Johnny Garness (City Lifting by RS Racing) is now a race winner in 2021, the number 57 shooting away from pole in Race 1 at Donington to chip away at a gap and cross the line in some clear air. The fight for second went down to the wire, with the returning Casey O’Gorman (Microlise Creswell Racing) just pipping James Cook (Wilson Racing) at the line.
Garness took the holeshot from pole, and the number 57 barely had to look back. By half distance he had a good gap but that came down again a few laps later as O'Gorman made his way to the front of the chasing group and hunted down the race leader.
When just about in striking distance, however, O'Gorman came under attack - and Garness was able to put the hammer down again. This time it was for keeps, with the number 57 crossing the line 2.022 clear for his first victory of the year.
Behind him, a three-way battle saw O'Gorman vs Cook vs Belford, and the number 67 held onto second despite a late lunge from Cook. The two were split by just 0.066 over the line... and Belford ran into trouble.
The number 52 headed over the gravel and lost out, able rejoin just before the flag but down in P6 as both Ollie Walker (Moto Rapido / SP125 Racing) and Carter Brown (City Lifting by RS Racing) got past, the latter despite his own earlier run off when duelling Belford.
Kiyano Veijer (Microlise Creswell Racing) had a great race in P7 and he started well, fought at the front and managed to hold off Jamie Lyons (C&M Motors Ltd/Tooltec Racing) to the flag to boot. A bigger gap behind the two saw Sullivan Mounsey (iForce Llord & Jones) take ninth, ahead of another duel to the flag as Harrison Crosby (Banks Racing) held off Rossi Banham (MJL Racing) to complete the top ten.