Rookies are Kings of the Juniors in Norfolk
With a season fixed on the title battle between Stuart Middleton and William Tregurtha, there were two surprise victors at Snetterton in rookies Harry King and Daniel Harper.
Middleton was never in contention for victory, with brake problems relegating him to eighth on the grid before mustering a best finish of seventh.
Tregurtha enjoyed much the better weekend of the title rivals with two podiums, but he couldn’t match either of the rookies.
In a scrappy finale, Harper went from pole position to third place at Riches as rivals Dave Wooder flew past on the outside and Tregurtha squeezed through the inside for the lead.
It looked like Tregurtha’s race to lose, but Harper responded brilliantly. He was initially held up when Kyle Hornby went wide from the midfield and joined out of positon in the lead battle.
From there Harper hounded the race leader, and the battle for position took a physical turn with both banging doors repeatedly.
While Harper dispatched Tregurtha as he fell to third, the race’s physical turn continued.
Wooder had made an excellent move on Tregurtha for second after the lead battle ended, but he followed it with an overly optimistic dive down the inside at Agostini and collided with Harper.
Wooder fell away from contention after that, but Harper held on to win on the road. But the overly physical race kept the stewards busy, penalising Harper down to third and warning Tregurtha.
The post-race fallout worked well for King, his late move up the order rewarded with the overall win ahead of Tregurtha and Harper.
While he lost that win, Harper did score big in the weekend’s first outing after a superb battle. Tregurtha had held pole, but Harper and Wooder joined to run three wide at turn three, before Harper made a move stick for the lead.
Wooder followed in second, relegating Tregurtha to third at the flag. Despite failing to beat the rookies, Tregurtha now leads the championship by 25 points over Middleton after his woes.