By Dennis Smith
August 18 2005

TCG Motorsport: Wet and Wild at Snetterton. “Eventful” is probably how the TCG Motorsport Team would describe last weekend’s BMCRC round at Snetterton. The action began on Friday during practice, when Stewart Willetts approached Riches Corner at around 160mph on his GSX-R1000, got to his braking point on the Senna straight and found he had no front brake. In desperation, he hit the rear brake to try to scrub off some speed but locked the wheel, leaving a 100-metre long black line before his rear wheel exploded, throwing him and the bike onto the grass. Luckily the only real damage was the wheel and a very painful knee.

With the only available replacement wheel being a different size, tyre choice was very limited for the rest of the weekend and, given the ever-changing conditions - from torrential rain to bright sun - no one expected too much by way of results. Willett’s first Forze Xtreme race resulted in a 19th place, a good achievement under the circumstances, although in the second race he was forced to retire.

Sunday was cool and overcast, with the constant threat of rain, which came down heavily at times - again making conditions unpredictable. Willetts did not have the best of races in his first, finishing in 29th place due to a very wet track and no tyre options. His final race of the day was much better, however. Starting 29th on the grid, he cut his way through the field to finish a highly creditable 16th, with a fastest lap only just over three seconds slower than race winner and series champion, Jeremy Hill.

Team-mate Tom Gazzard faired a little better in the Rookie 600s. He held onto his grid position to finish in third place, behind championship leader Pat Sheridan and race winner John Angel, who is really getting to grips with his new CBR600. Gazzard’s second race of the day never even started, thanks to the failure of the camshaft sensor on the warm up lap, which also had the unfortunate effect of putting him at the back of the grid for race one on Sunday.

Saturday’s final race for Gazzard was the re-run of the postponed Lydden Hill round and, unfortunately, his luck wasn’t getting any better when he went down on the first lap. The only consolation was that Sheridan also failed to complete the race, but Angel won again moving him into the championship lead.

The first race on Sunday was a frantic affair, with Gazzard carving his way though the field from the back of the grid, as he had done successfully in races earlier this year, but the chequered flag came too soon and, although he was still 13 seconds behind race winner Angel, he had managed to claw his way up to third position - salvaging important championship points. His final Rookie 600 race of the weekend was again a hard fought battle between Angel, Sheridan and Gazzard. The TCG rider ultimately came home in third place again, keeping alive his championship hopes, but his two main rivals both made ground on him, especially Angel who took all five wins this weekend.

Having lost track time this weekend, Gazzard took the bold decision on Sunday morning to test his experience by racing in the full Supersport 600 class. This decision seemed to be paying off as he rode through the field of more experienced riders and into fourth place. The changeable conditions caught him out, however, when his front wheel washed out on the fifth lap and he went down. If he had managed to stay on board this might well have been the ride of the day.

In his second Supersport race, Gazzard started from the back of the grid and opted for a steadier approach to make the best use of the additional track time. Whilst he finished in 19th place, his fastest lap was only 6.3 seconds slower than the newly crowned Supersport champion John Paul Scott, who was riding his new race-tuned Kawasaki this weekend.

TCG Motorsport are now looking forward to the final round at Brands Hatch, where, with another 125 points available due to the re-running of the postponed Pembrey round, Gazzard will be desperately trying to regain his championship lead, and Willetts will be looking to repeat his Brands GP win in the Clubman 1000-600 Shootout.