Wet, wet, wet. The four days of the BSB opener at Brands featured rain, spectacular crashes, and a very cold wind. Most of them can probably be found on YouTube (minimal photography for me this weekend as I was working as a paddock marshal), but the most gasp-enducing incident was the superstock 1000s on Sunday.
The last BSB race was eventually cancelled due to poor conditions, along with the rest of the solo bike events, leaving only the sidecars going out. It takes true courage to go out in conditions that have caused crashes already, and a special mention has to be given to Johnny Blackshaw - qualifying first in the superstock 600s, he crashed in the warm up but made it just in the nick of time to the race. Although he had to start from the pit lane rather than taking up his position, the quick work of his mechanics and his own riding skill found him back up to 11th when the race was eventually red flagged due to the worsening weather.
An exciting event for the fans was dampened slightly, but supporters of Josh Brookes will be very happy with his first pole position of the season, something that is perhaps indicative of pace to come. Whether Jon Kirkham’s win was a one-off remains to be seen. I took a few shots of riders in the paddock, to be seen here shortly.
I know I’m running later and later - other commitments have been taking priority over blogging. Don’t worry, more images to come soon!
