturer – one tyre championship! Level playing field? A lap four none fault collision certainly affected both their rhythms as Belford rode his luck at Turn two lap six losing the front and gifting the race to Mounsey who in turn had a huge moment seconds later incredibly staying on board his NSF Honda with the diversion only reducing his lead by five seconds. Mounsey then settled down and found his composure to win by 26 seconds. Brown and Brinton’s lonely fight for the other podium spots but hijacked by McCabe on the final lap taking second from Brown, Stephenson fifth and the ever improving Filip Surowiak (FS75) taking sixth.

Race 2:
Arguably one of the most breath taking R&G BTC races we have ever seen. End to end stuff as Brinton found his form in the dry conditions showing the Monlau Estrella Galicia training techniques on every lap. The front group that included Brown, McCabe and Harrison Dessoy with Stephenson trailing battled it out lap by lap. Manic Mounsey departed early in the proceedings low siding at Luffield on lap one. The RS racing battled for the full race distance with Lucas Brown showing his wheel on every lap but it was Brinton who took the win after a last lap that had the remaining Silverstone crowd on their feet. A truly gladiatorial race. Good to see Harrison Dessoy back at the sharp end with a safefifth position, Rhys Stephenson in sixth and a fastest lap of the race 2:19:953. 

Short Shift News Rider award unanimously goes to Lucas Brown, the West Sussex teenager really showed he can mix it with the very best, the biggest smile on the podiums said it all, a fantastic well deserved reward for his family and team boss Steve Patrickson.

Featured Images: Olithephoto