The ICGP circus rolled into Brands Hatch on Thursday afternoon in preparation for rounds 5 and 6 of the 2012 championship.

Picture by Olivier Bruyere

2012 ICGP Brands Hatch - Mike 'Spike' Edwards - Yamaha TZ 350

Race report by Mandy Jordan

The weekend would be well supported as this was British Superbikes on the GP track. Race 5 for ICGP would be held on Friday night on the Indy circuit. After 2 qualifying sessions the riders formed the grid in dry conditions with Mike Edwards on Stuart Melen’s TZ350cc, normally ridden by the injured Chris Bishop, lining up on pole, from Ian Simpson and Guy Bertin, with Chris Knight on the outside of the front row. The red lights went out but within one lap the heavens opened and riders were pulling in. Mike Edwards had put his hand up to indicate he was pulling out of the race but the BSB marshals mistook this for Mike wanting the race stopped, and thus the red flags came out and the race was halted.

The riders returned to the grid and there the confusion started. Some riders were annoyed and confused as to why the race was stopped. In BSB if the race starts dry all riders would be on slicks and if it rains the leaders can raise their hands to get the race stopped so they can change to wets. In ICGP, although they can use cut tyres, the race should not have been stopped as the rules state if the race is stopped and restarted no change of tyres is allowed.

Amongst the confusion on the grid an argument occurred between the French rider Guy Bertin and BSB race director Stuart Higgs that resulted in Guy Bertin being banned from the restart. The rest of the grid were given 15 minutes to return to the paddock and change tyres. As the riders returned to the grid for the restart it was clear that the grid was very depleted, some riders choosing not to race.

When the lights went out Ian Simpson was the only rider on the front row to race. As with all wet races some new names came to the fore and the sodden crowd were treated to a great scrap between Barry Neal on the 250cc Exactweld, Ant Hart on the Arnie Fletcher 350cc Yamaha and Chris Rose on his TZ350cc Yamaha. Barry Neal looked like he could become the first 250cc to win an ICGP race outright, but both Ant Hart and Chris Rose had other ideas. All three riders took turns at leading the race but a few laps from the end Chris Rose had opened up a lead. Going into the last lap Chris Rose had a 2 second lead from Barry Neal and Ant Hart a further 2 seconds back. As they tipped into Clearways for the final time Barry Neal lost the back end of his TZ250 and down he went. Ian Simpson, who was struggling with a lose twist grip, fought his way back to the bottom step of the podium behind Hart and first time winner Chris Rose.
The 250 race had a new winner in Stefan Tennstadt from Peter Thorne and Marc Auboiron.

Podium 250

Fortunately Guy had resolved his dispute with Stuart Higgs and on Sunday morning a full compliment of riders lined up in dry sunny conditions for 8 laps of the Grand Prix track. Unfortunately Eric Saul was not among the starters as his Chevallier had developed a severe crack in the swinging arm which required specialist welding.

Normal business was resumed very quickly as Mike Edwards and Guy Bertin fought a titantic battle with the lead changing many times, watched closely by Ian Simpson. Guy Bertin appeared to have a speed advantage over Mike Edwards, but he was not able to pull any gap and as they swept into clearways for the last time, Mike Edwards led the way only to lose out on the win by 400ths of a second to Guy with Ian third.

The front 3 riders stole the limelight, but in 4th place was a very well deserved Chris Knight.
The 250 section was again won by Franz Dorfner from Colin Sleigh and Barry Neal.

Podium 350

It was an eventful meeting for ICGP, but as the rules had been breached on Friday no points were allocated for Friday’s race but double points were awarded on Sunday.

Free practice :

Qualif 1 :

Qualif 2:

Combined Qualif:

Starting grid:

Race 1:

Race 2: