2-Stroke Only: Raw and muddy 125 British championship action from Brookthorpe Fastest 40

After days of rain battered the traditional, hillside Brookthorpe track for the Fastest 40 series, it was the ACU Apico 2-stroke Festival 125 championship races that got the worst of the track and it was a scrap between the experienced adults and the young guns.
Veteran Neville Bradshaw, returning from a horrific Arenacross crash early in the year, got the holeshot in the opener from youngster Jamie Keith, tailed by Luke Dean and red plate holder Josh Vail in third.
By the end of the opening lap, Dean led with Vail on his tail and the pair swapped places for the rest of the race until Vail managed to make it stick.
Keith passed Bradshaw for third place on lap five, while Bradshaw hung on to fourth. The leading five lapped the rest of the field.
Yamaha rider Keith led the second race from start to finish. Harry Lee was second going into the first turn, followed by Matt Bayliss, Jorden Bachelor and Bradshaw, with Vail way back.
By the end of lap two, Dean was pushing Bayliss hard for second place, which he took on lap five only to lose it again two laps later. Vail came through and was in Bradshaw’s wheel tracks as the pair fought over fourth and fifth. But Bradshaw re-passed Vail for fourth by the flag. Overall, Keith took the win from Dean and Vail, but Vail still leads the series from Keith and Bayliss.