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Lifted off YouTube, the first of four parts of the Oulton Park inaugural round of the Henderson XR1200 Trophy

If you were lucky enough to spend Bank Holiday Monday at Oulton Park for the inaugural XR1200 race, please chip in and let us know what you thought of the event.



For those who missed it – and it's very different at the trackside compared to the telly – it was a real spectacle: the people involved have taken the concept of racing Harley-Davidsons in the UK, put it into practice and are well on their way to building a credible and entertaining race series.

The dealer-based teams did the Harley-riding public proud – they produced beautifully finished and colourful bikes which they then proceeded to ride the wheels off – with no quarter given to the bikes, fellow competitors, team budgets or gearboxes (as the team mechanics will be able to tell you!).

Jeremy McWilliams claimed pole position in this morning’s qualifying session and looked good for a race win – in fact he led the race from start to finish – but the record books won’t get across the battles going on behind him on track.

Stratstone’s Alex Gault and Lea Gourlay qualified second and third respectively but Gault left the track early on in the race which left him fighting down in the lower orders on team mate Dave Wood’s bike. Wood is out of action after a crash at Mallory last week, and Alex trashed his own bike in free practice yesterday – hence the last-minute swap.

For the first five laps Gourlay battled with Mike Edwards of Rider’s Motorcycle’s for second place and secured it with the outright fastest lap – and the lap record for the XR1200 at Oulton, at 1:50.785 – before crashing out at Old Hall, leaving Edwards to chase down McWilliams alone for the second half of the ten lap race.

Edwards' team mate Sean Emmett (whose speed on his paddock scooter post-race was impressive) sadly had to retire from fourth place due to a mechanical failure.

Dijon Compton acquitted himself well on the Leeds Harley-Davidson bike, dicing with Emmett for the first six laps and then putting in consistently fast times to take a confident third place.

Just behind him, Robinson’s Foundry’s James Webb and Edinburgh’s Torquil Paterson duked it out throughout the race to come in fourth and fifth. Gault made up places to catch them and looked strong enough to make a pass - but went off-track a second time and lost his chance.

A special mention must go to Gary Byrne who is riding to promote Great Ormond Street Hospital on one of the Blade team bikes – do check out www.justgiving/garyandlewisbyrne. He came in fifteenth and nets himself a point towards the championship.

Thanks guys – for a great day out and a terrific start to the championship - we’re already looking forward to the next race at Mallory Park on the 26-27th June!

Finish	No.	Rider	Team	Laps	Time	Difference	MPH	Best Lap
1	99	Jeremy McWILLIAMS	Warr's Racing	10	18:42.531		86.33	1:51.190
2	11	Mike EDWARDS	RidersMotorcycles.com	10	18:43.131	0.600	86.28	1:50.957
3	4	Dijon COMPTON	Harley-Davidson Leeds	10	18:57.723	15.192	85.18	1:52.513
4	66	James WEBB	Foundry Racing H-D	10	19:00.851	18.320	84.94	1:52.351
5	31	Torquil PATERSON	Edinburgh H-D	10	19:00.909	18.378	84.94	1:52.584
6	17	Alex GAULT	Stratstone Racing	10	19:07.407	24.876	84.46	1:52.225
7	8	Rob McNEALY	Shaw Racing	10	19:17.489	34.958	83.72	1:53.963
8	39	Matt LAYT	Black Bear Racing	10	19:17.511	34.980	83.72	1:54.572
9	29	Darren JAMES	Warr's Racing	10	19:19.487	36.956	83.58	1:54.350
10	18	Joe MOORE	St Leger Harley-Davidson	10	19:32.109	49.578	82.68	1:55.748
11	69	Rhys BOYD	Team GFI	10	19:40.258	57.727	82.11	1:55.572
12	5	Darren NEAL	Blade Motorsport	10	19:41.379	58.848	82.03	1:56.761
13	55	Julian TILLOTSON	Guildford Harley-Davidson	10	19:41.838	59.307	82.00	1:55.595
14	10	John ROBB	H-D Manchester	10	19:49.852	1:07.321	81.44	1:57.517
15	44	Gary BYRNE	Blade Motorsport	10	19:49.928	1:07.397	81.44	1:57.631
16	3	Renaud AMAND	Harley-Davidson UK	10	19:56.055	1:13.524	81.02	1:58.073
17	6	Gordon GRIGOR	West Coast H-D	10	20:05.996	1:23.465	80.35	1:59.427
18	25	Bernie PRICE	Jersey H-D.com Racing	10	20:37.498	1:54.967	78.31	2:02.108
DNF	19	Sean EMMETT	RidersMotorcycles.com	5	-	-	84.96	1:52.649
DNF	9	Lea GOURLAY	Stratstone Racing	4	-	-	86.00	1:50.785

In a picturesque setting in deepest Cheshire, the Oulton Park circuit is many racers’ favourite. There are great viewing points all round the track and the gradients and bends the riders meet pretty much straight off the start line make for exciting first laps.

You can get there from the A54 or A49 (just off the M6) and there is camping at the site if you plan to make a weekend of it (but book ahead: its a very popular event). See their web site for tickets or to book camping.

Hint: If you’ve nerves of steel, spectate from Lodge corner, the final bend before the start-finish straight, for some wild passing manoeuvres.