A scorching hot race day at Mallory Park would normally draw huge crowds - and the guys behind this year's BSB series put together a packed schedule of races to keep them entertained - only for the England football team to thwart their plans by qualifying for today's second round match against Germany. Surely only the die-hard fans would turn up for the bike racing?

Sadly, it wasn't just audience numbers that were down. With two serious potential race winners - James Webb and Sean Emmett - no longer participating, the grid was down to twenty which is bad news for the series as a whole. Both riders came to the series with excellent racing credentials and solid teams behind them and were front runners at Oulton Park. The Robinson's Foundry race team has shut up shop for good, leaving James Webb without a bike to ride and Emmett has parted company with the Riders of Bristol and Bridgewater team - presumably leaving them with a spare bike. Hmmm..... maybe James should give Riders a call ...

The musical chairs don't stop there - the Black Bear Harley-Davidson team started the weekend with their third rider of the series - Darren Fry - who put in a terrific performance in qualifying to take fifth place on the grid. Two places back was another new face: Ed Smith was standing in for the injured Dave Wood and, with his team mates Gault and Gourlay, was proving that the speeds of the Stratstone bikes at Oulton Park weren’t a one-off. Manchester Harley-Davidson's John Robb and Blade's Darren Neal also didn't make the starting grid, despite qualifying, so only 18 bikes started the race.

With McWilliams all set to dominate - setting fastest times in the free practice and qualifying sessions – and doggedly pursued by Edwards, it looked like the top two finishers were a foregone conclusion. Behind them though, the next six riders were all in with a chance - and the Stratstone bikes particularly were queuing up to take advantage of any opportunities to sneak ahead on track.

As it turned out, the slightly sparse crowd at Mallory were in for a treat. Firstly, lined up on the grid the bikes looked phenomenal, the glorious sunshine glinted off the bikes and the XR1200's good looks and engine thud drew everyone's attention. Secondly, we had a real race on our hands from the word go ...

Lea Gourlay, third on the grid, was particularly keen to redeem himself after his crash at Oulton Park and he launched himself into a tussle with McWilliams right from the off. The pair of them pulled away from the rest of the pack early on in the race, with Gourlay hounding McWilliams on every lap. Seeing the two of them hammer it round the hairpin at full tilt, you just know the designer of the XR1200 never had lean angles like that in mind. It was great to see and we were truly relieved to see some real racing and proper competition. Here at Am-V we’ve always been big fans of McWilliams but no-one wants to see him waltz to the finish line on his own at every round!

As the end of the race approached, Gourlay's determination came to the fore - he went round the outside of McWilliams at Shaw's - a brave manoeuvre to say the least - which put him in the perfect position to lead into the Bus Stop chicane and into a bit of a wobble which forced McWilliams to tuck in behind him and to hope that he could pass him on the home straight. But it took a few more corners before McWilliams passed him and made it stick.

But seconds later the race was red-flagged when Darren Fry had a big off which meant the race positions over the finish line on the previous lap determined the race results - Gourlay had won, in some considerable style and, it has to be said, with a bit of luck.

Mike Edwards secured the last step on the podium after a close, race-long battle with Edinburgh Harley-Davidson's Torquil Paterson. They swapped places a couple of times but on lap 11 of 15 Edwards made a nifty pass on Paterson and held it, securing him third place. Paterson impressed us again - he really man-handled the bikes round Gerard's and the chicanes. Braking into a tight corner from a 75mph straight on a 500 pound bike takes skill and strength - he was stunning to watch.

We will update the blog when we have some news on Darren Fry’s condition - such a shame that he crashed out especially as, once he got away from Gault and Compton, he made great progress and started to catch the front four. All we do know is that the Black Bear bike took a bit of a beating and will need some TLC before Knockhill next weekend, where the gloves will certainly be off!