British SuperBikes Cadwell Park - Round 8

26 - 28 August 2023

The August Bank holiday is a feast of motorsport action in the UK and it can be quite difficult choosing what event to go to if you are a motorsports photographer with no affiliation to a racing discipline. I’m in the fortunate position that my bank holiday weekends of picture taking are kind of chosen for me and have been for some years.

Friday is always the Silverstone Classic, now rebranded to the Festival. As I’m an owner of a classic car and display it on a club stand and have done for years my Friday chooses itself. 

The rest of the weekend is a no brainer for a two wheel motorsports fan - Cadwell Park for the British SuperBikes. If you have a MSV session pass to your local track you are going to use it to get the best value out of it over the year.

The biggest event and the most costly if you are paying on the gate at Cadwell is the BSB, so getting in for “free” is the correct thing to do. It also helps that I quite like a bit of top notch two wheel action.

The MSV season pass for Cadwell is one of the cheapest available at £100 if you purchase it early, before Christmas. Considering BSB at Cadwell is £70 on the gate for the weekend or £84 paying for each day it is well worth getting one. I have no affiliation to MSV but I can recommend the season pass because you will use it to get the best value out of it, and you will go to events that you might not have thought about attending.

Anyway, on to the Party in the Park. Around 55,000 people turn up over the bank holiday, the majority in cars, with the Monday being the day most of the bikes turn up. Parking is relatively easy. Fields adjacent to the circuit are used and one way traffic management is enforced, which works. As long as you don’t stop to ask dumb questions, just follow the directions and you will get in relatively stress free.

However, getting out can be a problem; one of my friends was stuck in the queue for two hours. I didn’t experience this but my egress from the site was slowed down by people stopping to talk to the traffic marshals. Please just drive out and follow the signs! Cadwell have been doing this for a while and it works.

The headline event is the SuperBikes, which are regularly practising and qualifying throughout the weekend, with a sprint race on the Sunday and two races on Monday. This gives you plenty of opportunities to shoot them. But, you will need to be in your chosen location early due to the number of people attending if you are after a specific shot.

Check out our shooting guide to Cadwell if you are not familiar with the layout.

Getting that shot will also depend on whether or not a wind break tent type structure has been set up there. To be fair, I only saw a few in inappropriate places. Most were on the hills that make Cadwell such a great venue to spectate. And to be honest I was quite jealous when the rain started to fall, which it did quite heavily a few times, bringing out the red flags and halting proceedings.

Saturday was the worst, especially in the afternoon sessions, the SuperBikes and SuperStockers managed a few laps in the rain. In the Junior Superstock the riders were out for 5 minutes, then another short heavy shower put paid to the session with the riders only completing 2 laps.

All of the riders returned to the paddock, only #51 Ross Banham went out for 4 more laps to keep the crowd entertained.

This was a bit disappointing as I was intrigued to see how Adam Brown was going to get on as he had stepped up from the 400 to the 600 Junior Superstock class for this meeting. We have been following Adam this season and his people put a few words together for us. This is his story of the weekend.

Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki - Adam Brown - #12

Free Practice 1

With there being no round in the Junior SuperSport at Cadwell, Adam (who usually ride with the #33) was given the opportunity to have a wildcard in the Super Stock 600 class riding as #12. Cadwell is a track he had never raced at before and has only had limited testing on the more powerful 600. Having only completed 8 laps in FP1 due to a small off, running on and placing the bike onto the grass. His fastest lap was 1:36.623.

Free Practice 2

FP2 was a non event with Adam not registering any laps due to the rain.

Qualifying

Adam’s first time at Cadwell Park on a Jnr Superstock 600 he qualifies a well deserved P26 with a time of 1:35.402. I know he would have wanted more, but it’s an amazing achievement on unfamiliar track and bike.

Warm up

After a few minor changes to the bike, Adam yet again impresses with 21st fastest with a time of 1:34.814 improving on his qualifying time of 1:35.402.

Race

An amazing end to an amazing weekend! Adam was truly impressive from start to finish in his first Stock 600 race against a vastly experienced field of racers. Starting 26th he showed he is ready for the next step up. His lap times improved with every lap and looked like he belonged on the more powerful bike.

Finally finishing in 20th, with a fastest lap of 1:34.462, Adam proved not only to the team and supporters the 600 is a bike he can build on with every lap. Adam said “Really happy with the weekend as I improved every session, big learning curve from the little bike but I’m excited to get back on the 600 on a track I know my way around”.

The rain also affected the Superbikes. We were due to watch the super pole on Saturday. Superpole has been an on-off thing for a while in the past few years. This is where the riders go out on their own for a warm up lap then get one flying lap to set a time for the following race grid position. On their flying lap music that they have chosen is played over the PA, so it’s quite an event that I was eager to see.

I was told by one of the racers that the reason they do this at Cadwell more than at any other track is due to the unique layout of Cadwell. There are two pits, one on the start line and one before Hall bends. This can cause problems when the racers are putting in a fast lap.

If a rider is released from the top pits there are only a few hundred meters from the top of the mountain to the release point and the tricky Hall bends, which is a safety concern as the released rider will not be up to speed. A rider on a hot lap would not want to meet a slow bike through Hall bends, it’s a difficult enough complex of corners without a mobile chicane.

So the race director Stuart Higgs made the call and cancelled the Superpole due to the weather conditions. He announced this over the PA explaining that they couldn’t guarantee that all of the riders would have a fast dry lap, so he reverted back to the standard qualifying format. 

British Super Bikes Race one

Ryan Vickers on the LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha R1 who has been on form for the last few round continued to set the pace posting the fastest time in the rearranged qualifying, receiving the latest Omologato watch for his endeavours. Leon Haslam and Glen Irwin locked out the front row, with Tommy Bridewell the championship leader back on the third row in seventh.

The first BSB race of the weekend was the 12 lap sprint race which was fortunately held in dry conditions. Glenn Irwin who was starting his 200th BSB took the lead from Ryan Vickers on the first lap, Vickers came back at him on lap 11 at Charlies but the power of Irwin’s Ducati down Park straight had him back in front which he held it until the chequered flag came out.

The LAMI OMG riders of Kyle Ryde and Ryan Vickers took the other podium places in a very close race. 

British Super Bikes Race two

Glenn Irwin waited until the final lap to make it two wins from two starts in the second race. Starting from eighth on the grid he moved up slowly through the pack to take the lead from Kyle Ryde on the last lap, Jason O'Halloran came in third place.

The biggest cheer of the weekend went to Lee Jackson on the Cheshire Mouldings Kawasaki when he hit the front. The popular Lincolnshire rider couldn’t hold on to the lead and ended up seventh. 

British Super Bikes Race three

Tommy Bridewell, the championship leader, had been struggling with his bike setup all weekend and with Glenn Irwin who was sitting in second place eating into his championship lead with two wins, Tommy’s pit crew went radical with the bike settings. This proved to be a good move, and in a thrilling race Tommy managed to secure a much needed win to get his bid for the BSB championship back on track. 

Tommy and Glen used the performance of the BeerMonster Ducatis on the straights, picking off the riders in a show of mature racing, biding their time and choosing the right moves. That was until the last lap where both of them went full-on, sliding and nearly losing the fronts in a great advert for BSB racing as they both fought hard for the win. 

Glenn Irwin went on to being crowned king of the mountain by collecting the most points over the weekend, and it was well deserved. He had a great weekend of racing, picking his moves well and timing his runs to perfection - the best performance I have seen him do ever!

The final three rounds of Oulton, Donington and the last at Brands is going to be an epic battle by the on-form BeerMonster Ducatis and LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha.

The final three rounds will comprise the Showdown, which means the points that are up for grabs now increase. 

The main season so far has had a points structure of 18 for a win16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. Oulton and Donington Park will be 25-22-20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 and the final at Brands 35-30-27-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2 so in theory, Jason O’Halloran in fourth place 54.5 points behind Tommy still has a shout at the Championship.

We will know more at the next round at Oulton Park 15 - 17 September. 

Paul Bird 1967 - 2023

In closing, we the PistonClick team would like to pay tribute to Paul Bird, the Team Owner of Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM), the series’ most successful team, who passed away on the 1st of September 2023 at the age of 56. Paul wasn’t at Cadwell to see his team take the three wins, his daughter Jordan said he had been taken ill. I don’t think the paddock realised the seriousness of Paul’s short illness. 

The PBM team have given so many riders the opportunity to shine over the years. The list is like a who’s who of motorcycle racing - John McGuinness, James Toseland, Jonathan Rea, Steve Hislop, Keith Farmer, Joey Dunlop, Michael Dunlop, Jeremy McWilliams, Tom Sykes, James Ellison, Michael Laverty and Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne as just a few of the riders PBM ran. 

Scott Redding and Josh Brookes were the final two riders to lift the British Superbike championships under Paul’s direction in 2019 and 2020. Hopefully Jordan and Paul’s brother Frank can continue running the iconic PBM British Superbike team this season with Tommy Bridewell and Glenn Irwin and into the next.

The paddock won’t be the same without Paul Bird. Our condolences to Paul's family and friends.