MotoGP Silverstone: Clean sweep for Garness in BTC domination

There was no stopping MLav VisionTrack Academy’s Johnny Garness securing a double victory in the Honda British Talent Cup last weekend.

Despite running on the biggest stage of the year, the now 14-year-old from Devon showcased his domination of the class in both races, meeting the flag with impressive advantage to claim the wins by over six seconds on each occasion.

Saturday’s race one showstopper found Garness duelling Rocket Racing’s Rhys Stephenson early doors before pulling away to take the chequered flag nearly eight seconds clear. Stephenson impressed to take second as the only challenger to the number 57 early on, with fellow VisionTrack rider Harley McCabe winning the group fight to complete the podium in third.

Garness got a good start from pole - a pole that had put him a cool 1.6 seconds clear - and shot off into the lead after lights out. After getting past City Lifting by RS Racing’s Evan Belford, only Stephenson could initially stay in touch with the points leader, slowly reeling him back in over a number of laps. The number 23 also tried his luck at getting past but wasn’t able to keep up the challenge as the laps ticked down, eventually forced to settle for a nevertheless impressive second. Garness kept the hammer down, and by the time he rolled round to meet the chequered flag it was 7.946 seconds of clear air behind him as the number 57 took another impressive win.

Behind the leading duo, it was a classic group fight and split by tiny margins over the line. Carter Brown was firmly in the mix as his teammate - and key Cup rival - disappeared at the front, and mere hundredths decided the final place on the podium. Three-wide across the line, it was McCabe who pipped them all to take P3, with Harrison