Mike Edwards battles with Jeremy McWilliams at Brands Hatch

RidersMotorcycles.com completed a remarkable weekend at Brands Hatch with Mike Edwards finishing second in both of the Harley-Davidson series races, making five podium places for the team with Michael Rutter’s perfomances in the British Superbike Championship.

Edwards had the crowd on their feet as he battled with his arch rival and former GP racer Jeremy McWilliams for supremacy at the Kent track.

The pair pulled well away from the chasing pack creating their own personal duel in a spectacle that thrilled the Brands Hatch crowd particularly along the start finish straight where they were repeatedly side by side.

But it was McWilliams who finished both races in front to take maximum points and goes into the final round at Cadwell Park in prime position.

Edwards is hoping that the technical qualities of the Cadwell track will lever the advantage towards his RidersMotorcycles.com team at the Bank Holiday meeting and is relishing the final showdown. He said;

“The RidersMotorcycles.com Harley-Davidson is working really well. The XR1200s are great on the street but are long heavy bikes to use as racing machines but I can’t fault our bike’s handling or performance. The guys in the race shop have done a great job setting the machine up to suit me. If anything we lacked a bit of top speed on the long fast Brands straights against Jeremy but get us to the next round at Cadwell Park, where it’s a much more technical track, and it’ll hopefully be a different story.”

Fourteen points separate the two riders going into the final round and Edwards will have to winn all three races to be in with a serious shout of the title, but Riders boss Phil Jessopp said;

“Mike may not have won at Brands but he played a major part in two closely fought races that the fans loved. Cadwell is going to be tough but Mike’s up for it and we’re looking forward to a really good showdown.”

Oulton Park

After cancellation of some of the races of the British and National Superbike championship the organisers have now rescheduled and the dates are as follows;

Round 6, British Superbike series, Race 2 at Knockhill will now take place on Saturday July 17th at the Snetterton circuit. The participants of that race are confined to those published on the Grid for Race 2 published at Knockhill on 4/7/2010.

National Superstock 600, Round 3 at Oulton Park will now run over the weekend of July 30/31st and August 1st at the Silverstone circuit, supporting the Superbike World Championship. The participants of that race are confined to those published on the Race 9 – Final Grid published at Oulton Park on 3/5/2010.  Round 5, Race 2 at Knockhill will now take place on July 17th at Snetterton. The participants of that race are confined to those published on the Race 3 and 10 – Final Grid published at Knockhill on 4/7/2010

British 125GP championship, Round 6 from Knockhill will now take place on Saturday 11th September at the Croft circuit.

The Henderson Harley Davidson XR1200 Trophy, Rounds 3 & 4 has now been incorporated into the event at Brands Hatch on the weekend of August 6/7/8 with the revised remaining rounds as follows;

Round 3 August 7th Brands Hatch GP

Round 4 August 8th Brands Hatch GP

Round 5 August 29th Cadwell Park

Round 6 August 30th Cadwell Park

Several Harley dealers have already signed up for the series and more are expected to follow them into this minimal cost opportunity at high profile bike racing. There was also plenty of interest from members of the public when the series was first announced at the Carole Nash Bike show earlier this month.

Harley Davidson UKare hoping to attract other guest riders to the series and are talking to lots of other professional riders and celebrities, obviously exploring the chance of some cheap or even free publicity for the sport.