Spills then thrills in BSB for local motorbike race ace

It was a testing round for Billingshurst motorbike racer Sam Osborne in his debut race of the season in the British Superbike Championship (BSB) at Donington Park.

Osborne got off to an unlucky start when he crashed on test day in Free Practice 1. He walked away uninjured, but his Suzuki GSX-R1000 didn’t get off so lightly as it flipped mid-air and slid across the track.

Repairs were speedily carried out by Osborne, pit crew and MSG Racing Suzuki, ready for Free Practice 2 in the afternoon.

Osborne, entering selected rounds of the BSB calendar as a wildcard entry competing against seasoned championship riders, qualified P31 out of 38.

On race day, Osborne managed a respectable 23rd and was happy to achieve a new personal best (PB) lap time of 1.34.0.

The 32-year-old carpenter and builder, sponsored by local firm AF Scaffolding, goes on to take part in Round 6 at Brands Hatch 19-21 July.

Osborne said: “After a silly crash in FP1 we were on the back foot with setup. After sorting the bike, we were plagued with front brake issues which we think were just down to the nature of the track. The race was a tough one for sure and we did all we could. One thing’s for sure I couldn’t have done it without my amazing team, pit crew, MSG Suzuki Racing and Andy from AF Scaffolding.

“I’m happy with our best result to date of P23 and hopefully we can keep moving in the right direction at the next round. The bike is getting old but it did me proud and we are getting faster at every track and every time we get on the bike we are achieving new PB’s. We are learning!”