Upon arriving at the circuit on Saturday morning it was evident that the weather was going to play a big part in the days proceedings. With light but persistent rain falling all morning, the conditions were far from ideal for racing.
The conditions also caused a problem with my planned shooting locations for the day. I had planned to start at Joey’s Windmill, and work my way to the Lougher’s for the feature Superbike race.
Lougher’s is the fastest corner on the track. On a Superbike the riders are touching in the region 170mph while fighting to keep the front wheel on the ground on the exit — a classic road racing corner, and a place I was keen to photograph.
After photographing the Superstock race from Joey’s Windmill it soon became evident that Lougher’s was not going to give me the shot I wanted, due to the conditions. I decided to abandon my original plan and jumped in the car and drove over to Rusheyhill near the start, as I wanted to get a group shot of the riders leaving the line.
Arriving in Rusheyhill I was surprised to find that part of the circuit was completely dry. There was only two miles between the two locations but the track conditions could not have been any more different. The feature Superbike race was run in arguably the best conditions of the day with Bruce Anstey taking victory after a great battle with Guy Martin and Lee Johnston.
After the Superbike race had finished I headed back to the car and drove over to Tornagrough for the 2nd Supersport race.
After a lengthy delay following a crash on the opening lap, the organisers decided to cancel the Supersport race and send out the Supertwins. By this time the weather had deteriorated all round the track and the organisers abandoned the meeting once the Supertwins race had finished.
