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

2023 British Superbike Championship
Round Nine – Oulton Park

Images by David Yeomans Photography

Superbike Race One

Glenn Irwin gave the BeerMonster Ducati team an emotional, fairytale victory on Saturday afternoon at Oulton Park, winning the first race of the weekend which was the first outing for the PBM team since the passing of team owner Paul Bird.

Irwin was locked in battle with team-mate Tommy Bridewell for the entire 12 laps around the Cheshire track, but it was the Ulsterman who came out on top when Bridewell ran on at the chicane on the final lap.

It was Glenn Irwin’s seventh win of the season and saw him cut the gap in the championship standings to just 7.5 points behind Bridewell, who salvaged fourth at the flag.

With cloudy but dry conditions prevailing for the race, the Ducati duo duly lined up on the front row with Carrickfergus rider Irwin taking the holeshot as Bridewell, from Devizes, slotted into second. The duo soon opened a one-second gap over the rest of the field although as the race entered its final third, Lee Jackson and Leon Haslam had reeled them back in.

Irwin’s lead over Bridewell was never more than a tenth of a second and the victory was set to be between them and Jackson going into the final lap. Bridewell nosed ahead for the first time at the Avenue only for Irwin to retake the lead immediately and when Tommy got into Hizzy’s too hot, he had to run straight on allowing Irwin to come home for the win. Bridewell’s mistake saw him drop back to fourth by the chequered flag.

Lee Jackson was just 0.390s adrift at the flag with Leon Haslam a few bike lenghts further behind for the final step on the podium.

Bridewell’s fourth place means the advantage at the top of the standings was halved, with now just 7.5 points between the teammates.

Josh Brookes was fifth as he was able to move ahead of Ryde and Christian Iddon.

Jason O’Halloran was eighth on the McAMS Yamaha with Peter Hickman and Charlie Nesbitt completing the top ten.

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Earlier in the day, the BSB paddock community gathered to pay their respects to Paul Bird with an emotional tribute on the grid which included the PBM team, friends, and family members as well as a number of significant machines from the long and successful history of the Lake-District-based team over the past 30 years.

The bikes will remain on display during the pit walk at Oulton Park on Sunday morning. The team would like to thank everyone for their support.

Glenn Irwin – P1

“It’s so nice to lead the race from start to finish, or at least most of it and the plan worked. The bike is so good this weekend, especially on thOulton Park Gride brakes, and I made the perfect start, managing the race from there on in. Tommy’s so strong around here at Oulton so to force him into a mistake on the final lap and come out on top shows how strong I rode, but I’m humble about the victory as we get on so well and it’s tough fighting your teammate for the title. At the same time, we’re professional riders who want the same thing so you must take whatever advantage you can get. We still have two more races to go but I’m feeling confident and that one’s for the Birdman.”

Tommy Bridewell – P4

“I didn’t make the best of starts from pole, so rode a patient first lap but, unfortunately, I’ve been struggling to stop the bike for a couple of rounds now and the same problem occurred today. The bike’s not giving the support I need under braking and that, in turn, is reducing stability and causing the rear wheel to lift off the ground. I’m OK when riding on my own as I can roll into the corner but in a group it’s difficult and if I hadn’t picked the bike up, I’d have taken both Glenn and me out. It’s a disappointing start but whilst you can’t win the title this weekend, you can lose it, so we’ll use tomorrow’s warm-up to get to the bottom of the problem and come out fighting in Sunday’s races.”

Superbike Race One Results

Superbike Qualifying Results

Bennetts British Superbike Championship Standings

Superstock 1000 Race One

Dan Linfoot extended his championship lead after beating rivals Richard Kerr and Alastair Seeley to the first National Superstock race win of the weekend.

In a dramatic last lap, the Optimum Bikes Racing Ltd rider sized up leader Seeley and when the SYNETIQ BMW rider ran slightly wide at Druids after a tiny mistake, Linfoot seized his chance to sweep through into the lead.

Behind, Richard Kerr also found a way past Seeley at Lodge on the final lap to steal second place. Seeley had to make do with third place ahead of Joe Talbot, as Lewis Rollo finished in fifth position.

Superstock 1000 Race One Results

Superstock 1000 Points

Supersport / GP2 Sprint Race

Tom Booth-Amos has taken the win after a dramatic last lap of the Supersport Sprint race at Oulton Park.

Championship leader Ben Currie had led the whole race from pole position, but an error on the final lap let a charging Booth-Amos through to steal victory.

Currie, who had managed to hold off Booth-Amos for several laps, ran wide coming into Hizzy’s and was powerless to stop the Gearlink Kawasaki coming through, as Dutchman Jaime van Sikkelerus was lucky not to get caught out as Currie dropped back.

But the points leader was able to hold onto second place from van Sikkelerus, as Tom Toparis found a way past Luke Jones on the final lap to take fourth.

Currie’s main title rival, Rhys Irwin, was left with nil points after being taken out after an uncharacteristic mistake from Richard Cooper on lap seven.

Cooper appeared to lose the front of his BPE Yamaha after just passing Irwin’s Suzuki for third place, his bike skittling a furious Irwin and forcing him out of the race.

Cameron Fraser took the GP2 win, just ahead of team-mate Harvey Claridge as Harry Rowlings took third in class.

Supersport / GP2 Sprint Race Results

Supersport Points

GP2 Points

Supersport Cup Points

Junior Superstock Qualifying

Cameron Dawson took early charge in qualifying, dominating the session to take pole by 0.365secs.

Dawson’s lap of 1min 40.036 aboard the MSS Performance Kawasaki was enough to keep him at the top of the timesheets.

A late push from Harrison Crosby powered him up to second ahead of Declan Connell, as championship leader Aaron Silvester was fourth ahead of Owen Jenner.

Young Aussie Jacob Hatch will start from 14th place on the grid.

Junior Superstock Qualifying Results