This weekend Oulton Park hosted the penultimate round of the British Supersport Championship where Lee Johnson powered his SENCAT by Swan Racing Triumph Street Triple 765 to the podium today, denying Luke Stapleford a podium finish towards his championship charge.

Wet and windy weather has plagued the Cheshire track across the weekend, with changes a-plenty to both days’ schedules, which saw yesterday’s qualifying cancelled and grid positions for the 10-lap Sprint race decided on combined practice times.

With stakes high and points crucial, Stapleford entered the weekend joint third in the overall standings with rival Jack Kennedy and lining up for the opening race of the weekend, Stapleford was ninth, with his Macadam Triumph Factory Racing teammate Max Wadsworth 19th and Johnston 15th.

Crossing the line as top-Triumph it was Johnston who came home sixth, while there was disappointment for Stapleford, who after a strong start had moved up to sixth, but in the closing stages dropped back to 11th, with Wadsworth just outside the points in 16th.

Today’s race was crucial for Stapleford to maximise points and still have a mathematical chance of the championship fight, and starting from eighth the Macadam rider had his work cut out over the 12 laps.

A crash on the fourth lap for championship leader Rhys Irwin, saw Stapleford move up into fourth, and with Johnston’s Street Triple 765 ahead, the battle for third began. Passing Johnston on the eighth lap, Stapleford was up into third, but Johnston was hot on his heels and not ready to stand down.

The closing stages of the race saw the two Street Triple 765s go head-to-head and Johnston defended his position to claim third place, his second podium of the year, with Stapleford just 0.284s behind in fourth place. Wadsworth crossed the line in the points in 11th, having come through from 16th on the grid.

The 2025 Championship title will now be decided at the final round in just a few weeks time at Brands Hatch 17-19 October, where Stapleford is still in contention and fourth overall with 308 points, 22 points behind third place and 45 points shy of first.

Luke Stapleford - Race 1: 11th / Race 2: 4th:

"Coming away after a really tricky weekend at Oulton Park. Going into the races we were confident that two victories could be achieved and set us up well heading into the last round. Sadly we just didn’t get something right and struggled with pace over the weekend, meaning we didn’t really get to capitalise on what could have helped clawed us some points back."

Max Wadsworth - Race 1: 16th / Race 2: 11th:

“It’s been a difficult weekend at Oulton Park during storm Amy! An unfortunate crash in FP1 and later changes to the schedule formed my qualifying position of 19th which made the races harder work than they should’ve been. A frustrating sprint race after a rough start saw me finish just out of the points in 16th, but I made some more progress in the cut down feature race to finish just outside the top 10. Not where I want to be still but taking the positives from it onto Brands Hatch for the final round.”

RESULTS - BRITISH SUPERSPORT ROUND 10, OULTON PARK

Race 1:

1. Rhys Irwin (Gearlink Bike Performance 15)

2. Joe Talbot (Binch Pro Ducati)

3. Jack Kennedy (Honda Racing UK)

6. Lee Johnston (SENCAT by Swan Racing)

11. Luke Stapleford (Macadam Triumph Factory Racing)

16. Max Wadsworth (Macadam Triumph Factory Racing)

Race 2:

1. Jack Kennedy (Honda Racing UK)

2. Eugene McManus (MMB Racing Ducati)

3. Lee Johnston (SENCAT by Swan Racing)

4. Luke Stapleford (Macadam Triumph Factory Racing)

11. Max Wadsworth (Macadam Triumph Factory Racing)

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

1. Rhys Irwin (353 points)

2. Ben Currie (349 points)

3. Jack Kennedy (330 points)

4. Luke Stapleford (308 points)

7. Lee Johnston (165 points)