Fan killed at British Superbike round.

Tragedy hit the British Superbike series last weekend, when a spectator was killed by a machine which flew into the crowd at Oulton Park.

The incident happened after the main events of the day had been completed, and involved two entries in the final 250cc race. A collision of the final warm-up lap saw one bike propelled over barriers and catch fencing at Lodge Corner, and into the crowd assembled at one of the most exciting corners on the Oulton Park layout. The corner had already seen its fair share of incident during the day, and race leaders Chris Walker and Neil Hodgson slammed into each other at full speed there in the second Superbike race.

The victim, a 39-year old from Merseyside, was pronounced dead at the scene from massive head and neck trauma, having taken the full force of the impact. Other fans around him were treated for various injuries, while the rider of the errant bike was said to be devastated by the accident.

''This is totally unacceptable,'' said Rob Bain, of circuit owners Brands Hatch Leisure, ''We are carrying out a full and thorough investigation with the ACU and MSA to determine what measures need to be taken to ensure that this never happens again.''

Oulton Park had to deal with a similar tragedy this time last season, when Formula Ford car racer Neil Shanahan was killed at Clay Hill.