BSB Donington Park Results (2), Race 3 - Distance

The 2023 British Superbike Championship edges continuously closer to its conclusion. The penultimate round takes place this weekend on the Donington Park GP circuit. This page will be updated with BSB Donington results throughout the weekend.

Overview

Race 3 - O'Halloran back on top with win in red flagged wet race

Race 2 - Ducati teammates collide as Ryde makes it two from two for OMG

Race 1 - Rain causes title chaos as Vickers picks up the spoils

Qualifying - Lap record for O'Halloran for Donington pole

Race 3

After BSB Race 2 ended early in Donington for rain, the precipitation continued into the afternoon and left a fully wet track ahead of the third and final race, which delivered yet more title drama and a race win for Jason O’Halloran.

Jason O’Hallloran started from second place, made the holeshot, and immediately bolted. Further back, Glenn Irwin retired on the first corner, reportedly (according to the Eurosport broadcast) with clutch issues which cost him all drive.

In the first laps, O’Halloran opened up a four-second gap over Leon Haslam, who led Christian Iddon. As the race neared half-distance, though, those two chasers began to erode O’Halloran’s advantage.

Credit: McAMS Yamaha

O’Halloran responded in the second half of the race, and his advantage was approaching five seconds when the red flag came out for a Leon Haslam bike problem on lap 16, which left Race Direction with little option but to stop the race, because it was impossible to tell if the track was contaminated or not.

It meant a first win since Thruxton for O’Halloran, who was joined on the podium by Christian Iddon, who took his second podium of the day; and Josh Brookes (top BMW), who took his first rostrum since Snetterton.

Charlie Nesbitt was fourth and the top Honda rider, ahead of Jack Kennedy (5th), Storm Stacey (6th, top Kawasaki), Peter Hickman (7th), and Lee Jackson (8th). Tommy Bridewell had started the race well, but dropped back once he discovered the fate of his PBM Ducati teammate and title rival Irwin, finishing ninth in the end. Rounding out the top 10 was Davey Todd - a career best result for the #74.

Full BSB results from Race 3 in Donington are below.

2023 BSB Donington Results | Race 3

Race 2

BSB Race 2 at Donington Park got underway in the dry, but with the constant threat of rain. Its arrival caused chaos, and left both primary title contenders on the floor, while Kyle Ryde took victory. 

Leon Haslam started from pole position, and he made the holeshot ahead of Lee Jackson and Race 1 winner Ryan Vickers, but both Jackson and Vickers were passed by Glenn Irwin before the end of lap one. At the beginning of lap two, Irwin hit the front, having started 12th on the grid.

Despite his speed in getting to the front, Irwin was not able to immediately pull away. The pack started to stretch out by lap eight, which is when the rain drops began to lightly fall. That cost some of the front runners confidence, but that wasn’t true of Tommy Bridewell, who was fourth midway around lap nine despite having started from the back of the grid, and by the end of the lap he was in the lead.

Credit: McAMS Yamaha

The rain turned the race into absolute chaos. The front group now stretched back to Jason O’Halloran in eighth, and those at the very front of it were well aware that a red flag could be thrown at any moment, so the necessity to occupy track position increased moment by moment.

That chaos reached its climax on lap 12, when Tommy Bridewell misjudged his braking at the Melbourne Hairpin and ended up  clattering into the side of his teammate and title rival, Irwin. Both were out of the race, and now Kyle Ryde faced a duel for the win with Leon Haslam.

Ryde had begun to pull away but, by lap 17, the rain had begun to fall heavier, and the red flag was thrown. That gave the win to Ryde, while Haslam and Christian Iddon completed the podium.

Lee Jackson was fourth (top Kawasaki), ahead of Jason O’Halloran (5th), Ryan Vickers (6th), Charlie Nesbitt (7th, top Honda), Josh Brookes (8th), Max Cook (9th), and Peter Hickman (10th), who completed the top 10.

Full BSB Race 2 results from Donington are below.

2023 BSB Donington Results | Race 2

Race 1

Wet weather caused a delay to BSB Race 1, and it then caused chaos for the title protagonists. Ryan Vickers, though, was totally serene on his way to victory.

BSB Race 1 was delayed due to conditions being sort of between wet and dry. When it eventually did get underway, many riders had gone for intermediate tyres front and rear.

All of the Yamahas made a good launch, but none better than Ryan Vickers, who went straight to the front. Once they arrived at the first corner, though, things became more clear. Jason O’Halloran and Kyle Ryde both went backwards, while Peter Hickman, Jack Kennedy, and Lee Jackson moved forwards.

It did not last long for Hickman, though, who had chosen wet tyres. For Vickers, on the other hand, who had made the same choice as the #60, the race was still looking to be in his hands by half-distance. By now, though, Leon Haslam was over one second quicker than Vickers, but also six seconds adrift.

There was not enough time for Haslam to both cut through the few riders that separated him from the clear air that stretched out behind Vickers, and catch the #7, but he was able to come through to second place.

Credit: McAMS Yamaha

It meant that Vickers took his second victory of the season, and the OMG Yamaha rider is proving a real force in wet conditions in 2023. His margin of victory this time was 3.7 seconds, but his advantage had exceeded five seconds at times.

Joining Haslam and Vickers on the podium was Luke Mossey, who failed his first attempt to pass Jack Kennedy for that third spot at the Melbourne Hairpin on the final lap, but succeeded in his second attempt one corner later at Goddard’s, much to the frustration of Kennedy, who had to accept fourth place.

Lee Jackson took his customary position as top Kawasaki in fifth place, ahead of Franco Bourne, who this weekend is racing for the Marvel HCL Motorsport team with their ‘Pathway-spec’ Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade and took a remarkable sixth place.

Josh Brookes was seventh, ahead of Storm Stacey (8th), Peter Hickman (9th), and Louis Valleley, who took a career-best (of a half-season-long BSB career) 10th. 

All three Ducatis - those of the title-contending Glenn Irwin and Tommy Bridewell, and that of Christian Iddon - had issues. The latter two both ended up off-track, and Bridewell pitted to change tyres. Irwin changed tyres on the opening lap. Although Irwin finished one place ahead of his title rival, they wherein 23rd and 24th places, respectively, at the finish, and a lap down, meaning there is still half-a-point separating them going into Race 2 tomorrow.
 

Full BSB results from Race 1 in Donington are below.

2023 BSB Donington Results | Race 1

Qualifying

BSB qualifying in Donington was one of the more tense affairs of the season thanks to the relatively heavy clouds overhead. In the end, they had no effect on track conditions, which allowed Jason O’Halloran to set a new lap record on his way to pole position.

All of O’Halloran’s lap time came in the first three sectors. In the fourth and final split, he was losing at least two tenths to the Ducatis, particularly that of Tommy Bridewell, who qualified second.

Crucially for Bridewell, that has him a row ahead of his teammate and title rival, Glenn Irwin, who qualified only sixth. 

Credit: FHO Racing.

Leon Haslam was the best BMW, taking third place, ahead of Friday’s fastest rider, Kyle Ryde who heads up row two in fourth place, alongside Ryan Vickers (5th) and the aforementioned Irwin.

Nicolo Canepa, the latest and final rider to step into the McAMS Yamaha seat first vacated earlier this season by Tim Neave, qualified seventh, ahead of Peter Hickman (8th) and Charlie Nesbitt (9th, top Honda) on the third row.

Lee Jackson (10th, top Kawasaki) completed the qualifying top 10. Christian Iddon (11th) and Davey Todd (12th) will join Jackson on the fourth row.

Full BSB results from qualifying in Donington are below.

2023 BSB Donington Results | Qualifying

Lead image courtesy of FHO Racing.