British Superbike STK/SS/Junior STK Saturday round up from Brands Hatch

2023 British Superbike Championship
Round 11 – Brands Hatch GP Circuit

Images by David Yeomans Photography

Superbike Race One

Kyle Ryde claimed an intense BikeSocial Sprint Race victory to edge him closer to his BeerMonster Ducati title rivals in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship title fight, but the LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha rider was pushed all the way to finish as just 0.015s separated him from Jason O’Halloran at the chequered flag.

Ryde has been determined all weekend as the LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha team target consecutive titles and he delivered exactly what he had threatened. He grabbed the lead from O’Halloran on the third lap and continued to fight him to the finish. O’Halloran had made a move into Paddock Hill Bend for the final time, but by the time the pair reaches Druids, Ryde was back ahead. The Yamahas were almost inseparable on the dash to the finish line, but the win means Ryde cut his deficit by a further eight points to Bridewell.

Meanwhile the raging battle between the BeerMonster Ducati teammates continued and Glenn Irwin carved his way through the pack from his 17th place grid start to be seventh by the fourth lap and then into fourth place behind his closest rival just two laps later.

Irwin was pushing to make a move on the dry line, but it was still damp in places off-line, as the pair were inseparable on equal machinery. Irwin made an attempt for a move at Stirlings, but as he dived ahead he ran onto the damp and had to then try and regain the ground.

Bridewell had the edge he needed to claim the final podium position and in doing so moves to 10.5 points ahead of Irwin ahead of tomorrow’s two crucial races with 70 points available for the taking tomorrow.

Whilst several of the title contenders featured on the podium, it was disaster again on the Grand Prix circuit for Leon Haslam as he crashed out of fifth place at Surtees on the ninth lap, giving him even more of an uphill task if he is to become Champion for the second time.

Christian Iddon carved through into fifth for the Oxford Products Racing Ducati team, holding off Peter Hickman and Josh Brookes. Jack Kennedy scored another top eight finish with Lee Jackson and Ryan Vickers completing the top ten.

Kyle Ryde – P1 – LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha

“I feel like my Free Practice three session this morning kind of won me that race today. I think a few people opted to sit the session out, understandably. I nearly did the same, but I just wanted to keep going round, I was enjoying riding my bike and that definitely won me the race because it was the exact same conditions, same tyres, probably the same temperature as well. Credit to the boys for making the bike a little bit better than FP3 this morning and I just managed to hold Jason off to the line. Luckily for me with the last corner you can see just how close Jason was with the shadow. I knew he wasn’t coming underneath me, so I just had to be as smooth as possible across the start line as I knew he had a little more grip. I’m very pleased to take my first ever win at Brands Hatch, at the last meeting where it means the most.”

Jason O’Halloran – P2 – McAms Yamaha

“It’s always a difficult race in mixed conditions like that. I made a great start and got to the front, but when Kyle came by, I was able to use him as a bit of a marker which made things a bit easier. I got backed passed Kyle on the last lap but didn’t quite hold the line and he got back through at the bottom of Paddock Hill. I knew I was a bit quicker around the back of the track so I knew I was going to have a chance on the run to the line, but we just missed out. I’m happy with second, the pace was really fast and I knew that I had to do something today to keep the Championship hopes alive for tomorrow!”

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Tommy Bridewell – P3 – BeerMonster Ducati

“That was a good race all in all. I’m really happy because I had Glenn plus-zero on my board pretty much the whole race. When the shoe is on the other foot I know that somehow I will make a pass, so I knew he would have a go. I made a mistake coming through Sheene Curve which gave him the opportunity, but obviously he had to go on the wet patch to do that. It was a tough race but always the target is to finish ahead of Glenn and we ticked that off and again another podium. We’ve got a decent chunk of work to do to try and get a bit stronger for tomorrow and hopefully we can take that next step again.”

Glenn Irwin – P4 – BeerMonster Ducati

“It was tough in those conditions to come through from where I did on the grid, especially when there’s so much to play for, and every time I overtook, I had to make sure it was a clean move. I was brave but also composed and that put me into a position where I could fight with Tommy. I felt stronger than him but to try to find a way by meant going onto the damp stuff and when I did that, I got too deep into the corner. Sorry to the team as it should have been a podium today, but I’m pleased with how I rode given the amount of risk involved in coming from so deep in the field. I’ve a good grid position for tomorrow’s first race so we’ll go again then.”

Superbike Race One Results

Superbike Qualifying Results

Bennetts British Superbike Championship Standings

Superstock 1000 Race One

Billy McConnell took the penultimate race win of the season at Brands Hatch, beating Alastair Seeley by more than five seconds.

From pole, the Australian got a bad start and dropped back to fifth, working his way back through the pack to hit the front with five laps to go before quickly building a solid lead.

Joe Talbot was third, as Ben Luxton took fourth while Scott Swann was fifth.

Behind, the title fight rumbled on but leader Dan Linfoot was denied the chance to pick up the trophy today when rival Richard Kerr scythed past him into the final corner to take sixth. As a result, the title fight will go down to tomorrow’s series finale.

Superstock 1000 Race One Results

Superstock 1000 Points

Supersport / GP2 Sprint Race

Richard Cooper was back on the top step of the podium after fending off a charging Tom Booth-Amos for the Brands Hatch Sprint win. The BPE Yamaha rider hit the front on the opening lap and took charge of the race as behind, the battle raged.

As pole-sitter Rhys Irwin dropped back down the order, Australia’s Tom Toparis moved up to second but dropped to third a few laps in when Booth-Amos passed him.

From there, the Gearlink Kawasaki rider set off after Cooper, pressuring him through the closing laps before making a couple of lunges on the final lap which didn’t pay off, although he was able to hold onto second as Cooper crossed the line 1.069secs ahead.

Toparis finished the race third to give the Macadam Racing team another podium, with Dutchman Jaimie van Sikkelerus fourth and Irwin fifth ahead of champion Ben Currie, who came through from 27th place on the grid to a sixth place finish.

Harvey Claridge crossed the line eighth to claim GP2 class honours, with Cameron Fraser second in class and Harry Rowlings third.

Supersport / GP2 Sprint Race Results

Supersport Points

GP2 Points

Supersport Cup Points

Junior Superstock Race One

Sam Laffins won a dramatic penultimate National Junior Superstock race as Owen Jenner stretched his points lead.

Laffins hit the front at the end of lap one when leader, and former points leader Aaron Silvester, highsided coming out of clearways, the first of a number of riders to be caught out on the drying track.

The G&S Racing rider controlled the race all the way to the flag as several riders crashed out, eventually beating Cameron Dawson by 5.508secs with Asher Durham third.

Owen Jenner – who started 12th – crossed the line fourth ahead of Edmund Best, boosting his points lead to 23 over Dawson with just one more race to go.

Junior Superstock Race One

Junior Superstock Points