Massive round up from Snetterton BSB weekend

2022 British Superbike Championship
Round Eight – Snetterton

Images Dave Yeomans

British Superbike Race Two

Bradley Ray doubled up on victories with a last lap move on Tarran Mackenzie in the second race of the weekend as the Bennetts British Superbike Championship leader won race two at Snetterton.

Ray had taken the lead on the opening lap ahead of Mackenzie, who had eased ahead of his McAMS Yamaha team-mate Jason O’Halloran.

Ray held the lead until lap six when the defending champion made a move at Agostini and then he held the advantage until the final lap.

Mackenzie was pushing at the front but Ray went for the slipsteam at the end of the Bentley Straight, making a move on the brakes into Brundle. The Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha rider then held off any counterattack from the defending champion.

Tommy Bridewell had moved into third place during the early stages of the race and the Oxford Products Racing Ducati rider bounced back from yesterday’s disappointment to return to the podium.

Bridewell had a moment during the eBay Sprint Race yesterday, which had caused him to knock the kill switch and ended his hopes of a strong points haul. However, his third place in race two confirmed his place in the Showdown.

Glenn Irwin carved his way through into fourth ahead of Peter Hickman who completed the top five. Kyle Ryde took sixth place to become a Title Fighter for the first time as Danny Buchan did an impressive job to finish in seventh, but it wasn’t enough to close the deficit.

Lee Jackson was eighth ahead of Jason O’Halloran and Tom Sykes as the top eight riders in the standings confirmed their Showdown positions.

There was disappointment for Leon Haslam as he returned to the eBay pitlane, before later rejoining the race, whilst Christian Iddon was also forced to retire from the top eight.

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British Superbike Race Two Results

British Superbike Race Three

Bradley Ray scored his first ever Bennetts British Superbike Championship hat trick of victories at Snetterton on the weekend, claiming the final win despite a penalty in race three to hold the standings lead ahead of the Showdown.

The Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha rider won by 0.739s following a two-second long lap equivalent time penalty, issued to the leading three riders on track as they did not stay behind the BMW Safety Car at the point of the restart.

Mackenzie took the lead on the opening lap from Ray and Andrew Irwin, but the championship leader hit the front of the pack with a move on his McAMS Yamaha rival at Williams.

Ray maintained his position at the front of the field until lap five when Mackenzie emerged ahead with a move at Wilson when the Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha rider ran deep into the corner.

Mackenzie then held the lead from Ray and Glenn Irwin who had been working his way through the pack before a BMW Safety Car intervention on lap 10 when Storm Stacey suffered a technical failure and the track conditions were subsequently assessed.

When the race resumed the leading three riders, Ray, Mackenzie and Glenn Irwin did not stay behind the BMW Safety Car at point of the restart and were later issued a two-second long lap equivalent time penalty. Mackenzie also received two penalty points on his judicial record.

Mackenzie lost the lead when Ray made a move into Brundle after the restart, and a lap later the defending champion got eased back another position as Glenn Irwin made a pass to move into second.

Mackenzie fought back with a move at Agostini to regain second place from Glenn Irwin, but Ray had broken the chasing pair to cross the line ahead of Mackenzie and Irwin. The time penalty issued to the leading three riders meant that Peter Hickman was elevated from fourth into second place ahead of Mackenzie, with Glenn Irwin finishing in fourth position.

Jason O’Halloran was fifth to maintain his second place in the standings ahead of Leon Haslam and Tommy Bridewell on the Oxford Products Racing Ducati.

Kyle Ryde was eighth as he prepares for his first Showdown appearance with Andrew Irwin and Lee Jackson completing the top ten finishers just ahead of Josh Brookes.

British Superbike Race Three Results

Rider Quotes

Bradley Ray

“I am over the moon to have scored my first treble win – I have done a double but never three, so that feels really good. I knew I had to put the hammer down when I did get in front and that’s what I did. This was the perfect way to head into the Showdown. The bike was working unbelievable and feeling really good. I was riding on a wave of confidence and I’m super happy. I am speechless really and I’m looking forward to heading into the Showdown now with a little bit of a points advantage.”

Tarran Mackenzie

“I’m really happy with the weekend, I wanted to have a solid weekend and to leave third in the standings and score some more podium points is great. I felt like I should have won that last one if I’m honest, I was feeling really strong before the safety car came out and had a plan in my head and the first part of my plan worked and unfortunately the safety car came out the lap after I had just started to build a gap. I messed up after the safety car, I ran wide at turn one and allowed Brad a gap and got a penalty for going too soon with the safety car so lost second place, but it is what it is. I’m feeling good in myself and the bike is working really well so I can take that confidence into the last three rounds.”

Jason O’Halloran

“It’s been a hard weekend, we had some issues beyond our control on Friday and that kind of ran in to yesterday morning so we didn’t get any dry laps until the first race. In that race I got a good lap time for today but we tried something with the bike and it didn’t quite work, I was just circulating not really racing. We changed the bike completely for the last race and felt the best I’d felt all weekend. We have something to work with there now. We are fortunate with the Showdown as while we’ve not had the best weekend we’re only 13 points down. The championship starts at Oulton Park and we head there on a positive note not a negative so we’ll come out fighting at Oulton.”

Tom Sykes

“The weekend got off to a good start, but I suffered a big crash in qualifying which set us back a bit. I felt good on the bike in the races but tenth was the best I could manage in the opening race. Any hopes of a good result in race two disappeared when I was crashed into by another rider which was very disappointing but that about sums up our luck. We’ll dust ourselves down and regroup for the next round at Oulton Park.”

Josh Brookes

“We had a good morning warm up, but it proved to be false hope as I don’t think a few of the other riders were trying that hard in the misty conditions and we ended up having two more challenging races. The final race of the weekend was marginally better as although I didn’t feel that fast, the lap times were quicker than what they had been all weekend. It’s not an improvement to get excited about but I’m an eternal optimist and am determined to make things better. I’m as motivated as ever and although the championship isn’t possible, we have a lot of personal pride to fight for both as a rider and team in the remaining seven races, so we won’t give up.”

British Superbike Championship Points

British Superbike Championship Points Ahead of Showdown

British Superstock Race

Davey Todd scored his first win of the year to move into the championship lead as he beat FHO Racing with Kobelco’s Alex Olsen by 0.636sec.

The Milenco by Padgetts Motorcycles rider banked his seventh podium of the season after taking the lead on lap eight to beat title rival Olsen as Tim Neave took third, Richard Kerr was fourth.

Levi Day finished fifth but was penalised for overtaking under safety car flag and subsequently demoted one position in the results.

Levi Day

“Didn’t have a great first lap having to avoid a big accident right in front of me. Regrouped and had strong pace but unfortunately I made a pass when they bought the safety car flag out, which I completely missed and didn’t see until a corner later. An honest mistake and I wish it had been rectified during the race. I could have dropped back the place or taken a long lap penalty and I feel we still would have finished 5th as we were lapping a second a lap faster than the group battling for 6th. I had a great battle in the group for 3rd and we have ironed out some problems we have been dealing with most of the season. Today I felt like I was riding the best I have all year and we are continuing to learn a lot with some of the new parts on the bike. Thank you Powerslide Racing, Katie Day, Nigel Jameison, Graham Miles and Paul Dyason my mechanics for all their hard work. TEC 41 for the title sponsorship this round at Snetterton and all our other sponsors who are helping us put this season together.”

It was a disastrous race for countryman Billy McConnell, who went in as points leader but was taken out in a lap one crash by Lewis Rollo, that also took out Brayden Elliott.

Billy McConnell

“To say I’m annoyed with what happened is an understatement and that’s three times now that I’ve been knocked off this season, twice by the same rider. I’m gutted for both myself and the team and whilst that hairpin is a bit tricky, some riders make it worse by thinking they can make up a million places in one go. It’s crazy. I made a good start and was keeping everything nice and clean when I got hit from behind and that was that.  Prior to that, everything had been going well and with the mixed conditions, I was just building into everything and felt confident of a top three finish, at least. As things turned out, my main rivals finished first and second and I’ve lost the lead in the championship whilst there’s now only a handful of points between the three of us. It’s the same position I was in earlier in the season, but I turned it round then with wins and podiums so that’s what we’ll be aiming for at the final three rounds.”

Dan Linfoot, who was leading on lap three, was wiped out when Charlie Nesbitt crashed out and his bike crossed the chicane and hit Linfoot’s Optimum Bikes Honda.

Mark Chiodo made his debut on a Tamworth Yamaha backed YZF-R1 and survived what was a brutal introduction to British Superstock racing with 15th place and a point, despite some bike problems.

Mark Chiodo

“My first round done here in the UK we had more than a fair share of weird circumstances that were out of our hands, and a crash from me in qualifying that also made race day hard. In the race I got up to 9th or 10th and had some throttle issues and I just dropped backwards, but I’m sure we will move forward from where we were! Also a fair share of carnage for 1 race so happy to get out of here unscathed.”

British Superstock Race Results

British Superstock Championship Points

British Supersport Race Two / Feature

Mar-Train Racing’s Jack Kennedy has become the first rider in the series’ history to win the championship four times with his 13th win of the season.

Kennedy beat Appleyard Macadam Racing’s Bradley Perie by 1.404sec after a race long battle as Dutchman Jamie van Sikkelerus took third.

Perie took the lead at the start but was under pressure from Kennedy almost immediately, the Irishman making several attempts to get ahead before finally making a pass that stuck on lap seven and keeping ahead to flag.

Jack Kennedy

“I’m really happy to get this championship for us and Mar-Train because we missed out so narrowly in 2012 so it’s always something that I wanted to tick off and I’m sure the team wanted to as well. I had full faith in the team that they could give me the tools I needed to do the job and we did that today. Fair play to Brad, he pushed me really hard there, it was a great race.”

Ashcourt Racing’s Lee Johnston finished fourth, just ahead of first GP2 rider home, Jack Scott.

Kiwi Damon Rees finished eighth, 26-seconds behind the race winner.

Tom Toparis just missed out on a top ten, crossing the line 11th, 34.5-seconds behind the winner after the 14-lap distance.

Harvey Claridge was second of the GP2 runners across the line in 14th position, just one place ahead of third placed GP2 rider, Harry Rowlings.

British Supersport Race Two/Feature Results

British Supersport Championship Points

GP2 Championship Points

British Junior Superstock Race

Max Cook boosted his points lead as he beat Dan Brooks by 4.748sec as both his title rival Louis Valleley and polesitter Jacob Hatch crashed out.

Cook’s win gives him a 63 point advantage over Brooks, who moves second in the standings after beating Asher Durham to second by just 0.035sec.

Owen Jenner just missed out on a podium as he ended up a very close fourth while Aaron Silvester took fifth.

Aussie teenager Jacob Hatch had taken pole position but unfortunately went out early, as did Kiwi Zak Fuller.

Seth Crump scored a top ten finish with ninth place and that seven points maintained his sixth place in the championship.

British Junior Superstock Race Results

British Junior Superstock Championship Points