Round four of the Jurby MRSports Championship was held in tricky conditions periodic rain at the JCK Kart Track on Sunday.
There were no Supermotos in action, but the battling Bregazzi brothers Wig and Chuck put on a great show at the front of the field of 18 stepthrough C90s and 110s.
Alex Bottomley managed to hold off the charging Bregazzi boys and at the end of the day took two wins.
The action began with a fast and furious heat one which saw a breakaway quartet of the Bregazzis plus Bottomley and a returning Tom ‘Tweeks’ Dawson battling their way round the circuit.
Wig, on an unfamiliar 110cc-engined machine, put in the fastest lap in 59.888 seconds. With a good-sized crowd to watch the post TT action, the racing plops did not disappoint.
Alex Bottomley ran out the heat one victor from Chuck by a one-second margin. The C90 class was also close, with the ever-improving David Fayle taking the class win on his ‘baby blue’ mount from a consistent Rory Howell.
Heat two saw Wig take the 110c and overall race win from brother Chuck, while a slightly under-par Dawson was third. In the C90 class it was again Fayle who took the race win.
In the final, once again the 18 step-through competitors put on a great show. This time Bottomley took a two-second win ahead of Wig, while Howell took the C90 honours.
The round witnessed international interest with, for the second year, Italian race technician Gabrielle Pazzotta taking part and enjoying the event.
A returning Freddie Craine achieved a gentleman’s set in the senior pitbikes, taking three race wins with ease in the open class.
In heat one, Jack Meechan was at the back of the gird after encountering problems in qualifying but carved his way through the field up to third behind leading 140cc rider Alex Galloway.
The two had a fierce scrap until mid-distance when Meechan pulled away to finish second, 26s behind runaway winner Craine. Galloway finished a comfortable third, first 140cc home.
In heat two after an early tussle between Meechan and Galloway, it was the same as heat one except Galloway eased off in the last couple of laps and was overtaken by Aaron Craine, younger brother of Freddie, who took the final podium place in the open class with Galloway again winning the 140cc class.
In heat three, Meechan managed to stay in touching distance of race leader Freddie until the latter stages and Galloway again took third overall as the leading 140cc rider, with Aaron taking fourth place and third in class.
Jed Scott was second in the 140cc class followed by Jack Haybyrne who took the final podium place by less than half a bike’s length on the line after a race-long duel with defending 140cc class champion Scott Compsty.
In heat one of the junior pitbikes, Sean Crone scored a comfortable victory with a fastest lap of 57.577s.
A great scrap for second ensued which was decided in Billy Kneen’s favour when championship leader Conor Percival took a tumble when trying to pass Kneen under brakes at the banked section at the end of lap nine, remounting to finish fourth a lap down. In heat two, Crone was once again in a class of his own with a comfortable victory. Kneen was second, with Percival taking third.
There was drama on the startline of the final with Crone’s chain snapping, forcing his withdrawal.
A race-long dice between young Percival and Kneen kept the crowd entertained, with Percival just getting the verdict by 0.2s to consolidate his lead in the championship at the mid-point of the season.
- The next round is the pre-Southern 100 meeting on Sunday, July 7. Practice gets underway at 10am - free admission, full race commentary and catering van on site.
PAUL COPPARELLI AND PETER MYLCHREEST