Tough time at Oulton Park for region's riders and teams

Team boss Michael Rutter, from Bridgnorth, and the rest of the Bathams Racing team were left frustrated as their rider Taylor Mackenzie slipped to sixth in the National Superstock standings.

Newport's Harry Rowlings also endured a mixed weekend in the GP2 class of the British Supersport series as he suffered a crash in race two having bagged another top-eight finish during the opener.

Rutter and his team had headed to Oulton Park full of confidence after Mackenzie had claimed a stunning win at the same track earlier in the campaign.

But there was to be no repeat performance as Mackenzie claimed an 11th in race one, after qualifying in 14th, and then improved to seventh in race two, having started 10th on the grid.

It was not all doom and gloom, however, for Bathams Racing as the team was able to overcome a number of small, but significant technical issues with the new BMW M1000RR, while also making big gains in the electronic set up of the bike, which both led to a significant improvement in lap times for the second race.

Rutter said: "We had a second place at Snetterton, which was great, but things haven't gone well at the last two rounds for us at Silverstone with a couple of top 10 finishes, and Oulton Park wasn't great either.

"It's a reminder of just how quick things can change in racing if you're just a little bit off the pace. We'll keep putting the effort in and roll on to the next round."

Rowlings, 21, struggled with pace at the start of the weekend but his team kept making changes and soon the Newport star was starting to find his way.

"After having a good first half to the sprint race on Saturday, I came across a technical issue which made me drop back, but still managed to finish the race in P8 in class, so given the circumstances we were still happy," he said.

"Big thanks to the team who were straight onto the issue and had it fixed straight away.

"After having a chat with Steve Jordan Motorcycles and GP Sport we made some changes for the feature race.

"I had a mega first few laps, dropping my PB by almost two seconds and getting up to sixth position, but lost touch with the group ahead of me when I had to avoid a bike in the middle of the track, which brought out the safety car – but my pace was still good.

"I caught back up with the group under the safety car but unfortunately, coming onto the last lap, I lost the front end on some bumps going into turn one.

"I want to say sorry to my team and sponsors as it would have been a really good finish for us.

"But we can take the positives in how much we progressed over the weekend and know how strong we’d be going back there with a set up from the off."

It is another quick turnaround for all the riders and teams as the BSB, and all its support series, now head to Donington Park this weekend, October 1-3.