THREE days of action, sunshine, cloud and rain greeted the thousands of British Superbike fans who descended upon Thruxton last weekend, writes Tim Crisp.

Thruxton is now the fastest circuit in the world to hold a motorbike championship race after Shane Byrne posted a lap time of 1:13.843 during q2 qualifying on Saturday afternoon ahead of the two BSB races on Sunday.

Andover’s local riders had mixed results again this weekend in front of a huge crowd, many of which were there to see them in action.

In the HEL Performance British Motostar Championship Andover’s Jake Archer was looking to rein in the championship leader Charlie Nesbitt from Swindon.

But with two fine rides it was Nesbitt who came out on top of the battle of the local riders with two wins.

Archer scored points in the Saturday race with a 3rd place finish, but suffered engine issues in Sunday’s race.

As the teams head to the next round at Brands Hatch in two weeks’ time Archer is in second place in the title race 91 points behind Nesbitt.

For Stockbridge rider Leon Morris this must go down as one of the most hectic weekends he has had during his racing life.

After practice on Friday for the latest round of the Ducati Trioptions Cup Morris was in second place, but his heavily-pregnant wife had left the circuit feeling unwell.

A hospital trip was needed on the Saturday between qualifying and his first race of the weekend.

Morris came out and posted a time of 1:20.552 on his Carl Cox Motorsport P&H Motorcycles 899 Ducati during his four laps.

Most of the other riders had done between seven and 10 laps, but Morris was looking to save his tyres for the race.

After the dash to Winchester Hospital, Morris made it back to the circuit just in time for the race.

The 10-lap battle had the crowds on the edge of their seat with the lead changing several times.

As the riders came up to the club Chicane for the final time Morris was in third position, but with Rob Guiver and Sean Neary outbraking themselves it was Morris who won by 0.112s.

This result put him on level points with Guiver at the top of the table.

Perhaps more importantly was that Mrs Morris was fine and back at the track to see her husband’s race win.

Sunday’s race was run under cloudy skies and again the top five got away, with Morris never able to get into a rhythm.

He had to scrap hard with Guiver who ended up taking the win ahead of Leon, and opening up a five-point championship lead over Morris.

Morris has a few weeks off before the next round at Cadwell Park at the end of August.

It was a good weekend for Andover-based Be Wiser Insurance whose rider Shane Byrne not only set that amazing time on Saturday but also won race one on Sunday.

In race two Glenn Irwin brought the Be Wiser Ducati home in third after Byrne retired with a gear selector issue. Race two was won by Michael Laverty on the Tyco BMW.