Wright steps onto the national stage as Lloyd gets dialled in at Cadwell

The Tividale rider is again making a big step up this year, competing on the national stage whilst also continuing his club racing with the No Limits series.

It means the Double Two Racing rider is in for a very busy year and despite suffering a nasty crash during round two of the No Limits National Super Series 600 championship, he recovered in time for round one of the British Supersport series at Oulton Park.

"Without having ridden the bike since a big highside at Cadwell Park five weeks before, which had resulted in a few debilitating injuries, things didn’t go quite to plan at all really at the start," he said.

"Changeable and unpredictable weather greeted us and with 50 minutes before FP1 we’d still got dry tyres in the confidence the circuit was now 90 per cent dry.

"Then, with only 40 minutes to go, it started drizzling which got heavier for a brief 10 minutes, which was enough to convince us to swap onto the wets with a semi-dry set up but by the time I’d completed lap one it was surprisingly dry virtually everywhere.

"Not knowing if it would rain again we cracked on sacrificing a set of wet tyres but within three laps they were overheating rapidly and with the bike now feeling impossible to ride I peeled into pit lane to change to dry tyres with 12 minutes on the clock, only to see a concerned look on the pit crew's face as – rookie mistake – we realised we had no paddock stands as we were camped up away from the pit lane, which meant FP1 was over.

After sitting out free practice two, qualifying went without any issues and he was soon ready for Saturday's sprint race.

"I got a great start but heading into turn one I was stuck on the outside and lost the places I’d gained," said Wright.

"With Ben Tolliday up the inside I was now on the rumble strip and couldn’t get on the gas, which allowed Alan Naylor to out drag me down to cascades and for the next three or four laps.

"We were battling nose to tail until Alan went for an out-braking manoeuvre on Ben into Shell Oils, which he pulled off.

"We all headed over Hilltop where Alan this time out-braked himself into the Hislop Chicane, having to take to the long lap run off zone and taking Ben with him.

"Although I made the chicane, I was way offline but still came out and up Clay Hill a couple of seconds ahead and got my head down, stretching the gap to more than three seconds.

"Then, a few laps from the end, there was a faller into Druids and with yellow flags waving along with the oil flag I backed off slightly in that section.

"Ben caught up rapidly and got past me again, two laps from the end, and then gapped me a little but I managed to claw it back and crossed the line 0.186 behind."

Wright again got another good start for Sunday's feature race – and with Naylor behind and Tolliday again nearby, he was determined to finish ahead of the pair.

"I kept up with Ben for the next three or four laps and felt I had the edge, especially at the fast left-hander of Cascades," he said.

"Ben was taking a fairly tight line in and out so I couldn’t get up the inside.

"With a bit of late braking I went for the pass around the outside and it worked and I managed to pull away, towing Alan along with us both nose to tail.

"I was now catching Cedric Bloch and towards the end I’d completely closed him down but found it hard to make a move, which was losing me a second a lap until I finally got passed.

"But Alan had caught up with some great lap times and got past me but I’d had a cracking race and went two seconds a lap quicker than in race one, so we were happy to claim an 18th in both races.

"I can’t thank my awesome pit crew of Aly, Mark and Kerstie Daines enough, as well as Nick from Motomechanica, all the officials and staff at BSB and my amazing sponsors DRC Race Leathers, NOVOL UK, Motorcycle Parts Warehouse, Putoline, PCR Performance, Cradley Kawasaki, Properly Protected, RUS scaffolding, Motorbykebitz, Express & Star newspaper and RageDesigns."

Wednesbury's Neil Lloyd was also back out in action racing with the Classic Racing Motorcycle Club (CRMC) at Cadwell Park – a circuit he had not raced since since 2016.

"It took me a while to get dialled in but I qualified 30th out of 41 for race and finished the opener in 29th," he said.

"I was bit disappointed with the result but enjoyed the racing and made a few adjustments for race two."

Again starting in 30th, this time he managed to move up to 20th but lost a few places on the last lap to finish 26th.

Starting Sunday morning's race in 29th, he had moved up five places at the chequered flag to 24th – which was 13th in his class– and then decided to change the gearing on his classic Honda machine for the last race of the weekend.

"I started to feel more comfortable with the bike and the circuit, and after starting 29th I got a good start and finished 13th, which was eighth in class," he said.

"That included a two-minute lap, which also took five seconds off my qualifying time, so all in all it was a great weekend and now we're looking forward to racing a Pembrey."