PLACES TO VISIT FROM DONINGTON PARK
The Heart of the National Forest, you can discover exhilarating cycle trails at Hicks Lodge or Snibston Colliery Park, brave an aerial adventure on the high ropes at Conkers or take a gentle stroll through the forest and beautiful countryside, along canals or next to open water.
Immerse yourself in our industrial past, by discovering the remnants of our coal mining heritage or the medieval coal mining site at Swannington or visit the impressive iron-making blast furnace at Moira. You can also marvel at Ashby Castle, discover the ruins of Grace Dieu Priory or visit Mount St Bernard Abbey, the sole Trappist house in England.
For a unique experience, enjoy an afternoon with a furry companion at Charnwood Forest Alpacas or visit the East Midlands Aeropark, the perfect place for aviation enthusiasts situated nextdoor to Donington Park Racetrack.
www.fieldsportuk.co.uk
FIELD SPORT UK
Sometimes we all need to release our inner warrior, what better way to release the stress of modern life than with an axe throwing experience? An expert professional coach will help you learn the techniques to sling your axe safely and accurately at the target so you can soon shout “bullseye!” www.ebikeholiday.co.uk
Visit National Forest – www.visitnationalforest.com Facebook - Visit National Forest Instagram - @visitnationalforest
www.nationalforest.org/visit
NATIONAL FOREST E-BIKE AND WALKING HOLIDAYS
NATIONAL FOREST
Discover England’s first forest to be created for 1,000 years. Just 200 square miles to the north-west of Leicester, the Forest’s vibrant and varied landscape takes in ancient forest and newly planted woodland and rugged, rocky uplands. With reminders of the region’s industrial heritage, atmospheric castles and mighty manor houses and country parks.
Relax, explore and experience the wonderful countryside on an award-winning walking and E-Bike holiday. Holidays are selfguided , journey at your own pace, in your own private group – or enjoy a solo walking or E-Bike cycling holiday. Enjoy the journey, stop when you want and sample the local woodland cafes along the way.
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www.greenwooddays.co.uk
www.visitconkers.com
CONKERS
GREENWOOD DAYS
Get creative with a wealth of woodcraft courses, set in a beautiful 90-acre woodland. Greenwood Days is a woodland teaching centre set in the heart of the National Forest. With excellent tuition from the best craft workers in the country and over 60 courses to choose from there is a wide range of heritage crafts for all abilities.
On land where activities once took place beneath the surface, an attraction now blossoms where families can run, walk and climb – on, above and under the ground. A landscape of mineshafts and spoil heaps made way for the National Forest, and at its heart is Conkers. This family-friendly park offers forest-themed adventures where visitors can run wild, inside and out.
Situated in the picturesque market town of Ashby de la Zouch, visitors to Ashby Castle can scale its Civil War battle damaged tower, walk the underground passages and discover how this 15th century castle was never finished and its master executed at the hands of the future King Richard III. www.moirafurnace.org
https://www.visitleicester.info
ASHBY CASTLE
MOIRA FURNACE AND ASHBY CANAL
Moira Furnace stands as a stunning reminder of the area’s industrial past. It has had many uses, the latest being a museum telling its amazing story. Visitors can look around the museum, ride the 100-year-old narrow boat, get refreshments from the museum shop, and explore the country park, craft village, and local area.
This former mining site, once out of bounds to the public, is now a visitor-friendly haven. Snibston Colliery Park’s mountain bike trail is 4km of jumps and bumps that takes you twisting and turning through physically and technically demanding tracks on and around the original colliery spoil heap. www.forestryengland.uk/hicks-lodge
www.visitleicester.info
HICKS LODGE
SNIBSTON COLLIERY PARK
Located in the heart of the National Forest, Hicks Lodge is a former coal mining site that has been totally transformed by new plantings and exciting cycle trails for you to enjoy. Trails are graded and traffic free so perfect for families and learners. There’s a range of trails for beginner to intermediate appetites.
TOURISM IN THE AREA 57At each round of the season we are asking some top WorldSBK and other paddock riding talents what WorldSBK really means to them. This time around we have some real racing legends speaking into the voice recorder. We prompted them to ask themselves one simple question - What Does WorldSBK Mean To Me?
Alvaro Bautista - Aruba . it Racing Ducati
His seemingly certain ‘rookie’ WorldSBK title run suddenly went into a painful reverse, however, in a very visible fashion. He rode for HRC Honda for two years after that, then came back to the Bologna brigade a wiser and more title-focused WorldSBK rider. Two successive championships were the rewards.
What can you say about a rider who has won not one FIM Superbike Championship title but two?
Bravo, maybe?
We actually inducted Bautista into WorldSBK as a well-rounded and proven MotoGP™ regular. Seldom in receipt of a factory MotoGP™ machine (at least not when the bike is question was an unquestioned winning package) Bautista still took podiums and one overall top five in 2012.
What WorldSBK was for Bautista is the same now as it was in his rookie year, it seems. He said, “I found that with the combination of bike and tyres I could show all my potential. That is what I missed in MotoGP™, between the combination of maybe nonfactory bikes and tyres that work a bit special. But, WorldSBK gave me a good bike, a good team, good tyres and I felt I could give all of myself. My 100%. ‘ This is Alvaro Bautista’, if you know what I mean? Whether I was champion or not champion, I could give my best.”
Those of us with a long memory can remember Alvaro winning the 125cc Grand Prix title on a two-stroke Aprilia, way back in 2006. So, he’s really a three-time World champ.
He finally ran out of MotoGP™ paddock options but was an instant hit when he joined WorldSBK in 2019. And he loved it.
“Apart from championship wins, WorldSBK gave me - not a second chance - but it gave me a second chance to enjoy the bike,” explained Alvaro.
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Scott Redding - MGM Bonovo Racing Ducati
Remy Gardner - GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team
As far as WorldSBK racers with experience of every form of top flight racing goes , Scott Redding may well be the grandaddy of them all . At 32 years of age Scott is not ‘ young ’ for a WorldSBK racer , but he has several years on competitors like Alvaro Bautista ( 40 ) and Jonathan Rea ( 38 ).
That ’ s both a glittering and a heavy surname for any rider to take on the world with during their early career . As his stats shows , Remy had already proven himself - as himself - on the global stage before he got anywhere near WorldSBK .
It was a big jump for the 2021 Moto2 World Champion to go from Moto2 to MotoGP™ for one season , but it was a whole change of paddock , manufacturer and racing philosophy for Remy to deal with when he first joined WorldSBK , Yamaha and the GYTR GRT Yamaha team back in 2023 .
He ’ s been around so long that he has even won a 125cc GP race , in 2008 . You know , back in the pre-Moto3 days of two stroke engines ?
He soon went on to be a serial Moto2 race winner , Moto2 championship runner-up in 2013 , and even a podium finisher , before a year as a factory MotoGP™ rider for Aprilia spun him out of the prototype racing world ’ s orbit .
He ’ s still racing for what is effectively a shadow Yamaha official team in the GRT set-up .
It ’ s particularly appropriate that we chose Scott to publish his personal opinions about this kind of thing here at a British round of WorldSBK , because it was BSB that re-ignited his career , in one glorious championship-winning spree in 2019 .
At time of press he has taken two podiums in WorldSBK and , on a gradually improving Yamaha R1 , he may well have secured more by the time we get to Donington .
As we approach the second Anglophone event of the 2025 season , can he tell us what WorldSBK means to him , personally ?
In some ways Scott ’ s arrival in the official WorldSBK Ducati set-up in 2020 was a reward for this BSB success . He has won 12 races since then and secured a whopping 40 podiums .
“ WorldSBK means racing bikes and giving a really good show ,” said Remy . Ever the matter-of-fact person in his statements , he continued on that pure racing theme . “ It ’ s racing as usual for me . It is a continuation of my career - somewhere else . My ambition is to be a World Champion again , but now in WorldSBK . It means the same for me as MotoGP™ , Moto2 , Moto3 , but it is a new challenge .”
With experience of all those racing classes what is Scott ’ s current take on what WorldSBK means to him , personally ?
“ WorldSBK is good racing , a good atmosphere in the paddock , a bit more relaxed , and it keeps a bit more of the old school racing style - which is slowly filtering out .”
A little wistfulness , maybe , in that last comment , as Redding is clearly the kind of rider who thrives on a degree of needle and personal rivalry . “ You can have conversations with people , so I guess relaxed is the word ,” said Scott . “ But racing is racing , it is what it is . Slowly , racing is going … everyone is nice . It is not my way of racing but it is the way it is going . Something in the water , I think …”
WHAT DOES WorldSBK MEAN TO ME 59If you want to remain in the paddock itself even while the races and main qualifying sessions take place you can hear live commentary, and follow the action on the integrated ‘big screen,’ at the Paddock Show. Each Superpole contest and race will be shown on the Paddock Show screen, with expert dedicated commentary from the Paddock Show Host.
WorldSBK - the biggest production-derived FIM championship of all - offers unrivalled levels of on-site interaction between fans and riders over each weekend. The epicentre of these experiences is the dedicated WorldSBK Paddock Show. Once again this is the place to be to extract the maximum feeling of being an integral part of the whole live WorldSBK experience.
This alternative way of experiencing the live action on-site, allied to being able to watch your selected sessions and races out on track at any other times, allows the paying spectators and guests to absorb a different in-the-moment communal experience. It is a happy hybrid of watching the track action on TV and yet being part of a festival-style communal event, all while the racing is going on (sometimes literally) all around you. You have to experience it at least once.
Located in the heart of the Fan Zones at all 12 WorldSBK race weekends, the Paddock Show itself takes place on a raised stage, with entertainment of many kinds taking place for eight hours or more each day. Nothing else brings you closer to the riders and other key figures. That has been particularly evident in recent years as the Paddock Show is the dedicated backdrop for the top riders’ post-race celebrations, as part of the open and accessible post-race Parc Ferme protocols in WorldSBK.
On display at the Paddock show are WorldSBK racing machines from the many competing manufacturers. There are also video promotions, evening concerts, sponsor displays, competitions, quizzes, and the always popular Chat Shows with both the upand-coming and established stars. There are many attractions that take place at the Paddock Show.
The very popular ‘Podium Shows’ after the main races, plus the Awards Shows - not to mention the fan oriented Meet’n’Greet sessions with riders from all classes - demonstrate that the Paddock Show truly fulfils its role as a crowd-pleasing focal point inside the heart of each host venue.
In addition to all these, the Saturday WorldSBK SuperShow also ensures that the paddock buzz continues long after the sound of racing engines has subsided.
In short, the Paddock Show is an unmissable part of every WorldSBK fan’s weekend experience.
Follow these steps to win a SW45 Rear Bag
1 . Take a picture with SHAD in the background 2 . Post it on Instagram using # ShadOnSBK 3 . Check the Paddock Show Schedule 4 . Come to the Paddock Show when # ShadOnSBK activity is on
The most original picture wins … get creative!
60 OFFICIAL PROGRAMMEThe Paddock Show schedule could be subject to changes
WELCOME TO THE PADDOCK SHOW 61
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