So far we have attended several motorbike racing events during our trip. First was World Superbikes at Imola in Italy. We also went to a round of World Superbikes at Donnington in the UK. We had a week at the Isle of Man TT and also spent a weekend in Northern Island for the Ulster GP. MotoGP was at Silverstone and so were we. The event to round off our race watching experience was to see British Superbikes. We managed this at Oulton Park on the weekend.

Oulton Park is near Warrington, just south of Liverpool. Our friend Chris Pearson was returning from the Isle of Man Classic and was arriving at Liverpool so he decided to join us. The track was about 25km from our hotel so we arranged to meet Chris at the track when he arrived. By 12:30 the Warren Trio (see previous blog) was reunited and watching qualifying for British Superbikes.

Our Australian riders are well represented in British Superbike competition. Josh Brookes is leading the competition with only 6 races to go. Josh Waters, Billy McConnell and Jed Metcher also competed and Brock Parkes is out injured. We were keen to see how the Aussie boys would go. We watched qualifying from Dear Leap where riders come around a corner into a steep descent towards the finish line. It was a good viewing spot because riders had to slow considerably and you could clearly see who each rider was as they approached.

The BSB round at Oulton Park was a triple header with the first race on Saturday and the other two on Sunday. Josh Brookes started the first race from the back of the grid as his bike blew up during qualifying and he didn’t get a time recorded. It didn’t seem to worry him as he finished in 4th place in a field of 31 riders – not a bad effort from last on the grid! This race was won by Shane Byrne who is running 2nd in the competition.

Greg has been suffering from a heavy dose of the flu so we spent most of the day sitting in Chequers Restaurant at the track watching the racing on the big screen as it was bitterly cold outside. Sunday’s first race was won by Josh Brookes. It looked like Shane Byrne would finish 2nd but he stopped in the last lap and did not finish – we think he ran out of fuel. Race 3 was won by Byrne with Josh Brookes 2nd. The competition is close but Josh Brookes still leads with 3 rounds to go.

We returned to our hotel satisfied with our day at the races. As we had to return to Ipswich to collect our bike from the Triumph Dealer, Chris decided to drop his bike back to the depot at Felixstowe as well. We would now spend the next 10 days travelling together in the car until Chris departs for Canada on the 19th September. We have no set plans but will continue to explore spots in the UK that interest us.