BSB Oulton Park
British Super Bikes Round 9
Oulton Park
Images by Keith Adcock
Well, it was on the cards at the Oulton Park round of British Super Bikes but it was still a surprise to see the Build Base Suzuki running at the front of BSB pack. Bradley Ray had warned us that he and the blue Suzuki were back on form with a front row qualifying position at the previous round, Cadwell Park.
However, at Cadwell a technical issue on the warm up lap saw Ray pull off the track before he could even start racing. A DNF in race two at the mini Nürburgring hid from us all how good this combination of Ray and the Suzuki now are. At Oulton Ray got all of his ducks in a row and didn’t have the technical gremlins that halted his return to form at Cadwell.
Qualified in P4 behind the usual suspects of Brookes, Bridewell and Redding, this weekend was going to put a smile back on the face of Ray.
In race one it was Ray who was the on form man pushing Redding back to third and only just behind the race winner Brookes. This is what we as a BSB spectator want, the top riders were fighting it out for the showdown places so having a cat amongst the pigeons was great. It didn’t affect the eventual outcome of who were to go through to the showdown but Ray could have a big influence on who is crowned Champion if he consistently mixes up the results of the top three.
Let me explain, the riders who are placed 1-6 in BSB at the showdown phase have all of the points they have accrued over the previous 20 races, affectively thrown in the bin. They are then given 500 points and points for each podium place they have. This stops a dominant team and rider from securing the championship early in the season.
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's look at race two, which was a cracker. We were back to a standard race result of two red ones and a silver one. Redding, Brookes and Bridewell, all on the Ducatis cleaned up. However, Ray fired off another warning shot as he ran with the leaders and came in a close fourth place. This is not the story of this race, the first three riders crossed the line with an incredible 0.198s between them.
Bridewell was challenging Redding for the lead on the final few corners, but it was to be Brookes who bided his time and slid past Bridewell on the final corner, just getting a wheel over the line before Bridewell to make it a one two for the Be Wiser Ducati team.
Race three, yes this meeting had the added pressure of an extra race, saw Tommy Bridewell fired up and finally take that first race win for the Oxford Racing Ducati team, with Ray in second and Redding in third. Brookes had a DNF losing the front end in an odd crash while in the lead at Shell Oils corner.
That left the championship looking like this:
Brookes 548
Redding 545
Bridwell 524
MacKenzie 515
Buchan 514
Hickman 501
Brookes is still in the lead but only just. As you can see, it's close at the top but Hickman in sixth place is only now 47 points behind the leader Brookes.
As it's 25 points for a race win and there are 175 points up for grabs over the next three rounds, it could be anyone's championship.
We have already seen all the riders in the showdown hit the tarmac this year and technical problems can strike at any time. Christian Iddon on the Tyco BMW lost all power to the BMW as he was exiting a corner. Iddon was head down trying to restart his bike on the racing line when Andrew Irwin hit the back of Iddon's bike, ripping the exhaust up at right angles.
How Irwin stayed on while tank slapping down the straight is anyone's guess and goes to shows the fine line between hero and zero that these guys are towing.
The top six riders will go into the last three meetings of TT Circuit Assen, Donington and Brands Hatch to decide who will be crowned BSB champion 2020. Realistically we can conclude that it will be scrap between Redding and Brookes on the Be Wiser Ducati's with Bridewell's Oxford Racing Ducati also fighting it out for top spot.
In the Support races it was no surprise that Richard Copper won the second race and secured the Superstock 1000 Championship title with a few rounds to go. This is Coope's first tile win and well deserved after a great season long battle with Taylor Mackenzie and Lee Jackson.
In the Dickies British Supersport Championship, it was Jack Kennedy taking his 10th championship win in a row whilst Kyle Ryde secured the GP2 Cup title.
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