The Mitchells of Mansfield supported brothers secured third place in qualifying in a mixed grid of F1 and 600cc outfits and were fastest in their class and as the first of two races got underway the six times TT winners slotted into fourth place overall before moving up to third at the half way stage of the 12 lap affair.

The Birchalls maintained third place throughout the remainder of the race to take the chequered flag as comfortable winners in the 600 class with Ellis/Richardson finishing in second place some distance behind.

The first four rows of the grid are reversed for the second race with the Birchall brothers starting the 10 lap race from the fourth row.

As the lights went out Ben and Tom made up ground to sixth on the first lap and spent the next two laps battling with Bell/Hyde until they finally made the pass stick and secure fifth position. They then set their sights on Holland/Ramsay and one lap later reeled them in to move into fourth place.

Ben and Tom began to close down James/Tritton who were circulating some distance ahead but although they gave it their best shot they ran out of time and had to be content with fourth place in the overall listings and another decisive win in the 600 class.

Ben said:

“We had a great weekend at Snetterton; we thought we may struggle due to the nature of the circuit as we were giving away 400cc to the F1 outfits but we were pleasantly surprised to find we held our own against the 1000cc engines.

“Next week will be busy for us as we have just a few days to prepare the F2 outfit for the Southern 100 and also the long chassis 600 for the British round at Mallory Park which is the day before we go to the Isle of Man.

“Thanks to our loyal sponsors and supporters, many of whom were at Snetterton for the racing on Sunday. We hope you enjoyed your day with us.”

After contesting just three of the eight races because of a clash of dates with the World championship Ben and Tom currently lie in fourth place on 30 points but they are only 11 points away from the series lead.

Busy week ahead

The next round of the British championship is on Sunday, July 9 at Mallory Park when the Birchall Brothers will contest the two races before heading to the Isle of Man for the Southern 100 races.

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The Birchalls now have 50 points and extend their lead to 16 over Nichols/Tilley.

The Mitchells of Mansfield supported riders dominated free practice and qualifying in their class and started the first race from a third row grid position of the mixed grid of outfits.

Saturdays Race

Ben and Tom began their campaign in sixth place overall on lap one but moved up a place to fifth on lap two and held station to lap 10 when they moved up a place to fourth.

In their efforts to catch Walker and Hawes, Ben made a mistake and took to the grass on the back straight. They lost a few seconds on Walker but maintained their fourth place and on the final lap made up nearly six seconds to complete the race in fourth place just 0.8s away from the top three. They won their own class by a huge margin of 16 seconds

Ben Commented:

“That was a good race and it would have been even better if we hadn’t gone grass tracking down the back straight!

“That lost us quite a bit of time but although we managed to make it up we couldn’t quite make it past Walker. It has however placed us in a good position on the second row for the race on Sunday.”

Sundays Race

As race two got underway the Birchall brothers quickly became embroiled in a battle for position with Walker /Hawes with the two outfits exchanging places throughout the first four laps. But Ben spun the LCR Honda at Murrays and lost time as he got the outfit back on track. They dropped down the order to eighth overall but maintained their lead in their own class and gave chase to the outfits ahead.

On lap six they were on the back of Guy/Pilmoor-Brady and one lap later overtook them. Two teams retired therefore Ben and Tom were promoted to fifth place overall before the red flag brought the race to an early end after a F1 outfit spilled oil onto the track after a machine failure.

Ben and Tom head directly over to the Isle of Man to take part in the Southern 100 races which run over the next few days and then return in time to travel to Thruxton for the next round of the British championship on July 24.

The post Birchall Brothers shine at Snetterton appeared first on Birchall Racing.

Birchalls searching for Snetterton Success

After competing in Hungary and Croatia for the last two weekends Ben and Tom can’t wait to get stuck into the domestic competition, once again.

After missing the last round at Knockhill the brothers are eager to put some distance between themselves and the pairing of Shand and Hyde, who are neck and neck on 30 points at the top of the leader board.

Once again the brothers are looking to assert their dominance on the 600cc outfit and we spoke to Ben earlier in the week to get his thoughts on this weekends racing.

Ben Birchall:

“We really enjoy it down at Snetterton, it’s fast and technical in places and that’s the way we like it. Of course, we’re looking to win but, so is everyone else! It’ll not be easy but we’re confident we can do the business.

“We’ve done a lot of travelling, as always but we’ve had some fabulous support from Sponsors and the fans, so yeah, it’s been really good. From Snetterton we go straight to the Southern 100 so we’re really busy just now.

About Snetterton

Norfolk’s Snetterton circuit has been transformed in the last 5 years following a multi million pound redevelopment plan. The improvements have been met with rave reviews from both spectators and competitors alike and the Snetterton 300 track has been designed to bring international levels of racing to the circuit by gaining an FIA Grade 2 Licence.

Snetterton is known as a fast and exciting circuit with long straights and a wide variety of turns that require skill, handling and power to overcome. The circuits designers took inspiration from some of the worlds great circuits when they planned out the 300 track and as such, a weekend at Snetterton is a real treat for both competitors and spectators.

The British Touring Car Championship, BRSCC Fiesta Championship, British Superbike Championship, British Truck Racing Championship and British GT and F4 Championships all visit Snetterton at some point in the racing calendar so there’s always plenty going on, see here for details

Getting to Snetterton

If you’re planning to go down to Snetterton this weekend to watch the Birchalls race, you’ll find the circuit 10 miles north-east of Thetford on the A11 from London to Norwich. Coming from the south, leave the M11 at junction 9 and follow the A11. From the north or west, use the M11/A11 and join the A11 after Newmarket.

Eccles Road, Attleborough and Thetford stations are on the main Cambridge to Norwich line.

 A dry weekend?

This weekend at Snetterton is set fair with only a little broken cloud to mention, at this point it looks like the weather will be dry and bright with temperatures in the low twenties Celsius and with average wind speeds in the low teens. It’s looking like a great weekends racing for competitors and spectators alike.

Don’t miss any action

Friday

Tean Mansfield first take to the Snetterton track early on Friday afternoon at 12:25 in free practice and follow that up later in the day at 17:50 with the first qualifying session

Saturday

On Saturday afternoon the Birchalls are out again at 13:35 for the first of the weekends races, it’s a 12 lap affair that promises to be super competitive now that the leaders points gap has been cut back to nothing.

Sunday

All eyes will once again be on Ben and Tom as they go into the final day of this pivotal weekend. It’s going to be a long day for the Mansfield duo with the second race coming at 17:25.

Live Timing

If you can’t get down to Snetterton, you can watch live timing for all the days racing by clicking this link

TV Schedule

At this early stage we are unsure of the TV schedule but it looks as though the racing will be live on Eurosport but only from 16:00 on Saturday so the Brothers will already have raced unfortunately.

Sundays coverage (on eurosport at least) is again affected by the giant sporting events of Wimbledon and the Tour de France, with coverage not starting until 11am and finishing around 13:45pm again completely missing our guys out of the televised action.

We will have a good search around to see if we can find coverage elsewhere and post that information on the dedicated Snetterton event page that you can visit on this link

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