British Superbikes: Dramatic Donington Park showdown opens up title race

The Ducati’s concentrating on each other allowed their rivals back in on the action and a mix of fortunes for all of those still in with even a slight hope at taking the British Superbike 2023 crown, coupled with extra points hauls next time out at Brands Hatch, means there is now all to play for.

With three different winners over the Donington meeting, Ryan Vickers in he Sprint, Kyle Ryde in race two and Jason O’Halloran finishing Sunday with a win, plenty of riders have added to their tally, while the Ducati’s failed to pick up a point in race one or two, with Irwin straight out of the final by turn one with a mechanical in race three and Tommy Bridewell failing to capitalise in ninth.

Leon Haslam had looked set to make the biggest gains - a consistent performance at a track he knows better than anyone saw him pick up two seconds. On the way to his third his bike spewed out smoke, leading to a red flag - and the chance for even more riders to bag a few points and keep their title hopes alive.

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Race two held all the explosive drama, but race three made all the difference in the overall standings, with the gaps narrowing and a new leader, with Bridewell top once again.

‘I can’t do that in the race or I won’t move forward’

It was Jason O’Halloran back on the top step, a long wait for success for the Australian who was top in qualifying before the rain played it’s part.

The McAMS rider explained that he learned a lot about how the weather would effect the race on the warm-up lap, with little sighting to be done in the spray:

“Really tricky race, first time really in the rain conditions on the new surface, which was incredibly grippy compared to to what it was before. On the warm up lap I dropped back to 10th/12th and I had so much spray I thought ‘I can’t do that in the race or I won’t move forward’ .

So got myself to the front, felt really comfortable. Didn’t push crazily on the first few laps but seemed the gap was growing. Got it out to plus six at one point, thought maybe I ought to slow it down a little bit, I’m getting a massive gap here and see if they come back to me”.

From the front and clear of the effect of the standing water, the #22 was able to manage his lead and keep Halsam at bay:

“Leon started closing back down and got back down to about three seconds and then I started to maintain it and pulled it back out to four and a half, and was happy to keep it around that four second mark”.

Though only sixth overall, O’Halloran now sits just 50.5 points behind Bridewell, with it hard to to entertain the outside hope of picking up the BSB 2023 title with the increase in points for a podium finish at the final round:

“With 35 for a win on the table it’s still possible so we’ll keep fighting in all the races. Like always try and do the best job we can over the weekend and see where we end up at the end”.

‘I tried to be billy big bollocks all weekend and go with inters’

Christian Iddon worked hard in both Sunday races to be the last man in with a shout of becoming champion.

His double podium - a third in race two followed by second in the third and final outing at Donington sees him stay mathematically in touch after being willing to try a different tyre choice:

“Just a nice race, you know, I was a bit apprehensive at the start of the race, because that’s the first time I’ve put wets on all weekend, I tried to be billy big bollocks all weekend and go with inters, even this morning warm-up where there was no chance, so I actually didn’t know what to expect”.

The Oxford Products Ducati rider explained his reasoning for his tyre choice, informed by what he had seen at other races at the meet:

2Yesterday when I’d put them in I’d watched the Stock 1000 race, and Alastair Seeley had come from a long way back in an eight lap race, you know all the decisions you make are always the ones you think are right”.

Race three saw visibility at a premium, with Iddon’s plan inadvertently allowing Haslam off the leash, though he gained the place back through Haslam retirement, which ended the race with a red flag:

“Straight away I found my feet and the bike felt really good straight up. Out there the new tarmac is fantastic compared to what we’ve had previously, had a few visibility issues - a bit foggy - I was quite close to Leon at one point and I thought, with the fogging… there was a lot of spray still, so the fogging compared with the water on it, it was really difficult for me to ride.

I dropped back a bit so I could get a run in and as soon as I dropped back to get a run in he bolted, he didn’t know I dropped back, he just went at exactly the same time”.

Iddon took the time to dedicate his podium finish to the family of the late Chrissy Rouse:

“Felt a bit sorry for Leon obviously, it’s a shame for him to have that mechanical, but a double podium for us -really happy, I really wanted to win that one for the Rouse family”.

‘I was not completely upset to see a wet track ahead’

Josh Brookes picked up a surprise podium in race three after several rounds in the doldrums after a strong start to the season evaporated. The FHO Racing rider had been hopeful of a turnaround after success at the circuit on the paddocks first visit:

“This weekend hasn’t been as productive as we anticipated. Coming in I was very optimistic as we had a podium here earlier in the year, but from the first session I’ve been on an uphill battle and it’s been tough.

The only time we sort of really made progress is when it’s been wet so to start that race in wet conditions I prefer the racing dry, I’m sure everybody does, knowing that our dry race pace has been quite disappointing , I was not completely upset to see a wet track ahead to start the race”.

The BMW rider went on to back up his fellow podium finishers on how tough the visibility was in the challenging conditions:

2Vision was quite an issue, not because of the equipment, but because of the sheer volume of water coming up from the bikes around you - even when I just had Tommy in front, I was so close to Tommy that the volume of water coming up, it just didn’t clear quick enough to get clear vision”.

Brookes was the most pragmatic about his slim title hopes ahead of the final round:

“I’m definitely no thinking about the championship position, even though mathematically there’s a slim chance it would take some sort of catastrophic situation for everyone to lose the points”.

Those ahead of him include Bridewell on 368 and back at the top of the standings, and Glenn irwin who remained on 360.5 after failing to pick up a point.

Ryde picked up a win, taking him to 333, with Leon Haslam’s two podiums moving him on to 327. Victory for O’Halloran moved him to 317.5, with Brookes seventh overall on 292. Of those still able to win only Iddon is behind on 284.

The title race is set to go all the way to the final day of BSB championship action at Brands Hatch on the 15th of October.