Recapping the Sunday BSB action from Thruxton – SBK/SS/STK/Sportbike

2024 Bennetts British Superbike Championship
Round Seven – Thruxton
Sunday

Ryan Vickers scored a double victory on his OMG Grilla Yamaha on Sunday at Thruxton, as many of the leading championship contenders failed to score significant points.

Ryan Vickers

“It’s been a strong weekend for us and the OMG GRILLA Yamaha Team, taking two wins today. It was always going to be difficult starting 15th in what was planned to be a ten-lap race, but it’s even harder to go from 15th to 1st in six laps!

“I’m really happy with how I rode in that race, I attacked in the right places at the right time and managed to pick up a handful of positions each lap and eventually took the lead when Max Cook had a moment ahead. The last lap I just pushed, hit my markers and brought it home.

“The final race of the weekend didn’t actually go to my plan because I hit the front early on. I could see Billy was quick but it maybe wasn’t coming quite as easy. I got by and just ticked the laps off. Had a bit of a moment on the final corner, but it’s all good and I’m delighted to take the lucky number seven R1 to a seventh win of 2024. I’m now looking forward to continuing this form on to Cadwell Park over the Bank Holiday weekend.”

Championship leader Tommy Bridewell carded 7-6 scores on Sunday but still leaves Thruxton with a 25-point advantage over Kyle Ryde, who bagged 8-4 results across races two and three of the seventh round of the championship.

Tommy Bridewell

“I am satisfied with the weekend as a whole in truth. I came into Thruxton with no expectations as I didn’t know if I would come here and win all three races or come here and be up against it. The feeling in FP1 wasn’t amazing but the good thing is that we made inroads with the setup that I think will help, not just for here but for the rest of the year too. We tried something with the geometry which turned out to be helpful for me and unlocked some potential. This is the good thing about working as part of a team because Andrew has likely learnt things from me and this weekend I have learnt some things from his setup, which is great for the team.

“The sprint race just didn’t play into our hands, I had a mega start in the first running as I made such a good start and got away with the guys near the front and I was on for a strong result. Then the red flag came out and we had a ten-lap race, which was then disrupted with the safety car for two laps too. So to try and make progress with not alot of laps is tough, super tough. Seventh was ok to be fair, but I think there was potential for more.

“In the last race, we had a quick-shift problem which made me instantly think that I was out of the race, so for me to salvage sixth is a solid result to be fair. I came into this weekend with a nineteen point championship lead and now I have a twenty five point lead to Kyle and we are forty seven points ahead of Glenn. For me, I can’t be disappointed.”

Kyle Ryde leaves Thruxton with a ten-point advantage over third placed Christian Iddon while fourth-placed Glenn Irwin suffered through a disastrous round that saw him claim only three points from Thruxton’s three races. The Hager PBM Ducati man had a huge high-side on Sunday morning which put him to the back of the grid for race three, but could only work his way forward to 15th.

Glenn Irwin

“I’ve had some big highsides before but the second or third gear ones definitely hurt more! Starting from the front row for the Sprint race gave us a great chance of a podium but the mistake cost us and it was a missed opportunity. It made the final race 50/50 but I felt OK so gave it a go and although I was annoyed to lose a couple of places towards the end, we got some points. We have struggled with the front tyre all season, but we have more things to test ahead of the next round and some more ideas. We’re 47 points adrift of the lead but I’m not too concerned. There are plenty of races to come and plenty of points, all at good tracks for us so we’ll go again.”

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Jason O’Halloran was in sensational form at Thruxton, leading the majority of the opening race before claiming third. Things took a major turn for the worse on Sunday, however, with what appeared to be a mechanical lock-up on the Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki during morning warm-up on Sunday leaving the 36-year-old battered and unable to race on Sunday.

Thruxton was somewhat of a breakthrough round for Billy McConnell. After fighting for victory all the way to the flag on Saturday, before ultimately finishing fifth, only a second behind the race winner, McConnell then backed that up with some more great performances on Sunday. Fifth place on Sunday morning followed by a podium on Sunday afternoon setting a standard that the South Australian will now hope to follow for the remainder of the season.

Billy McConnell

“It’s been a while since we’ve been on the podium what with all the things that have gone on, like being taken out at Oulton and having a fuel pipe break at Donington, so it’s nice to be back on the box again. After Knockhill, we’ve been slowly rebuilding the confidence and were fourth or fifth in every practice and qualifying session this weekend so felt good ahead of the race. I missed the jump a little bit when Alex went with Dan, but I had a good battle with Richard and was delighted to come out on top so a big thanks to the team, the bike was awesome again.”

The weekend had not off to a great start for Josh Brookes, the two-time champ started from 20th on Saturday and just missed the points. However, Brookes carded one of the fastest laps of the race during that opening bout and thus started Sunday’s opening race from sixth place on the grid. That helped the 41-year-old turn his fortunes around to claim a fourth-place finish in race two. That was followed up by an eighth place in the final bout, which helped promote him into the championship top ten.

Josh Brookes

“Thruxton because of the long radius corners and the tyre we have to use is the harder option, which seems to disable our bike a little bit more than it seems to do the competition, so we started the weekend with some really disappointing lap times even more than we anticipated. I then had to claw my way back through the weekend trying to improve; qualifying for the opening race in 20th is quite bad by anyone’s standards I would expect. I was actually quite surprised at the end of the first race that the lap time had been enough to put me up to the second row of the grid for the second race. Race 2 we were on the softer tyre and I was actually in a podium position for a few laps, so that was quite a surprise but ended up fourth at the end, and was on the second row for the final race. However for the last race it was back to the harder tyre because of the longer race distance, I had a decent battle amongst some of the other competitors and finished eighth in the end – so not a disaster, but not really what we’d like to come away with. At this point in the year, we were hoping to be fighting for podiums; we’ve got some work to do, that’s no secret but we’re a little far from where we wanted to be. Thruxton is a difficult circuit for us, so we have to accept that and move onto Cadwell Park for the next round.”

Countryman Brayden Elliott carded 20-18-18 place finishes across the three bouts on the DAO Racing Kawasaki. Brayden is the second highest placed Superbike newcomer in the championship behind Aprilia’s Lewis Rollo.

British Superbike Race Two

Ryan Vickers stormed from the fifth row of the grid to take the victory in a dramatic second Bennetts race as he continued the team’s winning momentum.

Max Cook had fired off from the Omologato Pole position to take the lead on the opening lap ahead of Storm Stacey and Glenn Irwin, but there was drama for the Hager PBM Ducati rider who crashed out after a huge highside at Campbell, which meant the race was red flagged.

On the restart, Stacey launched the Team LKQ Euro Car Parts Kawasaki into the lead ahead of Cook and Josh Brookes, but on the second lap, Alex Olsen and Franco Bourne crashed out at Village and the BMW Safety Car was deployed.

When the race got back underway, it became a five-lap sprint to the finish and Cook was holding the lead until the penultimate lap when Vickers gained two places to return to the front, making his move into the Complex.

Cook then had Brookes and Danny Kent for company, as the McAMS Racing Yamaha rider carved his way through the pack and he was pushing for a return to the podium. Cook was able to hold second to the line to celebrate a career first podium finish in Bennetts BSB.

Josh Brookes had been running in second over the closing stages before Vickers initially made a pass, and then the FHO Racing BMW Motorrad rider narrowly missed out on his first podium of the season as Kent stole third on the final lap.

Still, this was the best finish of the season for Brookes and the FHO BMW and he was closely trailed to the line by countryman Billy McConnell on the C&L Fairburn / Look Forward Honda.  Less than two-seconds covered the top five at the flag.

British Superbike Race Two Results

British Superbike Race Three

Danny Kent took the early advantage ahead of Tommy Bridewell and Billy McConnell when the final race of the day got underway at Thruxton. That trio all took a turn at the front of the pack across the opening lap.

Bridewell then suffered a quick-shifter problem while leading which momentarily baulked the closely following McConnell.

Ryan Vickers swept into the lead on the fifth lap as Billy McConnell and Lewis Rollo gave chase.

Danny Kent move up into second with five laps remaining and managed to hold off McConnell to the flag.

The podium for the Australian marked the C&L Fairburn Properties/Look Forward Racing Honda team’s first since joining the championship this year.

Kyle Ryde claimed fourth ahead of Charlie Nesbitt while Tommy Bridewell recovered from his earlier problems to still bag good points for sixth

BSB next heads to Cadwell Park on the August Bank Holiday weekend.

British Superbike Race Three Results

British Superbike Championship Points

British Supersport / GP2 Feature Race

Honda Racing UK’s Jack Kennedy beat race-long leader Luke Stapleford to the Feature Race win after a last lap move secured maximum points for the Irishman. That victory sees Kennedy leave Thruxton with a five-point lead over Ben Currie.

Jack Kennedy

“I tried to deliver a perfect race there because the truth is if you can be inch perfect then the results will come. I knew Luke probably wanted to follow me but it ended up the other way around. We both pulled a big gap to the guys behind which was perfect for me. The pace he was setting was so fast and it was hard for me to hang on to the back of him for the whole race. I was trying to make sure that I was in the slipstream because he could gap me with the extra torque in so many places. I have no idea how we managed to sustain such a strong pace for the whole race in this heat. I tried to tee up the move for the whole race but I just didn’t know how it was going to come off. In the end, I just went for it on the last lap and it all came off. I’m delighted to take the win, take the championship lead and head on to the next round at Cadwell Park where I think the Honda will be even stronger.”

Luke Stapleford had been fast off the line and took the lead into turn one, as Kennedy slotted in just behind.

The order up front remained the same all the way to the final lap, as Kennedy, who had been sitting on Stapleford’s rear wheel for the full 18 laps, finally made his move into the chicane and was able to power through to the win, just 0.086secs clear of Stapleford.

Defending champion Ben Currie was third after passing Eugene McManus with three laps to go.  McManus then managed to hold off Alastair Seeley to take fourth.

Dean Harrison had stepped away from the Superbike for this round to work on the Supersport machine and carded a seventh-place finish after being relegated from sixth for cutting the course.

Dean Harrison

“I think it’s been a good weekend all things considered, to jump on a 600 mid-season and come away with a decent result in a competitive class. The target was a top six, so to finish sixth on the road but seventh in the result due to the penalty isn’t far away from what we wanted. I passed someone into the chicane but I just wasn’t going to make the corner so I sat up and went straight on through the chicane. I let him come pack past so as not to gain an advantage but I didn’t lose enough time so got the penalty. I’m happy with the weekend and I’m looking forward to having another go at Cadwell.”

In GP2, it was another easy win for Owen Jenner, as his Kramer Racing team-mate Jack Nixon’s race ended in the barrier as part of a three-rider crash early on. Keo Walker was second in the class, ahead of Lucca Allen.

In the Cup, Mikey Hardie’s winning streak came to an end when he retired while running in 12th position three laps from home, leaving Adon Davie to take the Cup spoils with Joe Farragher second and Harry Cook third.

British Supersport / GP2 Feature Race Results

British Supersport Championship Points

GP2 Championship Points

Supersport Cup Championship Points

Pirelli National Superstock Race Two

Luke Mossey beat Josh Owens to the flag after a dramatic final lap at Thruxton.

Yesterday’s winner Scott Swann had looked on course to double up after hitting the front with two laps to go but crashed out from the lead on the final lap, leaving Mossey and Owens to battle it out between them.

Mossey, who had led earlier in the race, got the better of Owens who in turn found himself in the mix with Tim Neave and they crossed the line in that order, with Shaun Winfield fourth and Joe Talbot fifth.

Pirelli National Superstock Race Two Results

Pirelli National Superstock Points

Pirelli National Sportbike Race Two

Points leader Edoardo Colombi, Richard Cooper and Harrison Dessoy tangled and crashed out on the last lap, leaving Thomas Strudwick to cross the line first ahead of Barnes and Rhys Stephenson.

But moments later, race control slapped Strudwick with a one-second penalty for cutting the course during the melee, dropping him back to third and promoting Barnes and Stephenson to first and second, respectively.

Alfie Davidson took fourth as Zak Shelton rounded-out the top five.

Pirelli National Sportbike Race Two Results

Pirelli National Sportbike Points