The track has all types of fast and slow section, various overtaking opportunities, and of course dramatic changes of elevation. Four riders had been Superbike race winners in past visits to the venue - Michael Rutter, Steve Plater, Shane Byrne and Leon Haslam - and there were four more men who had taken the honours when racing there in the Supersport class. Karl Harris had been four times a winner at that level, and counts Oulton as his favourite circuit. His Superbike record is also good here.

Harris would be back amongst it, but the consequence of his innocent Thruxton crash was broken bones in his right foot. It wouldn’t make for any easy weekend, but at least he could ride. Class rookie Adam Jenkinson was out with broken wrists, his SMT Honda to be handled by Tom Grant - former British 125cc racer who switched to the R6 Cup during 2005, taking second at Donington, won the title in 2006, and moved on to take seventh in Supersport for 2007.

Qualifying saw a crash for 24-year-old Haslam, but the HM Plant man would start from fourth on the grid. His team-mate, and the newest series race winner, would start from pole position. Cal Crutchlow had already had pole for Rizla Suzuki at Croft last year. There was another BSB young gun between the two Hondas, with Rizla’s current rider Tom Sykes third; and there was experience in the form of Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne, with the other Thruxton winner starting second for Airwaves.

Rutter (NW200 Ducati) and Harris (Team Yamaha) led row two, from Leon Camier on the second Airwaves Ducati and Michael Laverty for Relentless Suzuki. The third Honda man was ninth placed James Ellison, for Hydrex, then a second Yamaha was the Jentin bike of Simon Andrews. The first two Kawasakis followed, with Stuart Easton (MSS Discovery) quicker than Scott Smart (Hawk). Guy Martin (Hydrex), David Johnson (MAXXIS Honda), John Laverty (Buildbase Ducati) and Tristan Palmer (TENA Honda) filled row four.

Race one did not get off to a smooth start. As the field came to the line they were all on slick Pirelli tyres, but it had come on to rain while they were on the warm up lap. There was some indecision from riders, but no definite move to delay the off. The race was started, and into the right-hander at Old Hall went the pack, with Sykes leading Crutchlow, Haslam, Byrne, Rutter, Camier and James Ellison. The slippery surface meant some came to grief right away, with the first two going down, joined by Martin and others. Rizla man Atsushi Watanabe was also involved but at least stayed upright.

Byrne emerged from the chaos in front, but of course the red flag came out and the race was stopped. There were a few minutes’ delay before the restart, with the rain continuing and new tyre choices to be made. The track was wet when they were ready again, and there were some gaps on the grid. Most of the leaders were there, although Andrews’ slot was empty - but the 25-year-old would join in from behind.

This time there were no casualties at the first corner, with Haslam leading Sykes, Byrne, Crutchlow, Camier, Michael Laverty, Harris and Rutter. Dentons, the downhill right-hand kink after Old Hall, saw Sykes take over first from Haslam and lead through the Cascades left-hander at the bottom of the hill. Crutchlow moved past Byrne on the following drag along Lakeside, which feeds them into the fast left Island Bend, before the braking zone for the banked right-hand hairpin loop of Shell Oils Corner. Andrews crashed out at that point.

Sykes already seemed to be eking out an advantage, but Crutchlow was soon past Haslam and chasing after the Suzuki rider, with Leon coming under pressure from Byrne and Camier. Laverty dropped back, leaving Harris and Rutter to be followed by Superbike rookie Grant, then Smart, Johnson, Martin and Easton. Byrne moved into third with a pass on Haslam at Shell Oils, braking on the inside of the Honda, which then suffered a slip as he followed the Ducati round the banking.

22-year-olds Sykes and Crutchlow battled for the lead, with the Honda man overtaking at the final right-hand Lodge corner. The number 35 machine, though, went into a slide up over the following Deer Leap, and Tom went back in front. Cal made his pass work at Old Hall, and proceeded to pull away, leaving Sykes to get chased by his 2007 Stobart Honda team-mate Byrne. Harris crashed out over the highside of his Yamaha at this stage, which can’t have been good for his injuries.

There was no more spray coming up from the track as the riders began to get spaced out, and soon drying lines would emerge. Crutchlow, Sykes and Byrne were now followed by Camier, Haslam, Rutter, Grant, Michael Laverty, Smart, Easton, Martin, Palmer, James Ellison, Steve Mercer, Johnson, Watanabe, Luke Quigley and Dean Ellison.

Byrne took second from Sykes when he got good drive out of the final right at Knicker Brook chicane (also known as Hizzys) - this took him to the outside for the curving rise at Clay Hill, getting past on the left in an unusual move. It paid off for Byrne when leader Crutchlow made a mistake and had to extract the Honda from the gravel trap at Lodge. Cal rejoined in fifth, but Shane now led. Meanwhile, rear tyre wear now meant that Sykes would start to lose places.

The right-left-right at Knicker Brook was where Leon and Leon battled for second. Haslam overtook with the inside line into the first apex, but Camier got it back with the inside track round the second right, effectively blocking his rival’s line as he swept out. But Haslam didn’t stay behind, and once through he chased and caught leader Byrne.

The final laps saw the two front men battle it out. Last time into Island Bend, Haslam went past on the inside, but he drifted wide to the right and Byrne shot past on the quick line. Leon kept at it, and looked to make an attack at Lodge, but just wasn’t close enough to try the pass. Shane was first home, and behind Haslam was Camier on the second Airwaves Ducati 1098R, some way clear of the rest, and with his first podium since round two last year.

Rutter had passed Crutchlow for fifth, and as Sykes’ Suzuki stuttered up Deer Leap to the finish line, the North West 200 Ducati rider moved up to fourth. Sykes still headed Crutchlow, with Michael Laverty and James Ellison next. James would later say that his choice of the hard compound wet weather tyres had been wrong, which was clearly in contrast to the soft wets used by ‘Shakey’ Byrne. Palmer, Easton, Smart, Martin, Watanabe, Johnson, Mercer (first for Yamaha and the Cup race winner) and Chris Burns were next, with the MV Agusta just outside the points.

The track surface was quite a bit drier by the time of race two, and Sykes was the man to lead away, from Crutchlow, Haslam, Rutter, Byrne, James Ellison, Michael Laverty, Easton, Andrews, Harris, Camier, Smart, Quigley, Martin and John Laverty. Harris passed Andrews out of Cascades, but in turn Camier passed Karl into Shell. For seventh, Easton soon made a move of his own on Laverty.

Former Renegade Ducati team-mates (in 2002), Rutter and Byrne were soon tussling over fourth. Shane made the usual attack on the brakes at Lodge, with his pass coming on the inside for Old Hall. Ellison passed Rutter through the inside at Dentons just after. Lap two saw Sykes, Crutchlow and Haslam still leading, but the Brittens chicane, after Shell hairpin, would give trouble to fourth man Byrne. Just touching the trackside white line, the Ducati was sat up and Shane had to run on straight and miss the barriers where the racers go left-right-left. Coming back on track in too high a gear, Byrne lost more time sorting himself out and was outside the top ten as he got on the gas.

The sun emerged and the track now looked mostly dry. The top four had pulled clear of the rest, with a slight gap after Sykes and Haslam and before Crutchlow and Ellison. Rizla Suzuki were looking for their first win since July 2006, and Sykes was in the right place at this stage. Haslam tried a pass at Old Hall but went wide, which let Tom through again, and meanwhile Crutchlow shadowed them as Ellison started to lose touch. By one-third distance, Byrne had passed the likes of Harris, Easton, Laverty and Rutter to run sixth behind team-mate Camier.

Shane was on a mission, no doubt not happy about his earlier mistake, and he overtook Leon on the inside at Lodge. He was soon up to and past Ellison, but this preceded some drama in front of them. Haslam continued to chase Sykes and, on lap 11 of 18, he was on the offensive at Knicker Brook. Leon went to the right descending from Hill Top to the chicane, but he couldn’t stop in time as Tom leant in at the apex - the Honda man lifted his bike but could not avoid the collision. Without warning, Sykes was brought down, and Haslam ran out to the grass on the right. Suzuki’s chances here were over.

The leaders got spaced out by this incident, with Crutchlow, Byrne and Ellison inheriting the first three places, from Camier, Haslam, Laverty, Easton, Rutter, Andrews, Billy McConnell and Harris. The last of these was about to crash at the Druids fast right-hander, running wide and off the tarmac, and meanwhile Byrne recovered all the way to the lead as he powered ahead of Crutchlow on his left along Lakeside. Shane showed more of this pace as he pulled away, but it wouldn’t be for long.

Having recently lost the lead to Byrne, Crutchlow crashed out at Druids, and hurt his ankle into the bargain. The accident brought out the red flag, and that meant the end of the race. The results were not back-dated a lap, presumably because Shane was over the line by this time. Therefore Cal was not classified as a finisher. James Ellison was in a solitary second place, with Camier, Haslam, Michael Laverty, Easton, Rutter, Andrews, Smart, Watanabe, McConnell, Palmer, Plater, John Laverty, Quigley and Grant the next finishers.

Joint championship leader Cal Crutchlow had made a mistake when leading the first race, taking only sixth, then scored nothing in race two. Despite Leon Haslam’s close second earlier on, HM Plant Honda’s day was made worse when the 11-time race winner was excluded from race two for his part in Tom Sykes’ demise. This only helped the Airwaves Ducati team, as had the two wins from lead rider Shane Byrne. His team-mate had been third both times, and now Shane had forty points’ advantage.

It had been a tough race day for Karl Harris on Rob McElnea’s sole Yamaha, with the injured Yorkshireman crashing twice and staying on zero points after four races. But the other main story was a positive one. James Ellison has a best MotoGP result of ninth, a best World Superbike result of fifth, a best AMA Superbike result of fifth, a couple of European titles in Superstock (several race wins), and had a best result in BSB of fifth. After three years away, and now on a works bike, the 27-year-old has already shown his pedigree with a first podium, matching the best result yet scored by the Hydrex team. Who will be in the top three next time?

Standings after four races: Byrne 95; Crutchlow and Rutter 55; J Ellison 47; Camier 43; M Laverty 41; Easton 35; Haslam 33; Sykes 30; Palmer 19.

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