Round 6 of Lamonde Racing's 2024 campaign with Bemsee was held at Snetterton in Norfolk, the second round this season at the track.

Matt #9
Going into this round, Matt, #9 had his sights set firmly on the Thunderbike Sport championship, it would be possible to clinch the championship on Saturday as he'd started the weekend with 481 points, and closest rival, Tony Russo 164 points behind on 317.

Matt qualified on pole with a fastest lap of 2:01.231 and brought home the win with a 9.110 lead over Tony Russo, not quite enough points for the outright championship, however, he had not only won, but set a blistering pace with a 2:00.750 fastest lap, comfortably securing pole for the start of race 2.

Race 2, and Matt was out of the blocks like a scalded cat, chased closely by Josh Harvey, who, unfortunately had been disqualified from race 1 after a technical inspection of his machine, determined to recover the situation as best he could, Josh was pushing hard behind Matt, having started from 11th on the grid. Matt crossed the line 6.759 Seconds ahead of Josh, crucially, Matt had done enough to win the championship with 6 races left of the season, an amazing feat and testament to a consistent season with podiums at every round.

Moving onto Sunday, Matt applied the number 1 to his bike as he was the champion - something he's not done before, despite winning Championships previously. Matt was on pole again, with Josh p2, Matt smashed the class lap record he'd set on the Saturday with an amazing 1:59.677, Josh crossed the line 7.549 behind Matt, but with ever-improving lap times. For the second race on Sunday, Josh took an early lead from Matt, maintaining it until the last lap, when Matt passed Josh in the Brundle/Nelson complex, only to low-side into Bomb Hole, giving Josh the win.

Leigh #293
Leigh has been competing in two classes, MRO Minitwins and Thunderbike Sport.
Minitwins
For Race 1, Leigh qualified 16th, and finished 12th, he set the 11th fastest lap time of the race, putting him 11th on the grid for race 2, finishing 15th, and also setting the 15th fastest lap, ahead of Sunday's morning race finishing 17th, but qualifying 15th for race 2, which he finished 12th.

Thunderbike Sport
Thunderbike sport is not Leigh's main class, he's entered a few rounds in the class, he could enter the Supertwin class as his bike also qualifies for that too. The 72bhp minitwin in Thunderbike sport is at an approximate 30bhp disadvantage, but as they say, it's not about the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog. Saturday's TBS race 1, Leigh finished 11th in class, race 2, he was 10th. Moving onto Sunday's race 1, Leigh was 12th, and Sunday race 2, 10th. A consistent, solid performance.

Tom #74
Tom qualified 9th in class, however, Saturday's racing a was to be cut short since he was unfortunately involved in a start line incident when he collided with a bike that had failed to get moving. Start line incidents are frequently nasty as they invariably involve someone who's engaged Warp-Factor 9 when the lights have gone out, collecting someone who's failed to start, stalled, or suffered a breakdown. Tom's leg, unfortunately got trapped between the rear tyre or the motorcycle he collided with, the rear tyre making short work of wearing through the stretch-fabric material on the back of his leather suit's leg. This resulted in what can only be described as a friction burn, which put paid to Tom's racing on Saturday, and put Sunday into question.

Tom had to be passed fit to ride for Sunday, which he was. With fresh dressings applied, he went out in Race 1, starting 40th on the grid, battling up to a commendable 11th in class having started at the back of the grid. In Sunday's Race 2, Tom achieved a very well-earned 7th, just 0.361seconds behind P6.

The last round for 2024 is Brands Hatch Indy circuit, 21/22 September 2024. Hope to see you there.

All photographs courtesy of Rachel Bourne - Bourne Photo.