Cycle News Staff | August 18, 2021
Jason O’Halloran continued his winning streak in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship by claiming victory in the opening BikeSocial Race at Donington Park, following an intense battle in the opening race of the weekend.
Photos Courtesy of BSB / MotorSport Vision Racing
O’Halloran launched into the lead from the pole position, but Glenn Irwin soon grabbed the advantage to put the Honda ahead. Meanwhile though Tarran Mackenzie (pictured below) had moved into second place as championship leader O’Halloran was initially pushed back down the order.
By the third lap, Christian Iddon had carved his way through from fourth to become the third different race leader in as many laps, before Glenn Irwin then regained the position a lap later.
The BMW Safety Car was deployed when Joey Thompson crashed out at Coppice on the fifth lap, with the pack forming up for the restart with Glenn Irwin leading Iddon, O’Halloran, Mackenzie, Andrew Irwin and Ryan Vickers.
Glenn Irwin defended his position hard, holding off the chasing pack as O’Halloran moved up the order and was holding second place by the halfway point of the race.
Two laps later and O’Halloran made a move for the lead into Redgate and started to try and break the pack. The McAMS Yamaha rider edged out a 1.866s advantage at the checkered flag over the final seven laps.
The battle for the final podium positions continued to rage right until the finish line as Mackenzie had fought back into second place, narrowly ahead of Glenn Irwin and Iddon.
However, the McAMS Yamaha rider was demoted to third on the final lap when his Honda Racing rival made a final attempt for second on the brakes at Roberts for the last time and had the edge to the line with Iddon in fourth.
Tommy Bridewell was fifth for the Oxford Products Racing Ducati team after Ryan Vickers was issued a two-second time penalty for a course cut on the RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki, pushing him to sixth just ahead of Andrew Irwin.
Lee Jackson finished eighth to maintain the final position in the top eight in the standings currently, with Peter Hickman and Bradley Ray completing the top ten. It was another difficult race for defending champion Josh Brookes; he ended the race in 18th position.
The victory in the opening race means that O’Halloran has put himself in contention for the £50,000 prize in the Milwaukee Summer Grand Slam, if he can complete six consecutive race wins across this weekend at Donington Park and the next event at Cadwell Park.
Tarran Mackenzie ended his McAMS Yamaha teammate’s race winning momentum in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, claiming the second victory of the weekend at Donington Park, in an intense final three-lap dash to the checkered flag.
In Supersport race two, Harry Truelove took a thrilling victory in the Quattro Group British Supersport Feature race, taking the win by just 0.041s ahead of Ben Currie, with Charlie Nesbitt rounding out the podium.
Tommy Bridewell (pictured above) celebrated victory in a tactical final Bennetts British Superbike Championship race at Donington Park, becoming the fifth different race winner of the season for the Oxford Products Racing Ducati team.
The race initially started in dry conditions and was then red flagged for rain after three laps. The race was later restarted and declared wet, but the shower had passed and tyre choice would prove crucial to the outcome of the race result.
At the start, Ryan Vickers got off to an incredible start with his choice of a wet front and intermediate rear tire to lead the pack. However, it was short lived as he crashed out at Coppice on the opening lap to end his charge for the RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki team.
Tarran Mackenzie had opted for a wet front and intermediate rear, which had initially given him the edge to then lead the field from Peter Hickman and Glenn Irwin, with Bridewell holding fourth position over the opening laps.
As the track started to dry though, Mackenzie soon dropped back through the order as the riders who had opted for the intermediate front and rear option moved forward, and by lap five Glenn Irwin was leading for Honda Racing.
A lap later Bridewell had taken control at the front, and he soon began to edge an advantage ahead of Glenn and Andrew Irwin. Christian Iddon was making rapid progress through the pack as he was the only rider to opt for an intermediate front and slick rear tire.
It was soon all over for Iddon though as he crashed the VisionTrack Ducati out of the race at Craner Curves on the ninth lap after working his way through into fourth place.
At the front, Bridewell bridged the gap to Glenn Irwin to claim his first victory of the season, as the Honda Racing rider finished second, incredibly after dislocating his shoulder in the earlier race of the day.
Andrew Irwin became the eleventh different podium finisher of the season, taking his first top three finish for SYNETIQ BMW. He flew the flag for the team after Danny Buchan was sidelined with suspected concussion and he will also sit out next weekend at Cadwell Park.
Reigning champion Josh Brookes had also opted for the same combination of intermediate tires and he claimed his best result of the season in fourth place for VisionTrack Ducati.
Joe Francis scored his first top five finish of the season for the iForce Lloyd & Jones BMW team, just ahead of Storm Stacey who delivered an impressive performance to claim his best ever finish in Bennetts BSB with a sixth place.
Mackenzie dropped to seventh, but still accumulated the most points to be crowned Milwaukee King of Donington, just ahead of Dean Harrison who celebrated his best ever finish for Silicone Engineering Kawasaki.
Dan Linfoot and Gino Rea completed the top ten as championship leader Jason O’Halloran finished twelfth after opting for a wet front tire and intermediate rear tire.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship standings after Donington Park:
- Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) 277
- Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) 223
- Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati) 203
- Danny Buchan (SYNETIQ BMW) 165
- Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) 157
- Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW) 130
- Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing) 121
- Bradley Ray (Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW) 112