BTC: Skinner and Strudwick victorious at Snetterton

Rory Skinner and Thomas Strudwick shared the spoils in the third round of the inaugural British Talent Cup at Snetterton.

Starting from second on the grid, it was Max Cook who took the holeshot into the Norfolk circuit’s flowing turn one in the opening stages of the first race, but a race long battle would develop between Cook, polesitter Rory Skinner and third on the grid Thomas Strudwick.

The latter would drop off the leading duo in the closing stages of the race leaving Skinner and Cook to battle it out until the end, with Cook almost getting the better of his rival in the slipstream to lose out by just 0.040 seconds.

Strudwick completed the podium a comfortable 15 seconds ahead of Brian Hart with 12-year-old Josh Whatley rounding out the top five.

Cook took an initial lead in the second race after a poor start for Skinner, but it all went wrong for the 16-year-old as he crashed out of the lead.

Inheriting the top spot, Scotsman Skinner was then able to take advantage of a three-way scrap for second to pull a comfortable lead before drama would strike for him too as he also crashed out of the race.

That left Strudwick in charge of proceedings and while Whatley had been close, he wasn’t able to match the superior pace of Strudwick, who crossed the line three seconds ahead of Whatley in second while Brian Hart completed the podium, Scott Ogden and Jack Nixon completed the top five while Skinner remounted and finished seventh.

Strudwick’s race two win saw him extend his championship lead to 98 points over Skinner in second with six races remaining. The next round will take place at the British MotoGP at Silverstone in August.