Honda men come out on top in bruising BSB at Donington

2020 British Superbike Championship
Round One – Donington

Images Dave Yeomans

Superbike Race Two

Andrew Irwin put the brakes on his brother Glenn winning the second Bennetts British Superbike Championship race of the weekend at Donington Park, with a last lap move on the brakes into Roberts in an incredibly close battle for the victory.

At the start of the race Josh Brookes got the launch off the pole position onboard the VisionTrack Ducati, but into the Old Hairpin Glenn Irwin had made a move to lead the pack ahead of his Australian rival and a freight train of riders including Tommy Bridewell and Christian Iddon.

Iddon was on the move though and he was soon in third place on the second VisionTrack Ducati with Andrew Irwin for company after the Honda Racing rider had recovered from a big moment on the opening lap.

The leading trio then was headed by Glenn Irwin ahead of his brother Andrew by lap five when he pulled a sensational manoeuvre around the outside of Iddon at Craner Curves. However, Jason O’Halloran had also carved his way into contention and he was holding fourth place for McAMS Yamaha by lap six.

O’Halloran was soon under pressure from Tommy Bridewell and the Oxford Products Racing Ducati rider made his move on the seventh lap, and then was defending hard as he bid to move up the order in the leading pack. O’Halloran was ready to fight back and he had moved back ahead by lap 13 as Bridewell then came under attack from Danny Buchan, with the pair trading places during the lap.

O’Halloran meanwhile had Iddon in his sights and he made a pass to edge ahead on lap 16 to put him his McAMS Yamaha within striking distance of the two Honda Racing team-mates before Bridewell nudged Iddon back a further place as he moved into fourth position.

O’Halloran then moved into second with five laps remaining with a decisive move on Andrew Irwin but he wasn’t giving up the position and he seized the opportunity to regain the position at Schwantz Curve.

As Glenn and Andrew Irwin held 1-2 positions on the track Bridewell made his move to snatch third place from O’Halloran as he joined the fight for the victory. However, on lap 24 a small error cost dearly as he ran through the gravel at Roberts and whilst he was able to save a crash he had to rejoin further down the field, but was able to fight back to ninth at the finish.

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At the front Glenn Irwin was still holding off Andrew Irwin at the front with O’Halloran eager to get the better of the Honda Racing riders. The trio were locked together over the final lap but on the brakes into Roberts Andrew was able to dive down the inside to take the lead to the line.

The move had pushed brother Glenn wide, but he was able to cross the line second and just 0.094s ahead of O’Halloran who claimed his first podium finish of 2020 for McAMS Yamaha.

Kyle Ryde had an incredible race to score his best result in fourth place for the Buildbase Suzuki team after a last lap move on Buchan who completed the top five for Massingberd-Mundy Kawasaki.

Brookes was able to regain some ground he lost earlier in the race to claim sixth place at the chequered flag ahead of Tarran Mackenzie and Iddon.

Héctor Barberá was tenth for the Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW team after pushing Ryan Vickers just outside the top ten.

Bennetts British Superbike Championship
Donington Park Race Two Results

Superbike Race Three

Andrew Irwin sensationally doubled up on victories during a dramatic opening round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Donington Park this weekend; however it took a dramatic change in race three when he was involved in an incident with Josh Brookes, which later saw the Honda rider disqualified from the result.

The Irwin brothers had been formidable all weekend with the new Honda Racing Fireblade, and after their one-two finish in the opening race of the season when Andrew pipped Glenn on the final lap, the pair were shaping up for another intense battle in today’s two races.

Glenn Irwin had been holding the lead throughout race two, but yet again Andrew Irwin struck on the final lap, putting the brakes on his brother to double up his achievement for Honda Racing in an incredibly close battle for the victory.

The pair looked set to reignite their sibling rivalry in race three, and after fighting their way up the order, they were in the battle for the podium positions in the closing stages after Tommy Bridewell delivered a dominant performance. The Oxford Products Racing Ducati rider led from the start and edged an advantage to become the second different race winner of the season.

By lap 24 Glenn Irwin was into second and Brookes split the Honda Racing team-mates, however disaster struck as Andrew Irwin made contact with the VisionTrack Ducati rider at Hollywood sending him crashing out at high-speed and into the safety fence. The Australian was able to walk away from the incident but he was out of contention. The race result was then subsequently under investigation by Race Direction.

As they crossed the line Bridewell won by 2.064s ahead of Andrew and Glenn Irwin. However following a long deliberation by the Race Direction panel it was announced at 1930 that Andrew Irwin would be disqualified for his part in the incident for avoidable and unfair contact causing a collision and crash with Brookes. Irwin also receives six penalty points and by virtue of his total penalty points accumulated, he will start his next Bennetts BSB race from the last grid position.

The result means that brother Glenn Irwin leaves the opening round of Donington Park leading his brother by ten points in the championship standings as BSB heads to Snetterton.

Bennetts British Superbike Championship
Donington Park Race Three Results

BSB Superbike Quotes

Andrew Irwin

“Even with the outcome this evening from the final race, this has been a great weekend, with two race wins at the first round on a brand-new machine. It’s been a good start to the season with Honda and the Fireblade, and I’m looking forward to the progress we can make. I’ll keep working hard, putting in the time and effort in the next two weeks, to arrive at Snetterton even better. But we have to be realistic there, we know it’s a different track and a different style to Donington, so we have to hope the bike is also competitive there, so I’ll go, try my best and hopefully we can do a good job.”

Glenn Irwin

“It’s been an amazing weekend! Race 2, for sure I chucked away a win! The final race today was probably my favourite ride, even though we finished third, (then moved into second). I wanted to not do anything stupid and if Andy came past me then fair play, but to come from 12th, same for Andy he was 7th on the grid was a good job. That race was enjoyable I got to him and he was stuck behind the Ducatis and I felt I could pull him through, so was nice to overtake him and the others, to be honest I never give up and I stayed in 1.06s to try and catch Tommy [Bridewell]. I threw everything at that race and when you do that and come away with a podium, it’s the icing on the cake – a victory would have been sweet, but we never expected the results we had this weekend and we leave here as a happy team, with a really happy rider with his confidence back – a lot due to what I’ve been working on off the track. Thanks to Harv and everyone at Honda for this weekend.”

Honda Team Manager Havier Beltran

“We’ve had a fantastic start to the season, we arrived at Donington without any expectations and the results this weekend across the Superbike and Superstock classes show what a great bike the new Fireblade is. I’m proud of everyone in the team for what we’ve achieved this weekend and we’re now leading BSB with Glenn and also the manufacturer standings. We’ve learnt a lot across the weekend and have more of an understanding and more information of where we need to be stronger. Of course we can’t take anything for granted and Snetterton is such a different circuit to Donington, but we will refocus, set our goals and see where Round 2 takes us.”

Josh Brookes

“What can I say? Despite a podium, I wasn’t happy with the bike in race one, so we made some changes overnight. They really didn’t make a lot of difference in today’s opening race and I ended up making a couple of silly mistakes, so I’ll take the blame for that one. We had to change the bike again for the third race and that worked as we were competitive and had I got a better start; I think I could have gone with Tommy. And then I encountered the situation with Irwin. Glenn got past me fine, but Andrew touched me as he went past and down I went. These things happen so we move on and hope for better results at Snetterton.”

Christian Iddon

“It’s been a big learning curve for me this weekend. Race one yesterday felt good PBMand I was happy enough but in today’s opening race, I really struggled, especially in the last third of the race. The final race was better, and I was able to maintain a good pace. I was closing in on the leaders, but I made a minor mistake which let a couple of others past. From then onwards, I fell away and couldn’t manage a final push for the podium. Two fourths and an eighth isn’t what I want but we can work with those results. It’s three finishes, loads of data and no crashes so there’s room for improvement and my feeling with the bike is brilliant until the late stages of the race, so we just need to work on that and we’ll be somewhere near.”

Johnny Mowatt – VistionTrack Ducati Team Co-Ordinator

“It’s been a disappointing weekend and we intend to look at where we need to improve before the next round. It was great to see Josh get a podium yesterday, but we struggled today, not helped by another rider causing him to crash at high speed. Luckily, he’s not injured but disappointing all the same that it happened. Christian continued to get to grips with the bike and with a pair of fourth place finishes, he was unlucky to miss out on a podium. Our aim is to bounce back at Snetterton so that’s our focus now.”

Ryan Vickers

“Overall, it’s been a good weekend and I’m pleased to have come away with three trouble-free races and a good haul of points. I had a few crashes in 2019 and that was the last thing I wanted in a shortened season so with the bike even better than what it was last year, I came away with some good results. That was the aim from the outset; to finish all three races, get some good experience and get three strong results. I probably exceeded that with two top ten finishes and although qualifying could have gone better, my pace in all three races was very good both in terms of consistency and actual lap times which were more than comparable to the front runners. I didn’t make any mistakes and we learnt a lot so I can go to my home round at Snetterton in confident mood. It’s obviously a shame there won’t be any spectators but I’ll be looking to put on a good show for everyone at home.”

Kyle Ryde

“To be honest I didn’t expect that from the weekend. In FP2 we changed the front tyre we were working with and that made a huge difference and I managed to pull a lap time out in qualifying that I didn’t think we’d get near this weekend. Leading race one I kept waiting for people to pass me but it took about 10 minutes, but then a stone put a hole in the radiator and that was that. It was obviously a real shame but there were plenty of positives to take from it.  I was happy with race two, to come through to finish fourth and get on the front row again for the final race but I just struggled early on with the full fuel tank, as the pace was pretty hot from the start. But then it clicked midway through and I managed to start moving forward again and with another lap or two we could have had sixth and our pace was good enough for the podium at that point. I was disappointed to cross the line in eighth, but if someone had offered me that before the weekend I’d have taken it, which shows what a good weekend we’ve had. We just need to work on that early race pace and hopefully we can be fast for the full race distance, starting at Snetterton.”

British Superbike Championship Points

British Superstock 1000

After storming through from the back of the grid in the opening race on Saturday to salvage fifth, Chrissy Rouse was able to clinch victory in the second Pirelli Superstock 1000 race by a handy two-second margin over New Zealand’s Damon Rees at the end of the 21-lap encounter. With Tom Neave forced to start from the back of the grid, it was Tim Neave who grabbed the holeshot ahead of Kiwi Damon Rees and Rouse.

Moving up to second on lap three, and then the lead on lap five, Rouse had to fend off a late charge from Lewis Rollo to take his first win of the season. Rollo slipped back over the final few laps as Billy McConnell picked his was through the pack to claim second place at the finish line.

Superstock newcomer Rees completed the podium in third as Danny Kent crashed out of fourth on the final lap, seeing Rollo claim the spot ahead of Tom Neave who had fought his way through the pack.

The great start to the season for New Zealand’s Damon Rees saw him bag a 36-point haul to end the opening round in joint second place in the championship standings.

Damon Rees

“After a long day waiting, we finally got out for Race 2 at 6pm BST  I got off to a solid start, and sat in 2nd for the opening laps, I slowly slipped back and was 6th midway through the race. I wasn’t going to settle for that and knew I had more in me and made a charge in the closing laps, finishing 3rd! I now am in a 3-way lead for the Championship!  It’s been an absolute stellar start to the season and has made the delayed start all worth it! I couldn’t be happier with my Carl Cox Motorsport supported Astro JJR Racing BMW S1000rr, and I can’t thank the team enough for their hard work all weekend. I really feel like I have hit the jackpot to be working with such an incredible team! It’s also been great to be racing alongside my best bud Shane Richardson – it’s been a tough weekend but I’m sure he will regroup and be firing at round 2!  And thanks to my incredible sponsors who have persevered with their support, after a very slow start to my BSB Campaign – your support means the absolute world to me!”

Billy McConnell’s run-off in the opening race of the weekend saw the South Australian of course take no points on Saturday but he bounced back on Sunday with that second position to bag 20-points and move up to fifth in the championship standings.

Brayden Elliott backed up his 13th place finish on Saturday with an 18th on Sunday.

There was quite a few of the international road racing contingent using the event to keep their hand in. Michael Dunlop carded 22-20 results across the two bouts while Ian Hutchinson scored 17th in the opening bout but didn’t start race two.

British Superstock 1000 Race Two Results

British Superstock 1000 Points

British Supersport

Rory Skinner continued his dominant weekend in the Quattro Group British Supersport class by doubling up on race victories. Just as he did in yesterday’s Sprint race, Skinner leapt off the line and wasted no time in getting to the front. Cruising away over the 23 laps, the Tyser Yamaha rider was able to take victory by 9.356s, setting a new lap record in the process.

However, behind Skinner it was an action-packed battle as James Westmoreland, Bradley Perie, Brad Jones and the GP2 machine of Jack Scott battled for second position. Trading places with every lap, it came down to a last lap battle and it was the Gearlink Kawasaki of Westmoreland that came out on top, with Perie completing the podium in third.

Scott was the leading GP2 machine in fourth, with Jones eventually receiving fifth ahead of Mason Law, who was the second of the GP2 machines. Richard Kerr finished seventh, with Alastair Seeley completing the GP2 podium, finishing eighth overall. Completing the top ten was Rob Hartog and Joel Boerboom.

Ben Currie

“Race one DNF due to mechanical. Race Two P7 with x2 time penalty’s after starting from the back of the grid as I had some more technical problems just before the start with the bike cutting out, also the bike was not 100% in the race. Unfortunately the weekend was far from alright with only a 6 round championship. We need to pull it together real fast ready for round two next weekend. Meanwhile I’ll just keep putting in the work. Thanks everyone for the support”

A brilliant start in British Supersport for Goulburn youngster Tom Toparis with a fifth place amongst the Supersport riders on Saturday came to a tumbling halt on Sunday when he made a mistake while battling for fourth place that has cost him a broken wrist.

Tom Toparis

“Overall, I’m super proud of my team this weekend. After arriving at a rollercoaster of a circuit like Donington Park which we’d never seen before, and having pace for the top 5 was a big positive that we’ll take away from this weekend. I’ll heal up and be back at the track as soon as possible.“

British Supersport Championship and GP2 Cup
Feature Race, Donington Park

Quattro Group British Supersport Championship Standings

Ducati Performance TriOptions Cup

Josh Day made it two wins from two races in the Ducati Performance TriOptions Cup, cruising to victory by 2.1s over Eliot Pinson. Grabbing the holeshot, Day was able to pull away from the pursuing pack, with Pinson holding second from the start.

Ed Best held third place early on in the race, but Craig Neve was able to move ahead at the half race stage. Best eventually secured fourth ahead of David Shoubridge, Sam Cox and John McGuinness.

Levi Day had scored a podium on Saturday but race two didn’t quite go to plan after a failed passing move ended up with the South Australian negotiating the gravel trap and lost 36-seconds in the process to slip back to 31st before clawing his way back up through the field to card four-points for 12th place at the chequered flag.

Road race legend John McGuinness participated in the event and after qualifying seventh he carded 5-7 results across the two races.

Ducati Performance TriOptions Cup Race Two Results

Ducati Performance TriOptions Cup Championship Points

British Junior Supersport

Owen Jenner made a dream start to the 2020 Hel Performance British Junior Supersport class, taking his third victory of the weekend. Brody Crockford grabbed the holeshot, but the two young riders would swap places throughout the race.

Coming down to the final lap, Jenner was able to take the lead on the final corner to take his third win whilst Seth Crump completed the podium in third. Owen Jones finished fourth overall, ahead Elliot Pinson and Adon Davie.

Owen Jenner had also won the preceding second Junior Supersport bout of the weekend in a red flag affected encounter.  Young Australian Seth Crump had grabbed the lead from the opening lap, pulling a minor gap over second placed Crockford and Jenner who held third.

The group then quickly bunched together, with a four-way battle for the lead ensuing.  The battle continued until the final lap, however a red flag brought a halt to proceedings leaving Jenner to take the victory with Crump second and Davie third.

Owen Jenner is the early championship lead with his perfect 50-point haul while Seth Crump is ranked second with 36-points.

British Junior Supersport Race One Results

British Junior Supersport Race Two Results

British Junior Supersport Championship Points