Oulton Park is nestled in the rolling Cheshire countryside, and without doubt one of the nicest setting for a race circuit, but Oulton is one of the UK’s most testing  circuits.

Huge fast sweeping bends, tight cambered hairpins, tricky chicanes, roller-coaster undulations, and finally the kick up the backside up out of Deer Leap to deal with. Oulton is a busy circuit for the riders. However that means lots of overtaking.

A well set up sweet handling bike is what you need here and Donington double winner last time out Dave Hampton with the little 450 single has that. He currently heads the 500 Open series and from his performances last year he likes this circuit. Dave splits his time between the 450 and a TZ250 in the National series. Two very different challenges but Dave looks up for it this term.

Josh Day heads the Open and 600’s on his R6 but Max Symonds in the 600 along with Roo Cotton, Chris Pope, Chris Barnes and David Irons in the Open will be looking to spoilt Josh’s party. Tim Bradley is against dominating the F400 class, but John Price and Ben Harrison are up for the fight.

The Streetstocks classes this year are proving great viewing with Paul Jeffery, Richard Hughes, Jim Walker and Donington star Mark Dangerfield going elbow to elbow.

The Phoenix Open
With eight-time champ Phil Bevan taking a year out of the NG series the fight is on for a new name on the club's premier trophy. Josh Day on his Crank Racing R6 is currently at the top on 181 points with fellow 600 rider Max Symonds in second with, Roo Cotton and Chris Pope on new R1 Yamaha's playing catch up......

125 / 250GP ACU National Series
With both National series under NG’s care now we can expect more two-stroke action than ever. Philip Atkinson, Ant Hodson and Dan Jackson and long with Rich Grinling, Dave Hampton and Bruce Dunn are the 250 top flight. Arnie Shelton showed everyone a clean pair of heals last time out and will be hoping for more points this here on his 125 RS Honda.

The Ducati Desmos
For 2016 NG is the home to the popular Ducati Sporting Club Desmo Due series that pits the very evenly matched 620 and 600cc against each other. Split into two classes the A class for 620’s saw Martin Cox command with 5wins from the fist 6 rounds, but Donington last time out was not kind to him and his series lead disappeared (…literally) in a puff of smoke. Andy Blomfield needed no second invitation and now heads things on his BB Racing Monster. The B class is all about Peter Pritchard on his Bay Studio Designs 600SS taking every round in convincing style……. James Robinson, Jack Younge and the rest need to do a bit of work to find an answer to Pritchard’s Pace

The Circuit
Oulton Park is one of the most testing…and some say more dangerous tracks in the UK. It is not a track that is easily learned and here there really is no substitute for experience. The long 2.7mile circuit repays precise riding and a well-set up bike over the lap with its complex turns and cambers in the corners. There is plenty of overtaking opportunities, so good wheel to wheel racing is always on the cards

The Fastest
Josh Day, set the fastest NG Road Racing lap here at Oulton back in July 2013 on his then mount, a ZX10R Kawasaki. He hustled the big ZX10 round in 1min 40.34 seconds....that’s an average speed of just over 96.5mph.