Photographing Round One of the British Super Bikes Championship 

Oulton Park

25th - 27th June 2021

So this year's British Super Bikes championship finally got off to a much anticipated start at the picturesque Oulton Park nestled in the Cheshire countryside.

The PistonClick team went along to photograph the action and report back to you on how the first round panned out as not everyone who wanted to go could do so.

As you will be aware the ridiculous crowd restrictions placed on the circuits by the government were in place all weekend, with only 4000 people being allowed in each day.

That statement isn’t actually correct when you consider that fans had paid for weekend camping were already inside so the amount of fans passing through the gates was a lot less. 

On the Friday practice day when we attended not all of the tickets had been pre-sold, so there were fewer people watching the racing than you would expect to see at a good club meeting.

This is a shame as the crowd is part of the spectacle of any BSB round, adding colour and noise to the event. The Friday practice was quite subdued with no queues to get in and small crowds gathering at the usual viewing spots to watch the racing.

So, leaving the crowd restrictions for now how did we get on? After we had navigated round the diversions on the horrible tiny local roads at Oulton, that seemed to be more potholes than road, we parked up in the centre of the circuit. 

Heading for Druids to start the day photographing the bikes, the sky was overcast with light rain predicted for later. We weren’t too concerned with where the sun was for taking pictures as there wasn’t any - standard for the U.K.

Druids didn’t have much of a crowd so there was plenty of space and we found a good location and settled in.

I always take a shot of the area I’m going to photograph the bikes and I check that the exposure is correct and that the white balance is spot on, as low light which it was on the day, can have a detrimental effect on your pictures. Your gear, if modern should be fine on auto white balance, mine is a little vintage now.

Having made my adjustments we waited for the bikes to appear. From the first shots that I reviewed we had made a good choice on our location.

Taking time to watch a few laps without taking any pictures I moved my focus a little further up the track as a few of the riders were crossing up the bikes, resulting in some great pictures for me and my shooting buddy.

We were going to see all of the BSB support racers before the main men came out. The Junior SuperStock, SuperSport / GP2 and  British Talent Cup.

The SuperStock were running in two separate sessions as there were 53 racers competing for a place on the grid. 

What this means is the practice and qualifying is very important as not all the SuperStock racers who rolled out on to the track on Friday would be racing on Sunday. #77 Taylor Mackenzie would make the cut and take P1 on race day. 

Luke Hedger had been fastest in the combined timing at Donington, the last official test before racing started, so I made sure I captured him.

It was a good decision as he was on it, getting the bike crossed up and powering out of the corner every time he came round. He would end up P4 on race day.

The British Talent Cup came round and not unsurprisingly the riders were not as dramatic, so a few slow panning shots kept me entertained until the main event of the morning, the Super Bikes free practice.

My shooting partner did get this great shot of 61 Harrison MacKay on the Honda - True Heroes Racing / Super Soco with the rear wheel off the ground.

However, the weather gods decided that just before the SuperBikes 40 minute practice session they would introduce some light rain, putting the dampers on the crossed up wheeling pictures, quite literally. 

So onto the British Super Bikes. Druids is a double apex right hand corner that has the riders tipping in towards you, so there are plenty of angles to choose from if you are taking pictures. 

Moving round the corner we found plenty of gaps in the crowd to shoot the riders, and as everyone else with a camera was doing the same thing, it was easy to get into the best locations if you were patient.

I spotted Rory Skinner popping flames on the entrance to Druids so set myself up to take a burst of images. I’m not a spray and pray kind of guy, one shot one kill is how I like to do it and when you are freelancing for a pro they really, really don’t like hundreds of unusable images on a card.

On this occasion I took a burst of three just as I saw a hint of flame. I didn’t see this shot in the viewfinder, you never do with a DSLR as the mirror will be up, so I was quite pleased when I reviewed it

As there were two BSB free practices on Friday we had an opportunity to shoot them a second time.

We did consider Lodge, a great location but quite limited from a photographic view point and it would be packed and a long way from anywhere else that would meet our needs, so we headed off to Old Hall.

However, as we discussed the weather on the way there, not a lot was happening. It was still too wet for the bikes to power out of the corner so the shots looked a little tame. Time to head for the outside of Kickerbrook. 

This is one of my favourite locations at Oulton. It’s not the best, but as you have so many angles to pick from you can get a great selection of images for your portfolio.

The damp conditions were still limiting lean angles but we worked with what we were given.

To be honest, if I had come away with only a few shots of the bikes and riders in their new livery I would have been happy. Just being trackside watching racers at the top of their game was great for this petrolhead.

As with all our BSB reports we have to mention Keith Farmer and report on his progress. He looked safe and quick, not on the ragged edge like some in his class.

This is a good thing, Keith has had a torrid few years after some big offs and I for one want to see him build back up to the championship winning performances that we know he is capable of.

He ran in the top quarter of the pack with a best of P4 in free practice 3. He started 13th on the grid ending up P9 on race day. A solid result on a new to him bike. Onward and upward to the next round!

So our last location was around Hill Top and Britten’s. Not too many angles here but if you are looking for those wheeliewednesday pictures you are in the right place.

It’s a bit of a hike but worth the effort to get those dramatic stock pictures for some midweek likes on FriendFace, if that is your thing.

So this ends our look at one of the nicest tracks for the spectator photographer to go to on the BSB Championship - Oulton Park. It was a bit of a long trip for us, but worth it, looking back at the images we managed to capture.

But most important for me was that the season has started and we were there. This means a lot to me as a fan of motorcycle racing and after having to watch the racing from the sofa for so long, it was great to be back.

Photographic Post Script 

The PistonClick website is a strange beast, it’s a great spring board for those who want to progress in the world of automotive sports photography, but for some it’s just a vehicle to show off their images, which is where I fit in.

I’m often asked why I don’t want to get on the other side of the wire, but it’s just not my thing. I'm not a fan of pressure and stress, done that, don’t have to do it anymore, so now I only do things that please or interest me. 

So working on that premise, one of the nicer elements of running a photography website is that sometimes work comes in that gets you to locations that have fringe benefits.

So on Monday, with my freelance hat on, I got to meet up with Jason O'Halloran the winner in all three Oulton Park British Super Bikes races. Photograph him with his trophies and chat about the weekend racing enabling me to use a great image to close off this report.