British Superbike STK/SS/Junior STK Saturday round up from Donington Park

2023 British Superbike Championship
Round Ten – Donington Park

Images by David Yeomans Photography

Superbike Race One

Ryan Vickers claimed a dominant Bennetts British Superbike Championship victory in the BikeSocial Sprint Race at Donington Park as the LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha team’s tyre choice paid off in the wet conditions whilst the leading title contenders had a disastrous opening race.

Rain before the start of the race meant that it would be a crucial call on tyre choice on the grid and a last minute switch to wet tyres on both the front and rear gave Vickers the confidence to push to a lights-to-flag victory.

Vickers launched from the start into the front with the chasing pack led by Peter Hickman, Lee Jackson and Jack Kennedy, and the LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha rider was then controlling the race from the front.

The race proved to be one to forget for standings leaders BeerMonster Ducati as their choice of intermediates on both the front and rear for Glenn Irwin and Tommy Bridewell meant they would both fail to score a point, meaning they remain separated by just half a point at the top of the standings. Irwin ended the race in 23rd position with Bridewell in 24th.

Kyle Ryde was unable to capitalise on the BeerMonster Ducati Team’s misfortune though, with the LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha also making the same choice as his title rivals, he was able to salvage four points in 12th place but he has dropped to fourth in the overall standings by a single point.

As Vickers delivered a perfect performance for the win, Leon Haslam was determined to close the advantage despite the conditions. The ROKiT BMW Motorrad rider fought throughout to take an impressive second place finish despite the combination of a wet tyre in the front and an intermediate in the rear. The result means he has edged ahead of Ryde in the title chase, with 55.5 points the deficit to Irwin at the top of the standings.

The fight for the final podium position went down to the finish, with Luke Mossey taking his first podium finish in six years for the Tactix by Lloyd & Jones BMW team after making a move on Jack Kennedy on the final run to the chequered flag.

Lee Jackson claimed a top five finish for the Cheshire Mouldings Kawasaki team with Franco Bourne debuting the BSB Pathway specification Marvel HCL Motorsport Honda taking his best finish in the Championship in sixth place.

Josh Brookes ended seventh for the FHO Racing BMW Motorrad Team with Storm Stacey splitting him from team-mate Peter Hickman. Rookie Louis Valleley claimed an impressive top ten finish for the Rapid CDH Racing Kawasaki team.

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Ryan Vickers – P1

“It was really difficult to make the choice on tyre – I couldn’t make my decision, it wasn’t raining at the time but also the track was drying in front of us. I said to the team to put wets in and luckily it was the right decision. I got into the front and knew I had a bit of an advantage and I was just monitoring the pit board really. I was riding it as safe as I could to keep the advantage to bring home the win. I’m so, so happy, the team did an amazing job and made no mistakes and that’s the hard thing so I’m pleased to give them the win.”

Jason O’Halloran – P17

“Not much to say really! We had a great qualifying and was up for the race but the rain just before it changed it. I changed to inters, then we only had time to change to the wet front. The front wasn’t the issue, it was the rear and I just had no grip. A few others made it work, but we struggled with the settings we had. Looking forward to tomorrow, and wet or dry we’ll make a few changes to make it work.”

Glenn Irwin – P23

“We had an idea of what the weather forecast was going to do but the slight delay in the schedule meant things changed and that led to a variety of opinions on what tyres to go with. There wasn’t much time to decide, and I perhaps could have been more assertive in saying what I wanted rather than asking the question of the team, but it is what it is. It was a chaotic race which led to a strange result, but the championship position has barely changed at all. There’s still only half a point between Tommy and myself and we’ve a good gap to Leon and Kyle so no harm done.”

Tommy Bridewell – P24

“As strange as it seems, there’s nothing to be disappointed about today. These are the days you can’t win the championship, but you can certainly lose it especially if you were to fall off and get injured. After the sighting lap I felt sure the intermediates were the right tyre choice, but conditions were getting worse and by then it was too late to change. The rain caught us out but whilst I knew we weren’t going to score any points; I also knew lots of other riders would be in the same position and so it proved. We’re all in one piece and we’ve lost minimal points in the table, so we’ll go again tomorrow.”

Niccolò Canepa – DNF

“I am very frustrated because I like those conditions and thought this was a good opportunity especially after qualifying. Unfortunately I had very bad vibrations from the front on the first lap and could not stop the bike so I had to pull in. Like I say, this is frustrating as even with the inter I had good rear grip so feel we could have made something of the conditions. Unfortunately this means we are further back on the grid for tomorrow but we’ll do our best whatever the weather.”

Superbike Race One Results

Superbike Qualifying Results

Bennetts British Superbike Championship Standings

Superstock 1000 Race One

Joe Talbot took his first ever National Superstock win after a dramatic eight lap wet race at Donington Park – as points leader Dan Linfoot had to settle for sixth.

As rain hit, the race was stopped and restarted over eight laps and as it became heavier, riders who had opted for intermediates – including Linfoot – struggled.

Talbot took the lead early on and carefully extended it over the laps, beating Billy McConnell by 2.95secs as Alastair Seeley took third.

Lewis Rollo managed to hold off his team-mate Fraser Rogers as the pair took fourth and fifth places respectively while Linfoot had to settle for sixth.

Superstock 1000 Race One Results

Superstock 1000 Points

Supersport / GP2 Sprint Race

Ben Currie is the 2023 Quattro Group British Supersport champion after beating Luke Stapleford to the Feature race win at Donington Park.

Despite an small early mistake which dropped him down to fourth on lap three, the Australian fought back to make up the lost places, eventually passing Stapleford for the lead on lap 12.

From there, he put his head down and built a gap, eventually crossing the line 3.170secs ahead of Stapleford.

And with rival Tom Booth-Amos not racing this weekend and his other rival, Rhys Irwin, retiring on lap eight, it means Currie is the 2023 champion with three races still to go.

Ben Currie

“The last half season has been a dream, he said. “We’ve had 12 podiums on the bounce, five wins now and I’m absolutely over the moon. I don’t know what to say, it just hasn’t sunk in yet. I was concentrating so hard on winning that race that I’d forgotten I could win the championship. The dream has become a reality now.”

As Currie celebrated his win, rookie Casey O’Gorman found a way past Eugene McManus on the final lap to take third as McManus had to settle for fourth, just ahead of Dutchman Jaime van Sikkelerus.

In GP2, Barry Burrell continued to dominate the weekend on the Kramer, crossing the line 15th overall and first in class, as Cameron Fraser was second with Harvey Claridge third.

Supersport / GP2 Sprint Race Results

Supersport Points

GP2 Points

Supersport Cup Points

Junior Superstock Qualifying

Championship leader Aaron Silvester will head the grid for tomorrow’s Junior Superstock scrap at Donington Park after beating Declan Connell to the top spot.

Silvester’s best lap of 1min 43.626secs was 0.718secs clear of Connell’s best time as Sam Laffins was third quickest.

Leading row two for tomorrow’s race will be Finley Arscott with Zak Shelton alongside him in fifth, while Silvester’s main championship rival, Owen Jenner, will start back in ninth.

Young Aussie Jacob Hatch qualified 11th.

Junior Superstock Qualifying Results