Foggys Esses were aptly named on Saturday morning, as the day dawned with visibility at around 10 feet! The beautiful day we’d had on Friday seemed a distant memory as we sat and listened to the aircraft landing unseen at the airport next door. Can you believe there are noise issues here?

Just before midday the fog lifted and once track action got under way we had some really great racing to sit back and enjoy.

The Aprilia Superteens got the action underway with yet another dominant performance from Lewis Rollo who took the first win by 7 seconds. He looked smooth right from the start and got a gap on lap one going down Craner Curves that just opened up gradually lap by lap. Behind him, Sam Smith, George Stanley and Bradley Perie were having a terrific scrap that had all three of them taking turns at the front. The positions were only decided going into Goddards on the last lap when Bradley poked his RS125 up the inside and forced the other two wide. By the time they’d got the corner squared off, Bradley had made the break for the line and took second spot by less than a bike length.

The key thing in this category though is the fact that the top 7 contenders are now all putting in almost identical lap times to Lewis and if they can get away with him at the start we’ll begin to see some really good dices for the win.

In the two Sunday races, young Bradley Perie proved it was possible to compete by getting away with the young Scot and was all over Lewis like a rash. Down Craner Curves on successive laps Perie went around the outside at the top, dived underneath at the bottom and sold Lewis a very nice dummy on the entry to the Old Hairpin to ease up the inside at Starkeys. It seemed that no matter what tricks Perie tried, Rollo had an answer for. They changed position at least three times on each lap throughout the race and the result was in the balance right to the end. Lewis only just got the nod on the run from Goddards to the line to win by less than a yard in the first encounter.

Meanwhile young Manxman Nathan Harrison led the chasing group to grab his first Thundersport podium finish in a thrilling 3 way dice with Ross Thompson and Gideon Thomas that was split by just a fifth of a second at the line. George Stanley should have been in this dice but a poor start that resulted in him being boxed in at the first corner was something he never recovered from.

The revelation amongst the Nitro Newcomers in this race was young Louis Valleley, who has shown promise before but has never converted it into a decent result. A bit of help and a pep talk from last years Aprilia Superteen runner-up Tom Oliver has transformed Louis’ riding though and he will be a real contender before much longer.

The morning may have dawned with a layer of fog hugging the hilltop circuit of Brands Hatch, but as the fog lightened into a very light mist qualifying got underway to get the 2012 season started. The battle of Britain was fought in the skies over Kent, but the best young riders in the country were more interested in the battle on the historic tarmac of Brands Hatch.

Just as the Aprilia RRV450GP session started, light drizzle came down and there was a mad scramble to fit wet tyres and pop in a competitive qualifying time. David Allingham, Phil Canessa, Will Hodgson and Callan Cooper were first out on track and set about getting comfortable in the very tricky conditions whilst half the grid were still changing wheels. Tom Oliver got out half way through the session and eventually set pole time from David Allingham and a hard charging and much improved Jordan Hole.

Harry Coomber, Louis Dawson and Clinton Carver suffered most as they only got out very late in the session when conditions were at their worst and ended up propping up the rear end of the grid. Bradley Jones was also fairly late out and was the rider who looked most comfortable in the heavier rain at the end of the session.

Race one of the weekend was in similar conditions and it was Tom Oliver and David Allingham who set about each other right from the first corner. Tom always looked the more comfortable, but David seemed determined to stick the number 11 bike into any gap that appeared. Eventually after a fairing to fairing duel on the brakes going into Graham Hill Bend, Tom managed to get a small gap and a clear lap at the same time and quickly built a gap that took him to his first win aboard the new 450.

Will Hodgson had meanwhile worked his way through to the front of a four way dice for the final step on the podium, but on the run to the line Sam Cox, Callan Cooper and Jordan Hole popped out of the slipstream together and all four riders fanned out for one of the closest photo finishes ever. The timekeeping monitor froze as the software struggled to split the four of them, before clearing to show the order as Cooper, Hodgson, Cox and Hole all covered by less than a yard.

Lewis Rollo took an impressive four wins from four starts in the Aprilia Superteen Championship opener at Brands Hatch. The young Scot got the hole-shot and held the lead in every race into the first corner with Milo Ward and Sam Smith giving chase.

George Stanley, one of our pre-season tips for the top, hampered his chances of running with the leaders by getting a run of dreadful starts and getting himself buried deep in the pack. Both George and Conner Moody scrapped their way to some excellent top five results on Saturday, setting lap times that were to put them right at the sharp end of the grid for Sundays races. This being due to the new ‘Mega-Laps’ system that sets Sundays grids from the fastest lap times set during Saturdays races and qualifying sessions.

The battle that everyone was watching though was the one between Milo & Sam for second place. They were never more than a yard apart from lap two onwards and at times the only thing separating them was the thickness of the Dunlop and Black Horse stickers on their bodywork. Milo took the verdict in both races, but only by a yard in the first race and about an inch in the second one. It’s magnificent to see to riders so young showing so much maturity, trust and skill when battling in such close quarters.

Sunday morning arrived with rain of biblical proportions and Milo looked as though he wanted to show that he could walk on water. Rarely have I seen such controlled aggression in conditions like that. Lewis had the lead and his ultra-light body weight gave him the straight line advantage, but Milo was all over him like a cheap Chinese suit around the corners and on two successive laps made his move at Graham Hill Bend only to loose the lead again on the top straight. On lap nine he eventually asked too much of the Dunlop wets and down he went leaving Lewis to take the win by a comfortable margin from George Stanley, who had passed Sam Smith with 3 laps to go. Although he ended up picking the grass out of his teeth, Milo did himself no harm at all with this performance and he must know that the wins will come.

By contrast the final encounter of the weekend was quite tame. Everyone had one eye on the falling track temperature and even Lewis was nearly 3 seconds a lap off his earlier pace. The real battle in this race was between Conner Moody and Sam Smith for the final podium step, which eventually went Sams’ way by about the depth of the tyre tread giving him a complete set of four podium finishes and second place in the championship table to add to his Racing Line Photography “rider of the meeting” award.

The first meeting of the year also gives us our first chance to look at the Nitro Newcomers and this year we look to have some real little stars in the making. Ross Simpson had already impressed us all in pre-season testing back at Mallory Park, but Bradley Perie kind of sneaked up on us almost unnoticed. These two fought out a close battle in race one with Ross almost catching Bradley on the run to the chequered flag, setting the fastest newcomers lap of the race in the process. Keenan Armstrong took the final podium place after a race long duel with Cameron Lee for 8^th place overall.

In the second Saturday encounter, Ross really took the charge to Bradley but lost out again by the narrowest of margins (just over 18 inches). In this race though young Gideon Thomas showed just what he is capable of with a fine first podium and a massive 4 second improvement in his lap time over the first race.

The horrible conditions on Sunday morning were clearly not to Ross Simpsons liking as he ended up in 4^th spot, some distance away from Bradley, Gideon and Keenan who made up the podium in that order.

The final race of the meeting was the closest Bradley came all weekend to tasting defeat. Gideon took the lead in the early stages and looked like he might get away, but Bradley didn’t panic and just worked away at reeling him in. By lap 5 he’d caught him, but try as he might, he couldn’t shake off the determined youngster from South London and they ended up taking the chequered flag almost as one, with Bradley just getting the verdict from the timekeeping box.

With another half dozen youngsters just waiting for their 12^th birthdays to join us at Donington Park, 2012 looks set to be a great year for the best youth championship in the world. Don't miss it!

APRILIA SUPERTEEN CHALLENGE PRIZES - 2012 (release 12 of 12)

The most successful one make series in the world continues with Thundersport GB into 2012 with support from Aprilia UK, Lexham, Black Horse, IN Competition, Dunlop Tyres, Nitro and Stewart Events.

Aprilia UK, Lexham, Black Horse, IN Competition and Stewart Events are once again funding the extensive production and broadcast of the very popular “GP Racing Dream” programmes on both Eurosport TV and Motors TV in the UK and subsequently worldwide on Fox Sports and Channel Seven.

End of season prizes for the Aprilia Superteen Challenge 2012 have just been confirmed with the series sponsors and are as follows:-

The winner of the Aprilia Superteen Challenge 2012 will be given full use of an Aprilia RRV450GP machine to contest the entire Aprilia RRV450GP Championship in 2013, with full technical support from IN Competition and Bridgestone UK.

Second place in the Aprilia Superteen Championship will receive a full seasons race entry fees for 2013 for either the Aprilia RRV450GP Championship, or the Aprilia Superteen Championship (dependant on age and preference), both with full technical support from IN Competition.

Third place in the Aprilia Superteen Championship will receive a full seasons test days entry fees for 2013 for any Thundersport class of that riders choice.

All three riders will be enrolled in the Thundersport GB Moto Academy and receive expert technical suspension and tyre support for the 2013 season, as well as the opportunity to take part in exclusive test and training sessions during the course of the year.

Ian Newton of IN Competition said “We believe very strongly in our strategy of rider development, starting with our induction into the Aprilia Superteens at just 12 years of age and progressing via the Aprilia RRV450GP Championship at 14 or 15 years of age. We think this gives an excellent grounding in motorcycle racing, racecraft and a thorough understanding of machine dynamics. Add that to the TV exposure, promotion and opportunity to become comfortable during podium and grid interviews and we are then able to say that graduates of the Thundersport/Aprilia Academy are truly ready for the big stage.”

The above end of season sponsorship equates to significant funding to help all riders contesting the Aprilia Superteen championship and we would like to thank all of our valued sponsors on behalf of all of our competitors for their faith and commitment to the Thundersport GB sporting ethos.