British Superbikes - Round 6

Cadwell Park

20th - 22nd August 

Last weekend we were at Donington to photograph round 5 of the British Superbikes Championship where we saw Tommy Bridewell become the fifth different winner in this year's series. Could we see a sixth rider top the podium at the next round Cadwell Park?

Well yes we did, the popular Peter Hickman riding the FHO Racing BMW not only won a race, he did it twice and set a new lap record of 1:26.350s in the process.

He was so close to making it a hat trick of wins but Jason O'Halloran took the last race to remain dominant in the Championship standings.

#46 Tommy Bridewell was Mr Consistency over the weekend taking three hard fought for third places. In the last two races he had to fend off a determined #14 Lee Jackson who was the Cadwell lap record holder until Hicky took it away from him.

Jackson tried his best to get the record back, setting the fastest lap of 1:26.373s in race 3, so close to Hicky's new record of 1:26.350s.  Tommy is now in fourth place in the championship, 18 points behind Iddon and MacKenzie.

So what happened to Tarran MacKenzie and Christian Iddon? MacKenzie had a low speed crash at the bottom of the mountain in practice and a high speed off in race one, resulting in a broken finger on his left hand which ruled him out for the rest of the weekend.

Iddon did a little better, 5th in race one, a DNF in race two after losing the front end coming out of Charlie's, and a 7th place in race three.

Both Iddon and MacKenzie are now on 223 championship points, 119 behind O'Halloran, with five more meetings to go.

The 2020 champion Josh Brookes recorded two fifth and a tenth place - his best results so far this year. Sitting in twelfth place in the championship standings he could still make the showdown as he is only 28 points behind Lee Jackson in 8th.

The pace setter before the racing started was #2 Glenn Irwin who was on pole after the combined qualifying sessions. He couldn’t turn his qualifying pace into podiums, recording a 4th and a pair of 6th places.

His brother Andrew riding the SYNETIQ BMW Motorrad managed two 7th and a 9th.     

A mention should go to Ryan Vickers who broke the lap record during the free practice sessions. However, it didn't go into the record books as it wasn’t during a race.

Ryan was looking good for the main event but had a big off during the warm up laps totaling his bike. His team did an amazing job nailing it back together in under two hours to get him back on track. 

The Party In The Park at Cadwell is one of the BSB fans' favourite rounds and people will travel a good distance to experience the racing in the wolds.

So what do I base this statement on? Well the crowd size is a good indicator, but there are a lot of bikers and BSB fans in Lincolnshire. However, chatting to people on the fence line confirmed a lot of people were not local and had travelled from far and wide to get trackside and experience Round 6.

When I shoot as a spectator photographer I will move around the track and inevitably get chatting to people.

This great island is not large, but the amount of different accents we have is huge and makes it easy to identify fans from the Wirral, Warrington or Wessex (I've been watching Vikings on the TV). 

In my best local accent "Now then Duck", it was the local fans who had the most to cheer about as the Lincolnshire riders did them proud. Loads of the riders out on track are from, or now based in, Lincolnshire. 

The Neave brothers, Lee Jackson the undisputed Fastest Plumber ever, Hicky and Jason O'Halloran call Cadwell their home track so we were expecting them to do well, and boy they didn’t disappoint.

In the Pirelli National Superstock Championship #68 Tom Neave qualified on pole and won the race on the last lap after a great battle with #75 Alex Olson and #3 Billy McConnel. The Superstock riders only get one race over the weekend but what a race it was. 

Chrissy Rouse on the number 1 bike got away well from the third row but was pulled back by the chasing pack. Then a red flag came out for rain.

The restart was much the same with Rouse getting a great start. Fraser Rodgers joined in the five way battle but ended up fourth with Rouse in fifth when the flag dropped. 

#6 Harry Truelove, another Lincolnshire rider, on the Truelove Brothers Racing Yamaha showed he knew his way round Cadwell, winning both races in the Quattro Group British Supersport & British GP2 Championships.

Beating #4 Jack Kennedy into second and Ben Currie in third in the sprint race. Currie went on to take second in the Feature race, with GP2 rider Charlie Nesbit third overall.

In the Molson Group British Sidecar Championship it was the Birchall brothers all the way taking both wins. The LCR Honda - Haith sidecar was running a development engine which the brothers are planning to take to the IoM TT next year.

We will be at the 2022 IoM TT to see how they get on, but for now the Birchalls have a 112 point lead over Blackstock and Rosney after 11 rounds in the side car championship. 

The Ducati Performance TriOptions Cup races looked to be going to plan for the number one rider Josh Days with a win in race one, but #2 Craig Neve had other plans.

In race two it was a damp start but the track dried quickly, and Neves' pace took him over the finish line five seconds ahead of #9  Chris Walker, with #82 Luke Jones in third. 

Pirelli National Junior Superstock Championship it was #19 Joe Talbot riding the JR Performance Racing Kawasaki who took the win over #22 Zak Corderoy and #86 Owen Jenner in third. 

The mountain is one of my favorite locations at Cadwell. It’s a great action spot for watching the riders get some big air. I'm not sure if it is Zak is as enthusiastic about this location as I am after he and #57 Seth Crump had a close call during qualifying.

It resulted in no more than a big ooooh from the fans gathered on the banking opposit and in the grandstands.

So that concludes our very enjoyable visit to Cadwell and the Party In The Park. The next time we will see the riders is at Snetterton over the weekend of the 3rd - 5th September. Will we see a seventh different winner?

Thanks to RPW and DEEGEE Photography for the images. You can share this report with your friends on Social Media.