British Talent Cup: Farrer and O’Gorman Take Victories in Silverstone

The British Talent Cup riders were back in action this weekend at the Silverstone National Circuit.

Charlie Farrer prevailed in a close duel with Harvey Claridge to take victory in Race 1 while Casey O’Gorman bounced back from a crash on Saturday to hold off Eddie O’Shea and win a red-flagged Race 2.

O’Shea climbed to the top of the cup standings and heads the title race by four points over Franco Bourne. Farrer sits third, 12 points adrift of the lead.

Race 1

Casey O’Gorman (Microlise Cresswell Racing) had a lightning start from second on the grid, taking the holeshot into Copse and immediately putting some air between himself and the pack. Harvey Claridge (City Lifting/SP125 Racing) initially ran in second but ran wide at the opening turns, allowing Charlie Farrer (Victoria House Racing Academy/Mortimer) to take the position off him.

When they crossed the line for the first time, O’Gorman had already stretched out an eight tenths advantage. Behind him, Claridge fought back against Farrer and reclaimed second down the start/finish straight. The duo ran in the final podium spots with a small gap forming to Franco Bourne (France Bourne Racing/SP125 Racing) and Eddie O’Shea (WAM) in fourth and fifth respectively.

Disaster struck for O’Gorman on Lap 3 when a bizarre crash at Brooklands took him out of the lead and out of contention. Claridge was left heading the race but was shadowed by Farrer and the duo had stretched out a gap to O’Shea and Bourne who were exchanging punches behind them. The #8 and #17 were locked together and had a good advantage over the pack themselves, making the race a tale of two duels from the early stages.

Evan Belford (City Lifting by RS Racing) was running in a lonely fifth place, out of touch to the front duels but with a gap to the bunch of riders behind him.

Bourne executed an inch-perfect move round the outside through Luffield on Lap 8 and momentarily took third of O’Shea. He however could not shake off his opponent and O’Shea reclaimed the position down the Wellington Straight on Lap 14.

With 15 laps gone, the front duo were running tantalisingly close, but Claridge looked like he had enough pace to keep a couple of bikelengths between himself and Farrer.

A one second gap had opened at the front with five laps to go, but Farrer had something left up his sleeve for the late stages of the race. He gradually chipped away on Claridge’s advantage and had closed right in on his opponent by the penultimate lap.

Farrer stayed glued to Claridge’s rear wheel and struck at the final corner, sweeping round the outside at Woodcote and accelerating to victory over the finish line. Claridge was beaten by the narrowest of margins of 0.021 seconds and had to settle for runner-up.

O’Shea managed to stay ahead of Bourne and secured the final podium spot in third. Belford came home in a lonely fifth place while behind him, positions six to 12 were separated by around just seven tenths of a second.

James Cook (Wilson Racing) prevailed in the fiercely contested group to take the chequered flag in sixth ahead of Jonathan Garness (Microlise Creswell Racing), Ryan Hitchcock (Wilson Racing), Elliott Dufton (D&D Racing), Harrison Crosby (Banks Racing), Corey Tinker (Stauff Fluid Power Academy) and Ollie Walker (Moto Rapido/SP125 Racing).

Race 2

O’Gorman shot into the lead from third on the grid, but polesitter Claridge was right on his case and swooped around the outside to hit the front. His lead was short-lived though as O’Gorman immediately forced his way back through and the two remained locked together at the front.

O’Shea lined up in the third, shadowed by Race 1 winner Farrer while Bourne struggled on the opening lap and dropped into sixth behind Belford.

Claridge regained the lead going into Copse on Lap 3 and O’Shea swiftly pounced for second at Brooklands. Positions were swapping and changing in the front trio who got feisty with each other and allowed Farrer, Belford, Bourne and Cook to close in on them, increasing the leading group back to seven riders with four laps gone.

Punches were exchanged and O’Gorman and Claridge managed to make a breakaway. O’Shea was running in third and also gradually edged away from the pack.

Claridge hit the front with a wide line round the outside at Brooklands on Lap 10 but could not shake off O’Gorman. The #72 reclaimed the position down Wellington Straight on Lap 13 and matters got worse for Clardige as he had executed his overtake under a Yellow Flag and received a long lap penalty.

Claridge tried to take the penalty straight away on Lap 14 but missed the line the first time round and also did not get it right at his second attempt two laps later. The #16 had already dropped numerous positions and to add salt to the wound, the penalty now turned into a ride through after he failed to execute the long lap.

O’Gorman was left lonely in the lead, but O’Shea was chipping away on his opponent’s advantage and had closed in on him by Lap 19. The duo was set to battle it out for the win, but another incident led to the results being decided early.

The Red Flag came out on Lap 20 following an incident at Maggots between Evann Pendrill and Rhys Coates. The two riders got tangled up and both went down at corner entry and exit respectively. Coates had to be stretchered off the circuit and oil was spilled on the track, calling a premature end to the race.

With more than two thirds of race distance completed, the result was counted back a lap and O’Gorman was where he needed to be to keep his 100% winning record – when finished – intact. O’Shea lost the chance to fight for victory, but runner-up takes him top of the cup standings, consistency being his calling card. Farrer completed the podium, running just over two tenths ahead of Belford.

Bourne had stretched an advantage to Cook to secure fifth while Cook himself had a great gap to the five rider group behind him. Hitchcock prevailed for seventh from Crosby, Walker and Tinker who rounded out the top 10. Garness had been only 0.058 seconds behind over the line and classified 11^th.

Claridge was classed P16 as he had pulled in to take the ride through just as the Red Flag came out and therefore had the time added to his race instead.