Rory Skinner enjoys Oulton Park “turning point” during BSB test

Although Rory Skinner admits that Oulton Park has “never really been the kindest track” to him previously in BSB, he feels he found a “turning point” with the circuit during the recent test there.

The TAS Racing Yamaha rider was eighth-fastest overall at the two-day BSB test on 21–22 April and the second-fastest Yamaha rider behind Bradley Ray.

Skinner’s history at the Cheshire venue has included a number of significant injuries, so headline lap times were not his priority going there, instead focusing on improving his confidence at the circuit, he explained.

“Honestly, I wasn’t really caring, coming to Oulton Park, about a lap time,” Skinner said, speaking to Crash.net after the second day of the test at Oulton Park.

“It’s never really been the kindest track to me in the past, obviously the last few years have been tough for me here. 

“So, kind of just came and treated it like a track day, just made sure I did a lot of laps, understood the bike more, worked with the team a bit more. I can actually say, for once, that I’m looking forward to coming back to Oulton Park to race. 

“It’s been a really turning point for me at this track in this test. The result maybe isn’t as good as Donington but it’s still not a bad job.”

Skinner added that the Yamaha R1 is the best bike he’s ridden at Oulton Park, although he feels the majority of the improvement has come from himself rather than the change of bike over the winter.

“A lot of it [improvement] is in me,” he said. “The Yamaha is definitely, I feel, the best bike I’ve rode around here. 

“However, there’s a lot of things that come into that. 

“I think it’s a joint effort between the team and myself to make me feel comfortable here. 

“I feel at home already on the Yamaha and it’s only been three tests, so I’m really looking forward to getting to round one and getting the race season underway.”

Looking towards the opening round at Oulton Park on 2–4 May, Skinner says he wants to work a bit more on outright speed.

“Obviously, here [Oulton Park test] we haven’t spent a lot of time doing time attacks, trying to extract anything,” he said.

“Same at Donington, really. So, probably over the weekend we need to really work out how to finesse the Yamaha in the best way on the Oulton Park race circuit.”