A Postcard from the British Super Bikes meeting at Knockhill 14-16 June 2023

Images by Scott Grant

The British SuperBikes Championship is a series of 32 battles at eight locations to determine the Champion SuperBike rider in the UK. The different conditions encountered at each of these tracks can, and will, have an effect on the results, but overall it’s the season that will determine the best rider this year not an individual round.

Even though the conditions at Knockhill were challenging (they usually are at the most northern of the tracks used in the championship) they will not determine a champion, or will they? Niall Mackenzie, the three times BSB Champion summed up Knockhill, "If you can see the sheep on the hill it’s about to rain and if you can't see the sheep it’s raining”. And boy did it rain, so much so that the first race of the weekend was shortened by 5 laps even after the sterling effects of the marshals to clear the track.

Race 1 

Defending champion Bridewell used his pole position start to his advantage. Stringing together a set of fast laps Bridewell claimed his first win on the Honda for 2024. The following pack had the unenviable task of following Bridewell while wrestling a 200bhp super bike around the wet and with reduced visibility due to spray. 

There were lots of crashes and retirements in the race. Ryan Vickers took out Christian Iddon and Peter Hickman pulled in to name a few, but it was Glenn Irwin whose Hager PBM Ducati started smoking that caused the most controversy.

If a bike is smoking it could be dropping oil, never a good thing in motorcycle racing and especially bad if the track is wet.

It took Irwin some time to respond to the black flags, and post race he was sanctioned as a result. Irwin would start at the back of the grid for race two. 

Race 2

Battling from 27 to finish eighth, championship contender Glenn Irwin made the best of what he had, adding points to his season tally. But race two will be remembered for #11 Rory Skinner, who started second on the grid after his great race one result 

Taking Tommy Bridewell on the first lap out of the hairpin, Skinner was off and running at the front. With less spray hitting his visor Skinner was able to dictate the race on his Cheshire Mouldings BMW Motorrad to record his first BSB victory by nearly five seconds. Bridewell would end up third behind Christian Iddon in second.

Race 3

#21 Iddon took the lead on lap two from Rory Skinner and held it until the ROKiT BMW Motorrad Team rider Leon Haslam crashed, bringing out a red flag. The race was declared a result with Tommy Bridewell in second and Danny Kent in third.

SuperStock and SuperSport.

#45 Scott Swann celebrated his first Superstock win at Knockhill in race one. After his fantastic results on the Isle of Man TT, #74 Davey Todd continued his good form with a first and second to extend his lead in the championship. #4 Jack Kennedy recorded a double win to extend his Supersport championship lead.

SuperStock Championship positions:



1. Davey Todd 97
2. David Allingham 72
3. Joe Talbot 60
4. Scott Swann 59
5. Josh Owens 46

SuperSport Championship positions:



1.  Jack Kennedy 162
2.  Ben Currie 153
3.  Luke Stapleford 134
4.  Alastair Seeley 97
5.  Harry Truelove 84

Summary

 The three races at rain soaked Knockhill won’t determine the 2024 BSB champion, but critically, have they had an influence on the race series? I don’t think so, the critical point was the smoke from Glenn Irwin’s Ducati and him not reacting to the black flags.

Starting from the back of the grid and getting a good result was a big ask for Irwin. Overtaking off the racing line in the wet is as sketchy as it gets, so as a damage limitation exercise Irwin did well.

Bridewell now leads the championship 11 points clear of Irwin on 141. A podium for Danny Kent sees him stay third on 125, five behind Irwin. Christian Iddon had a great meeting, which could have been more if he hadn’t been taken out in race one by Vickers. Iddon is fourth, 23 points behind Bridewell, with Ryde staying in the top five.

A special mention must go to #79 his Lordship the Storm of Stacey, P4 in race two in those conditions is a result and a half. #86 Charlie Nesbit, #74 Fraser Rodgers and #3 Billy McConnell came in next all making up 8 places from their grid start positions. The future of BSB is bright.

Photographic Post Script

Scott Grant went along to Knockhill for the Friday practice session. Here is the kit and settings he used to capture the images shown in this report.

The gear I used for this circuit was a Canon 1DX and the Canon 100-400 Mark II. For shots taken at an apex I tend to use a shutter speed of 1/800 with auto ISO. For panning shots I use the exact same settings apart from the shutter speed which I use at 1/160.

For the morning sessions I focused on Taylor's hairpin as there can be plenty of overtaking opportunities - which indeed there was, Taylor's hairpin does not disappoint and you can get great artistic shots.

If you want to contact Scott Grant, drop the PistonClick website a message. You can contact us via the Quick Links menu, About us section. You can see more of Scotts work over on the PistonClick photographers page.