Rob Guiver and Sean Neary share a win each at Brands Hatch

• Rob Guiver wins Race 1 but crashes out of Race 2 whilst leading
• Sean Neary claims his 2nd win of the season in Race 2

• Two podium finishes see Josh Day extend his championship lead

Race 1

Race 1 had barely got underway earlier today around the Brands Hatch GP circuit when a downpour brought out the red flag and a restarted wet race was declared. 

Rob Guiver (Premier Security / Ducati Romford Racing) once again started from pole while behind him Josh Day (HOST-IT.co.uk Racing Team) and Sean Neary (SMC Racing) swapped positions but the race action was put on hold once more on Lap 4 after Paul Slade had a nasty highside at Clearways, with the safety car deployed. 

There were just two laps left to run when the safety car came in. Day was close to Guiver until a moment cost him drive up the back straight with Neary capitalising to take 2nd. The riders crossed the chequered flag in those same positions, with Guiver taking his 4th win of the season to close the gap to championship leader Day.

Phil Atkinson (Art of Racing) and Josh Wainwright (BPS Racing) took 4th and 5th respectively, with Dean Brown (DBR Performance) claiming his 3rd consecutive 6th place finish.

Day lines up in pole for tomorrow’s race, with Neary and Guiver locking out the front row.

Race 2

Neary made up for his Race 1 disappointment after standing on the top step at Brands Hatch today.

Despite leading in the opening stages, Neary was passed by current Ducati Cup champion Guiver on Lap 5. Guiver posted the fastest lap of the race on Lap 7 with a time of 1:29s only to then slide out of the race at Druids on his next lap.

Day inherited the lead but with his championship contender out of the race he waved Neary on through, opting to take home some safe points in 2nd, with Neary racing on towards the chequered flag to claim his 2nd win of the season.

The battle for third ran to the closing stages of the race, with David Shoubride (Old Garage Legends) getting the better of Sam Middlemas (Boast Plumbing / Salus Approved Inspectors) on the penultimate lap to claim his maiden Ducati Cup podium finish.

Day’s two podium finishes see him extend his lead at the top of the Ducati Performance TriOptions Cup championship with a total of 166 points. Guiver remains 2nd with 123 points and Neary jumps from 5th to 3rd with 107 points.

Sean Neary (SMC Racing #10) – Race 1, 2nd – Race 2, 1st

“It doesn’t get any better than that to be honest. I got a decent enough start and I thought I’d just see what the pace was like. But I did too may laps in qualifying really. 3 or 4 laps into the race I was really struggling, and the front was tucking in quite a lot of areas. And then we were all pushing and unfortunately for Guiver he went down. You never want to see someone go down. It kind of changed the race a bit then. I think Josh was thinking about the championship. I just thought, right now’s my chance, and put the hammer down. I was really, really pushing. I wanted that win. Luckily there weren’t any more laps because there was nothing left of my front tyre. Massive thank you to the team. I’m absolutely made up to get another win. To have a consistent weekend as well is really important. Well done to Josh, he’s had another solid weekend, we just need to slow him down a bit and then we can claw some points back!”

Josh Day (HOST-IT.co.uk Racing Team #2) – Race 1, 3rd – Race 2, 2nd

“Happy but not happy at the same time because I really felt like I could have gone for the win in Race 1. Bike felt good but it was just when I had my own clear lap, I think I’m the only one with my gearing, it was really flat in certain areas. Onto the back straight I had a massive moment trying to carry a bit too much speed on the one from last lap and then Sean got past. I thought I’d never go back past him. The gearing’s not quite right so good job the Ducati boys have worked hard and got us a practice tomorrow so we can try something in practice and start from pole. Rob again, always on it. 

I got a good start in Race 2 and got away, which is unlike me, but I didn’t have an answer for the boys in the first half of the race. Sean came past and then Guiver came past and I managed to reel them back in. I wanted to win the race after yesterday where I felt like I could have won. But seeing Guiver go down it’s quite hard not to think of the championship. So, I gave Sean a cheeky little wave by. You can’t take nothing away from him. He would have pushed me all the way, you don’t know the outcome. I’m not saying he had it easy, he deserved that.

Bigger picture, I’m happy. Another podium. I’m having a wicked time. The Ducati championship is brilliant. It’s great to see Sean back on the pace. The first couple of rounds he wasn’t where we knew he should be. It’s nice to have somebody else up there other than me a Guiver and fair play to Shouey as well. Unlucky to Guiver and well done to everyone else. Roll on next round.”

David Shoubride (Old Garage Legends #86) – Race 1, 8th – Race 2, 3rd

“It goes down as my best race for sure. My dad couldn’t be here this weekend for the whole duration, but he got here for every outing. To give him a pot on Father’s Day, I’m over the moon, ecstatic.” 

Rob Guiver (Premier Security / Ducati Romford Racing #13) – Race 1, 1st – Race 2, DNF

“I think that Race 1 had a bit of everything, with the rain, getting stopped and then the car coming out. I hope Paul Slade is alright, he’s a good friend of mine so fingers crossed he’s ok. It was a bit of a strange race with the safety car and the quick restart. I couldn’t seem to get enough temperature into my front tyre. I was struggling with the front and felt I could have had a bit more pace.”