Outstanding Oulton for Oli Bayliss and Macadam Triumph Factory Racing
It’s been another weekend to remember for the Macadam Triumph Factory Racing team as Oli Bayliss made it five consecutive race wins aboard the Triumph Street Triple 765 RS, securing a double victory at the sixth round of the British Supersport Championship at Oulton Park.
Having tested at the Cheshire track pre-season, this weekend marked the Aussie’s race debut at the 2.69–mile circuit, however fresh off the back of two wins at the previous round, he took no time getting to grips again with the unique nature of Oulton Park.
Storming through qualifying, Bayliss secured pole position - with a time under the existing lap record - and lined up for Saturday's 10-lap Sprint Race at the front of the hungry British Supersport field. As the lights went out Bayliss took the holeshot into turn one, but hot on his heels, and his old machine, was Luke Stapleford.
As the laps ticked down the duo pushed each other on track, trading places with Stapleford in the lead, then Bayliss on repeat, creating a sizable gap to their chasing rivals. On the final lap Bayliss made his move, passing Stapleford to take victory and setting a new British Supersport race lap record (1:36.411).
Sunday’s Feature Race saw Bayliss again line up in pole position and off the line it was Bayliss and Stapleford side by side, with the #68 machine leading into the first turn. Across the 14 laps, it was the top three who broke ahead of the Supersport field with Bayliss leading the way, with Jack Kennedy and Stapleford tracking him down.
On the seventh lap Kennedy made his move on Bayliss into Lodge, but harnessing the Street Triple power, the Macadam rider wasted no time getting back ahead. Once back in the lead there was no looking back for Bayliss who took the race win 2.342s ahead of Kennedy in second.
Meanwhile for teammate Max Wadsworth it’s been a weekend to forget, a crash through no fault of his own in the Sprint Race on the second lap saw him withdraw from Sunday’s action. Passed fit to ride following the fall, he went out in warm-up to assess his movement on the bike, but after a few laps decided to withdraw and focus on being 100% for the next round in just a few weeks’ time.
The Macadam Factory Triumph Racing team are now sitting third in the overall championship standings, with Bayliss just 64 points shy of the lead. The team will be back in action as the championship heads to the super-fast Thruxton in Hampshire on 14-16 August.
Race Results:
Quattro Group British Supersport Championship (after six rounds)
Oli Bayliss:
“We’ve had five wins on the trot now with the Macadam Triumph Factory Racing team; a huge thanks to all my sponsors, the team, Triumph, my family, my girlfriend and all the girls and boys involved. We now have Thruxton in two weeks time, where hopefully we can have another good weekend. It’ll be my first time there, but I’m feeling comfortable on the bike so hopefully we can get there with a free mind and get to grips with it quite quickly and continue what we’ve been doing, that’s the main goal!”
Max Wadsworth:
“It’s been a tough weekend here at Oulton Park and I can only apologise to the team, you come into a weekend wanting more and we just couldn’t do that this time out. We qualified ninth, which wasn’t too bad, but on the second lap of the Sprint Race I crashed out, which put an end to my weekend. I’m pretty battered and bruised, and although passed fit for today, after going out in warm up I was in quite a bit of pain and thought it best to sit out, recover and make sure I’m 100% for Thruxton in two weeks’ time.”
