British Superbikes Round 2

Oulton Park

30th April - 2nd May 2022

Oulton Park was our destination for round two of the Bennet's British Super Bikes championship and I for one was really looking forward to it. Our previous visit this year had been for the BSB test day, which was surprisingly packed for a Thursday.

That visit was a little disappointing as round one had just taken place at Silverstone so we were expecting the bikes to resplendent in full livery - they were not.

As this was round two there should be no plain black bikes thundering round the Cheshire track, only full-on colourful machines for the me and the rest of the spectator photographers to capture. 

We were, as expected, treated to full race livery and on the Friday practice and Darren from Olithephoto captured the Race Days images.

Continuing the theme of liveries, we had a chat about which were the best looking. Everyone is going to have their own favourite rider or team so we tried to be as objective as possible. Eventually we agreed to disagree on which bikes looked the best, so here are my personal top three.

So, on to the racing. After Glenn Irwin's dominance of the first round at Silverstone and being the early championship leader you would expect him to be in the mix for podiums.

Well it didn’t pan out that way. 11th in the first race, 9th in the second and his best result of the weekend was 7th in the last race, which has now seen him slip to second in the championship.

The new championship leader is Bradley Ray who had one of his (so far) best racing weekends. Two firsts and a third have combined with his great start to the season at Silverstone.

We will forget about him falling off in the lead at Silverstone in race two, he has shown he is the rider on form in the early stages of the Championship.

And boy was he on form! Lap records, very dominant in the first two races with (for BSB), big leads and a great controlled ride.

It looked like he had the third race in the bag as well but relinquished a comfortable 2.5 second lead to Tommy Bridewell who was then overtaken by Lee Jackson.

Ray did bring it home in third place for some valuable championship and podium points. 

Ray's team mate Kyle Ryde, riding the Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha R1, did well with a 3rd, 4th and 10th gaining valuable championship points. He is now 4th over all. The weekend had promised much for Ryde and the in-form Rich Energy OMG team.

However, Ryde suffered arm pump during all the races, more so on the last one. He went from leading to just staying in the top ten it was that bad.

An operation on his arms is on the cards, and hopefully he can be fit for the next round at Donington in a few weeks.

Rory Skinner is another one of the up-and-coming new to the premier superbike class who had another solid weekend with a 2nd, 5th and 4th to keep him in third place in the championship. 

But it was Skinner's FS-3 Racing Kawasaki team mate Lee Jackson who stole the show, winning his first BSB top place podium in the final race.

It has been coming, Jackson was riding well and challenging the front runners but just outside the top three in most races at the end of last season. With a second place in race two he is now 5th in the championship. 

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

A you have probably spotted, we are following the inspirational True Heroes Racing Team in BSB and the other race series that they take part in this year. The team runs two riders in Supersport and three in the Ducati Performance TriOptions Cup. 

As there was no TriOptions Cup at the Oulton round, the paddock garage had plenty of room. With the three Ducati riders on leave for the weekend the two SuperStock riders Dave MacKay #22 and David Sellers #61 with their mechanics had lots of space to spread out.

The paddock at Oulton is well worth a visit if you haven't been before. It looks like it’s a restricted access area but its not, well I hope it's not as I just bowled past the bored looking security guy like a boss!

This is one of the aspects that stands BSB out from other motorsports - the access to the teams and racers, which is excellent. The paddock is a great place to pick up those selfies and autographs, and if the riders have time, a chat. Most do, and will make time for the fans.

It is true to say that some of the teams will be behind closed doors, mainly to keep the other teams from seeing the tweaks and adjustments they are doing, but also sadly to keep those who have a dubious moral compass out.

I remember a few years ago someone lifted Peter Hickman's leathers from his motorhome. I mean, what was the thought process behind that? You will never be able to wear them to your local biker meet or sell them on e-bay, so all you have achieved is pissing the true fans off. Have a word with your self if you are reading this. 

The True Heroes Racing is an open garage with no worries about security, what with them all being serving or ex-military,  and to be fair the second hand market for leathers with an arm missing is somewhat limited!

They are a prime example of the great access you can get to the teams and riders in the paddock. 

On my visit all of the mechanics were busy getting the bikes ready for the next session, team staff were chatting with the fans and the merch shop was doing good business.

Check them out next time you are in the paddock. You can't miss the massive orange, black and white marquee! 

So, with the Suzuki GSXR1000s immaculately prepared, the riders got ready to head out in what was going to be a tough race as they were starting from the back of the field.

After the warm up laps and subsequent qualifying, MacKay was 39th and Sellers 37th on the grid in what is a very large and very competitive field this year in Superstock. 

I don’t think the team could have asked for any more effort from the guys. Both posted individual fastest laps of the weekend during the race, with MacKay gaining a personal best lap of the tricky and technical circuit.

Both riders improved for their grid starting positions. Salty Sellers was 26th and Scrawn MacKay was 29th out of the 40 riders who lined up on the grid.   

One other rider to note is Harrison MacKay #61. He is an associate rider for the True Heroes Racing Team. He is a little young to be a Veteran or serving in the military so how does he fit in? 

Phil Spencer the True Heroes Racing principal explained he is the stepson of Dave "Salty" Sellers (Royal Navy Veteran). Harrison helps to promote True Heroes Racing, but receives no funding.

He has been promoting True Heroes Racing and their message to the younger generation for several years now, starting at Fab Racing, and continued into BSB last year. 

MacKay qualified 14th in the Honda British Talent Cup Race, finishing race one in 9th and race two in 11th and is currently 12th in the championship.

The next time we will see the full True Heroes Racing team will be the 20th - 22nd May at Donington Park for round three of the British Super Bike Championship.

As always, the PistonClick team will be there to capture the action and get those images you just don't see anywhere else. 

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