British Super Bikes
Oulton Park
29.4.17
Getty Images
Glenn Irwin finishes second in race two at Oulton Park
There’s nothing quite like bikes, although Harley Davidson’s are and always will be my favourite bike, but seeing the superbikes race around that track at Oulton Park sure had the adrenalin pumping around the body. There were lots parked in the car park to have a look at and we wandered around the stalls looking at motorcycle helmets and all in one leather, plus T-shirts and biking paraphernalia.
There were café’s, burger vans, bars, and lots of other stalls willing to take your money for whatever reason but the whole afternoon was spent wandering around the track and having a VIP pass meant we could do into the pit and see what went on behind the scenes.
We did try and pay WNT a visit to thank them for the passes but there wasn’t a single soul around – must have been at the track, and who could blame them?
Thanks WNT
The noise was like a million wasps trying to get out of a jam jar, the speeds were phenomenal, in fact, they were so fast by the time Oggy had clicked for a photo the bike was off in the distance somewhere, so you had to be quick.
As we walked into the Pit it was a hive of activity bikes coming back the race people chatting, people building bikes it was amazing. I spotted a lonely biker whom I found out was called Tom Ward - just sitting quietly and had to ask him:
“What does it feel like when you are on that track?”
His answer was “Before the lights go out the adrenalin is pumping so hard around your body, but when the lights go out you are well in the zone, so much so that if you fall off and have a crash you don’t feel a thing!” “It is hard to describe really!”
Thanks again Tom - Good luck in the next race
I couldn’t imagine something so scary with an adrenalin rush like that but sitting on a bike just does that to me, I have the urge to want to get on it and ride anywhere just for the feeling of being on a bike, however, those circuits are dangerous and I think I would be rather hesitant to try them for real but admire Tom and guys like him (and gals too!) for even being willing to take matters that far, but what a rush!
I would definitely go again to Oulton Park the atmosphere was just superb and the bikes, well as I said before there’s nothing quite like a bike is there?
One Hel of a performance!
Not as exciting as a bike
Leon Haslam holds off Shane Byrne to win race one at Oulton Park
By Ben Snowball
Leon Haslam continued Kawasaki’s clean sweep in 2017, scooping his third British Superbike win of the season after controlling race one at Oulton Park.
The championship leader pulled away from Ducati’s Shane Byrne in the closing stages, with team-mate Luke Mossey trailing home in third.
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Jason O'Halloran, Peter Hickman, James Ellison, Josh Brookes, Christian Iddon, Glenn Irwin and Jake Dixon completed the top 10.
Haslam moves onto 111 points in the overall standings, with Mossey (97) and Iddon (73) his closest challengers. Five-time champion Byrne is eighth on 33 points.
The race was brewing into a battle between Haslam and Byrne, but it failed to spark as the Ducati man settled for second ahead of race two.
Byrne’s team-mate Glenn Irwin avoided an accident after stabilising a huge wobble on lap 12 as the race passed without major incident.
