Alun Brooks crashes as Jon Wright wins four

But for Shrewsbury’s Jon Wright it was a much more serene meeting as he powered his way to four wins and a lap record.

Both were back competing in the Thundersport GB Series at Snetteron while Brooks, from Welshpool, had also managed to squeeze an earlier round with No Limits at Brands Hatch for good measure.

The 44-year-old was up to fifth position during the opening race at Brands and lap by lap picked off the rest to take the chequered flag.

Race two turned into a disaster as the marshal waved the blue flag – warning back markers the leaders were coming through – but without any warning the front end tucked on him and he was in the gravel with the bike on top of him.

“There was too much cosmetic damage to get me back out for the other races but still clocked the fastest newcomer 600 time of the meeting,” he said.

Clutch problems affected Brooks at Snetterton for round three of the Thundersport GB during qualifying.

“I started pushing to get a good grid position and noticed on a couple of corners the clutch was slipping,” he said.

“I had to go out in race one on my spare bike, which wasn’t as set up like my other and meant I ended up finishing 17th.

“I managed to replace the clutch plates with the help of a couple of riders and was back for race two on my better bike, and finished sixth.”

Monday’s third race was declared wet and Brooks gambled with a wet front tyre and dry rear – but noticed that 90 per cent of the other riders had gone all wets.

After battling his way up to fifth by the end of lap five he could see fourth and third were just a few seconds ahead and started to push a bit more.

“But when I came out of the Bombhole I must have hit a damp spot, which span my back wheel up and it caused me to high-side at roughly 90mph,” he said.

“I landed hard on the tarmac then on the grass with the bike hitting me a couple of times. That was the end of the day as the bike had a few minor damages to the electrics and I didn’t feel happy taking the second bike out. So that was the day over for me.”

Wright, 42, enjoyed his first visit to the fast and flowing Snetterton circuit, but found gearing difficult to perfect as the wind had a big impact.

Racing his Suzuki GSXR750 on Sunday, he secured eighth overall and third in the GP1 Classic class, followed by seventh overall and second in class for race two.

“I started to get familiar with the circuit and my confidence grew,” he said.

“I hit 149.4mph and was seventh fastest bike through the speed trap.”

Wright again finished seventh overall and third in class during races three and four on Monday – but not without incident.

“A massive slide mid-corner on the last corner during lap one meant loosing a few positions,” he said. “After a strong start the lack of grip from well worn tyres is really noticeable on this bike and impact on the corner speeds.

“Overall, I was pleased with four strong finishes as we now sit in second place in the championship after four of 10 rounds.

“I need to work harder on the start line getaway and early lap time reduction as the leading pack is getting away and it’s impossible to recover the lost time.”

Wright tasted even more success on his more familiar CBR600 in the Pre injection class to claim four wins.

“I had some great race battles with fellow title contender Dave Langley,” he said.

“Our bikes are almost identical in performance but I manage to get out of the corners quicker, which worked for me as I beat Dave to the line by the narrowest of margins in two of the races.

“The season is going well so far. That’s 11 wins from 12 in Pre Injection.”