Oulton Park British Superbikes: practice halted following oil trail

British Superbike practice was halted for over an hour after Chris Martin’s Honda dropped a crankcase end bolt cover and laid a trail of oil all around the Oulton Park circuit.

The problem was compounded by heavy rain, which helped flow the lubricant into a two-foot wide trail.

Incredibly, no one crashed on the oil but the session was stopped and the marshals embarked on a massive clear-up programme to clear up the mess.

Steve Plater was one of the first one the scene with his AIM Yamaha and stopped to alert the marshals of the problem.

He said: I tipped into Old Hal alongside Kiyo (Ryuichi Kiyonari) and saw a wide rainbow colour slick on the racing line.  Both of us picked the bike up and ran to the outside of the course, with Kiyo shaking his head.

“It was obviously a big slick of either oil or petrol because it went all the way down to Cascades so I stopped there to warn the marshals and the session was red-flagged.”

Tommy Hill (Virgin Media Yamaha) also managed to narrowly avoid crashing. “I tipped it and saw nothing but rainbow colours. I thought it was a visor problem then I realised it was oil.”

Practice restarted at 12.55