British Super bikes - Round 3

Donington Park

20th - 22nd May 2022

That say you can have too much of a good thing, so is three full days of watching some of the best motorcycle racers in the UK too much of a good thing? In my opinion no and no again! The third round of the British Superbikes Championships was held at Donington Park last weekend and was a good thing, a very good thing.

Why was it good? Well usually I will go to a motorsports event just for one day which means to get my fix I’m kind of rushing around.

As you are probably aware I like to take the odd picture or two, so it’s all about getting to the right location at the right time which can be challenging and involve a bit of brisk walking. 

However, last weekend was taken at a slower pace as I had time to get round the track and watch all of the different classes over three seperate days. This included joining in with my shooting buddy for the weekend in his passion for paparazzi photography.

When I say paparazzi, I mean sitting outside of the café enjoying the sunshine watching the riders zip past us on their various forms of paddock transport - not a bad way to spend an hour or so between races with a brew. 

To supplement our café papping we did the pit walk on Sunday. This is always a popular event to get up close to the riders for autographs and selfies, so my top tip is get in the queue early as there is not much time to get round all of the riders.   

Here we had daring passing manoeuvres, low side and high side crashes, incredibly close “trains” of riders inches apart trying to slipstream each other up to Coppice corner where more of the same was happening on every race. This is why I love being a spectator photographer at BSB as it's not just about the stars of BSB, the support races are just as good. 

In this sequence at McLeans Luke Hedger and Bjorn Estment had a coming together during the SuperStock qualifying. Hedger was a little bruised but still made 10th on the grid and P7 when the chequered flag dropped. These lads are made of strong stuff! 

Also in qualifying but with the SuperBikes, Andrew Irwin had a big high side. Not great for his brother Glenn to watch and he had to take to the kitty litter to avoid him. 

It was not just McLeans that had all the action, it was all round the course, although some of it was not so good. Josh Day the ASTRO JJR Host-IT Triumph British Supersport rider collided with David Jones of Dragon Racing Ducati at the final chicane on the first lap of Saturday's British SuperSport race. 

I was just walking up from the chicane when I heard the crash then saw the large dust cloud. My shooting buddy captured the crash but we are not going to reproduce it here. The Pistonclick policy is if they walk ,we publish but Josh didn’t. He had significant head injuries and lost some of his race gear in the crash and was rushed to Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham where he remains.

The latest reports say he is now out of the induced coma, had an operation on his jaw and is starting his recovery. We wish him well and our thoughts are with his family and friends.

Josh Day at Oulton Park

British SuperBikes Race One

So, on to the racing. At the previous opening round at Oulton Park Kyle Ryde managed a third place podium but then slipped down the order in the next two races after suffering from arm pump. There was no indication trackside of this happening during race one at Donington. He looked fast and confident, leading for half of the race. 

Jason O'Halloran pushed him on the last lap but couldn’t get past, giving Kyle his first top place podium in this championship and making him the fourth different winner this season.

Kyle's RICH Energy OMG Racing Yamaha team mate and this season's Championship leader Bradley Ray brought his R1 home in third for some valuable points.

British SuperBikes Race Two

Jason O'Halloran was on pole for race two after setting a new National Circuit lap record of 1:05.928 during race one. The OMG team mates of Ray and Ryde hounded O'Halloran in the early stages with Ray taking the lead and Ryde in second place.

Ryde wanted the win and was pushing hard, setting a new lap record of 1:05.723 which would see him on pole for race three.

Tommy Bridewell on the Oxford Products Racing Ducati was also pushing hard after a disappointing eighth place finish in race one. However, he pushed a little too hard and lost it at McLeans on lap two, putting a large dent in his championship aspirations. He ended up 9th in the overall championship placing after failing to finish in race three as well.

McLeans had a surprise in store for Ryde as well. He lost the front end in dramatic style while in second place on lap six. This elevated Jason O'Halloran to second and he hunted down Ray to take the lead and the win by 2.5 seconds

Lincolnshire's fastest plumber Lee Jackson came in a solid third to back up his fourth place in race one

British SuperBikes Race Three

Jason O'Halloran with a seventeenth BSB win in race three made it back-to-back race victories for the McAMS team, elevating him to second in the championship.

I had moved round to the inside of Coppice for race three and this was where O'Halloran took the lead from Ray, side by side as they exited the corner with both of them pulling power wheelies down the straight. Racing doesn’t get much better than this! What a show from the O,Show!

#28 Ray came in second and #14 Lee Jackson picked up another third ahead of his FS-3 Racing Kawasaki team mate #11 Rory Skinner in fourth.

Jason O'Halloran and the McAMS team celebrated the double win in style on the podium and Parc fermé, but what of his team mate the 2021 and raining champion Tarran Mackenzie? Having missed the first two rounds after breaking his left ankle in pre-season testing, he was passed fit by the medical team for round three at Donington.

Watching him in the pits there was no limping and he appeared to be moving well.  However, it will take a little longer to get match fit. Tenth in race one, sixth in race two and eleventh in race three is a good performance considering the lack of practice and competitive racing he has had so far this season.

Support Races

In the SuperSport races both results were the same -  first #97 Bradley Perie second #1 Jack Kennedy and third #4 Harry Truelove.

In the SuperStock Race One #51 Brayden Elliott was first, #14 Tim Neave second and #74 Davey Todd third.

In race two Brayden Elliott slipped to fourth, even after putting in the fastest lap of the race and a new SuperStock lap record of 1:07.195. Neave and Todd did one better than race one with a first and second #5 Richard Kerr was third. 

True Heroes Racing - Helping injured Service personnel regain a sense of direction through competitive motorsport.

Our adopted team for this year, True Heroes Racing, were out in full force at Donington with #22 Dave “Scrawn” Mackay and #61 Dave "Salty" Sellers in the SuperStock 1000 and three riders the Ducati Performance TriOptions Cup, #15 Leon Wilton, #44 Charlie White and #89 Chris Ganley.

You have seen the True Heroes strap line about helping injured Service personnel regain a sense of direction through competitive motorsport, but they are more than that. Part of the work the team does beyond the race track is to host veterans and serving Armed Forces Personnel.

This gives them an insight into what is possible through hard work and dedication post a traumatic experience by giving them insight into what they are doing in the world of motorsport.

Special guest of the team on Friday was 97 year old World War 2 D Day veteran Ron Minton. Ron served in the Oxford & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry that landed on Sword Beach during the assault on Normandy in 1944 and went on to secure the city of Caen from the Germans.

The team also hosted patients and staff from Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre Stanford Hall over the weekend, and residents from Ashmere Care Homes who are one of their sponsors.

Credit True Heroes Racing

So back to the track, how did the team do? In the first SuperStock 1000 race, Sellers and Mackay had qualified on row twelve so had a lot to do to get anywhere near the front runners.

The race was red flagged with a restart that would be a sprint race of eight laps. Mackay would cross the line in 28th place and Sellers 26th out of the original 37 starters.

Race two saw them move up a few grid positions with Sellers finishing in 28th and Dave Mackay in 31st posting a personal best lap which would have been faster if had not been for gear changing issues.

In the Ducati Performance TriOptions Cup, single amputee rider Chris Ganley didn’t make the grid as he missing out by a slender 2/10ths of a second. However, he did manage to wipe over 2 seconds off his personal best at Donington

In the first 15 lap race Leon Wilton started in P 20th, dropping one place to 21st when the chequered flag dropped, with Charlie White gaining a place finishing in 24th from 25th on the grid.

In Race Two Charlie White formed up on the grid in 26th place with Leon Wilton in 21st. Charlie came home in 19th and Leon in 17th. 

The next race meeting for the True Heroes Racing team will be the World Super event at Donington Park in July. Before that a large compliment of the team including their grassroots and associate riders will be at the NG Road Racing event at Pembrey Circuit on the 10th-12th June.

Photographic Post Script

I used this event to continue my evaluation of the crop sensor camera (Nikon D7200) combined with the 70-200 f2.8 that I plan to take with me to the Isle of Man TT races next week.

Donington has a lot of fences and you are some distance from the track, so a 200mm lens is a little short. Usually I will take a 200-500mm lens on a full frame camera which works well at this track. All pictures in this section were taken using this combination, the the 70-200 f2.8 and Nikon D7200.

Nikon D7200 with a 70.0-200.0 mm ƒ2.8 and a Nikon AF-S TC-20E III Teleconverter ISO 125 Focal length 680mm (in camera crop) -0.3ev f6.3 at 1/400sec. No fence.

To get over the distance problems I used two teleconverters to extend my reach. The Nikon 1.7 TCII and the 2.0 TCIII both worked well giving me a maximum focal length of around 600mm when using the 2.0 TCIII (200mm x crop of 1.5 x 2.0TC = 600mm)

Nikon D7200 with a 70.0-200.0 mm ƒ2.8 and a Nikon AF-S TC-17E II Teleconverter ISO 224 Focal length 510mm  f7.1 at 1/800sec. Through a fence.

Why am I considering this set up specifically for the TT? The 200-500mm Nikon lens is my default trackside lens, however it is a little slow when it comes to acquiring focus.

At the TT the motorcycles appear at speed in front of you so you need a fast focusing lens with a good reach. This is where the 70-200 f2.8 comes into its own, it has super fast focusing.

Ideally I would use the latest Nikon 400mm f2.8 with the teleconverters but I don't seem to have the £13k to hand for a new one.

Nikon D7200 with a 70.0-200.0 mm ƒ2.8 and a Nikon AF-S TC-20E III Teleconverter ISO 112 Focal length 600mm f8 at 1/640sec. Through a fence.

The light weight and portability of this setup is also an advantage and combined with the image quality, especially when using the 1.7TC, this setup should work well at the TT.

Pop back in a few weeks to see how I got on photographing the greatest road racing event in the world.

Nikon D7200 with a 70.0-200.0 mm ƒ2.8 and a Nikon AF-S TC-20E III Teleconverter ISO 180 Focal length 600mm f8 at 1/320sec. No fence.

Thanks to RPW Photography for helping out with this report which you can share with your friends on Social Media.