Ronnie Harris on top again in Llandow round of FAB-Racing

FAB-Racing held the second round of its 2022 season at Llandow in Wales, where, in the top MK-MiniGP70 class, Ronnie Harris picked up where he left off at round one. 

MK-MiniGP70

Coming into round two, Harris held a slim, three-point lead over Ethan Sparks in GP70s, but it was Sparks who had pole position for the weekend’s three races in Llandow.

The first GP70 race of the weekend was a closely-fought affair, with less than one second covering the top three at the finish. Harris came out on top ahead of Sparks, while Henry McCartney set the fastest lap of the race on his way to third. 

Sparks would respond in race two, taking victory ahead of Harris and McCartney, with just 0.641 seconds covering the top three this time around. 

That meant that Sparks and Harris were tied for the overall win going into the final race after a win and a second place each. This time, it would be a more dominant display from Harris, relatively speaking, as he finished with a 1.241-seocnd lead in race three. That gave him the overall over Sparks - who finished second once again in the final race - by five points, and saw him extend his championship advantage over the #62 to eight points ahead of round three. 

Henry McCartney took his third, third place of the weekend in race three to secure third overall at Llandow, and moved into third in the championship ahead of Marco Holt. Definitely a theme for the #31 in South wales.

MK-MiniGP50

In the MK-MiniGP50 class, it was more of the same from round one in Lydd, with the three riders finishing on the podium all finishing in the same order in each race. Marco Holt took all three race wins and, importantly for him, it was Archie O’Brien who was runner-up on each of the three outings, with Luke Fitchett taking three third places.

After finishing second to Fitchett in all three races in Lydd, Holt’s triple-win in Llandow meant he took the championship lead ahead of round three, and he has 12 points to defend over Fitchett at the next race. Archie O’Brien is also in the championship mix, only 27 points down on Holt in third place in the riders’ standings.

AC40 Pro

AC40 Pro saw one of the biggest championship shake-ups of the weekend, as round one overall winner and two-time 2022 race winner Harrison Day did not race in Llandow. That left Byron Johnson to take the championship lead after two rounds, with the race three winner from Lydd taking all three race wins in Llandow.

A 2-3-3 scorecard for Mathew Thomas secured him second overall in south Wales as he jumped up to second in the championship, while Sam Gardner went 8-2-2 for third overall, moving up to fourth in the riders’ standings overall. Ahead of round three, Johnson’s point lead is 61.

AC40 Rookie

The AC40 Rookies class saw something of an upset, as triple winner from Lydd, Taylor Tomlinson, was beaten for the first time this season in Llandow race one as Sebastian Gaslawski took the overall win. Tomlinson returned to the top step in races two and three, though, and secured a 31-point lead ahead of round three. 

Gaslawski finished on the podium in all three races in Llandow, taking second in races two and three after his race one win. The #64 has only missed the podium once in 2022, that being race two in Lydd when he finished seventh. 

Logan Couzens was looking good for a top three overall finish in Llandow after taking third in the opening race, but while he went 9-4 in races two and three, Seth Hayward went 4-3-3 over the weekend to take the final overall podium place. Couzens holds on to third in the championship, albeit 67 points down on Tomlinson, while the top three for Hayward represents a big step forward for the #15 after scoring only five points in Lydd.

LC40 Elite

Austin Johnson’s race three non-score cost him the overall victory at Lydd in the LC40 Elites, but after repeating his dominance in the first two races of round one at Llandow - going 1-1 in races one and two - Johnson was able to finish second in race three in Wales to secure his first overall win of the season. 

Harrison Day was the beneficiary in Lydd, but, as previously mentioned, Day did not race in Llandow, and that means that Johnson goes into round three with the LC40 Elite championship lead. 

Johnson’s lead is seven points over Finley Polhill, who has been super-consistent to start the year. Three third places in Lydd was followed up by a 2-2-1 in Llandow for second overall, while Byron Johnson - race three winner in Lydd - went 3-3-3 for third overall, and is now 27 points down in the championship.