World Superbikes, Brands Hatch

Categories: Diary

It's the first Sunday in August. I own a Ducati. I live in England. The most popular attendance motor sport in England is World Superbike, not least partly because the bloke running away with the championship is both English and on a works Ducati, The first Sunday in August is the European Round of WSB, at Brands Hatch.

It's got to be done.

Turns out that 120,911 other people have had the same idea. At 8am, the queue of cars from the circuit is backed three miles up the M25. The queue of bikes is nearly as bad, but at least it's moving, courtesy of hard shoulders, grass verges and creative use of the oncoming lane.

The constabulary were remarkably good about things – even the one coming the other way on his PanEuropean who ended up stopped nose to nose (on his side of the road) with a hapless and deeply unobservant Suzuki rider.

Half an hour to cover the three miles to the circuit – you could easily spot the 748/916/996 riders in all this – we're the ones riding with right legs stuck straight out to the side in imitation of some bizarre Masonic ritual as the high level exhausts attempt to broil us in our leathers.

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