Saturday BSB round up from Snetterton

2022 British Superbike Championship
Round Eight – Snetterton – Saturday

British Superbike Qualifying

Christian Iddon claimed his first pole position of the 2022 Bennetts British Superbike Championship season at Snetterton, mastering the wet and changing conditions to award Suzuki the leading position after Superpicks Qualifying.

It was a disappointing start to qualifying for Jason O’Halloran as the McAMS Yamaha rider was pushed out of the riders progressing into Q2 after the final laps. Likewise, Leon Haslam missed out on a position in Q2 as he has a challenge ahead if he is to qualify for the Showdown.

When Q2 got underway, Danny Kent’s bike had a technical problem, leaving oil on circuit that necessitated a red flag and then the session restarted in wet conditions for 12 minutes.

Iddon managed the conditions to set the pace, despite Kyle Ryde edging to within 0.164s of the pole position on his final lap of the session. The Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha rider holds eighth place in the standings ahead of this afternoon’s opening eBay Sprint Race.

Tommy Bridewell completes the front row for the Oxford Products Racing Ducati team; also vying to confirm his position in the Showdown this weekend, he eased Glenn Irwin into fourth to head the second row for Honda Racing UK.

Bradley Ray tipped off towards the end of the session, but the Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha rider qualified fifth ahead of the opening race with Tarran Mackenzie completing the second row on the leading McAMS Yamaha.

Takumi Takahashi had another strong session in seventh place for Honda Racing UK to claim his best start of the season. Tom Sykes completed the second row on the first of the MCE Ducatis despite a crash at Wilson with six minutes remaining.

Peter Hickman earned ninth on the grid alongside Rory Skinner, another rider to crash out in the early stages of the session. Andrew Irwin and Josh Brookes completed the fourth row.

British Superbike Qualifying Results

British Superbike Sprint Race

Bradley Ray secured a resounding victory in the opening Bennetts British Superbike Championship race of the weekend at Snetterton. The Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha rider mastered the eBay Sprint Race to take the chequered flag with a 2.437s advantage.

The opening race of the weekend was preceded by a two-minutes silence on the grid, paying tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

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As the race got underway Ray took the lead, but on the opening lap, Danny Buchan had his Showdown chances made all the more difficult when he was involved in a crash with Ryan Vickers and Josh Owens at Agostini. The incident meant that the BMW Safety Car was deployed.

When the race resumed, Ray was leading the pack and the championship leader continued to try to break the pack, edging out an advantage that took him to his fifth victory of the season.

The jostle for the Showdown Title Fighter positions continued and defending champion Tarran Mackenzie fought his way through the pack after dropping places at the start, working his way through to second place by lap eight.

Mackenzie was able to fend off the challenges from Yamaha rival Kyle Ryde as the rider holding the most precarious position in the standings returned to the podium for the first time since Donington Park. Ryde moves into tomorrow’s decisive two races with a 30-point margin over Buchan in ninth place.

Christian Iddon had his best result of the season in fourth place for the Buildbase Suzuki team, he had been involved in the podium battle after starting from pole position.

Leon Haslam delivered an impressive performance to move up the order from 21st on the grid to finish the race in fifth place for the local VisionTrack Kawasaki team to keep his outside chances of a place in the Showdown alive.

Lee Jackson was sixth in the race, scoring valuable points that would confirm his place in the Showdown for the first time to ensure both Cheshire Mouldings FS-3 Kawasaki riders feature in the final title fight.

Tom Sykes was seventh on the leading MCE Ducati, holding off the challenges from Peter Hickman, who has dropped a position in the standings and Glenn Irwin.

Irwin had been battling for a top five position when he ran off track on lap seven, but also became the fifth rider to guarantee their place in the Showdown.

Danny Kent completed the top ten for Buildbase Suzuki, whilst there was disappointment for Tommy Bridewell as the Oxford Products Racing Ducati rider appeared to suffer a technical problem. He briefly stopped on lap seven before continuing, but he was unable to score a point in his quest to be one of the Title Fighters in the Showdown.

Jason O’Halloran had suffered from a lack of dry time before the race after technical problems robbed him of dry laps on Friday, and then with FP3 neither wet nor dry, he was further unable to progress with set-up for the race. A wet Qualifying 1 further complicated matters, when a late change of tyres wasn’t quite enough for him to progress to the second session meaning he had to start from 17th on the grid. That meant the Aussie’s first laps in the dry this weekend were held in the race, and a strong start saw O’Halloran set a lap time quick enough to secure fourth on the grid for Sundayts second race. Progressing through the pack, he finished 12th.

Off the back of his second place finish, Tarran Mackenzie has moved into sixth in the championship standings and looks certain to confirm his Showdown position on Sunday.

Josh Brookes suffered from a poor start after some recent changes to his Ducati affected his acceleration from a standing start.

Five riders are confirmed in the Showdown and three Title Fighter positions remain available with six riders in mathematical contention ahead of the two races on Sunday.

British Superbike Sprint Race Results

British Superbike Championship Points

British Supersport Race One

Jack Kennedy coasted to his 12th win of the season as he beat Jamie van Sikkelerus by 8.737secs to put one hand on the championship trophy.

And as title rival Bradley Perie crashed out on the final lap, Kennedy is now in an even stronger position to lift the title tomorrow.

It was another solid win for the Mar-Train Racing rider, who grabbed the holeshot from pole and was never challenged as he powered to yet another win, beating Dutchman van Sikkelerus as Lee Johnston took third on his return to action.

Harry Truelove crossed the line fourth on the Appleyard Macadam Yamaha as Jack Scott was fifth, and first GP2 rider home.

Cameron Fraser emerged best of the rest of the GP2 runners as he finished second in class and 14th overall, one place ahead of the third GP2 bike of Harvey Claridge.

Tom Toparis finished a highly creditable ninth, half-a-second behind Astro JJR Triumph team-mate Rhys Irwin.

Kiwi Damon Rees finished 12th.

British Supersport Race One Results

British Supersport Championship Points

GP2 Points

British Superstock 1000 Qualifying

Davey Todd continued his strong form into qualifying as the Milenco by Padgetts Motorcycles rider took pole with a best lap of 1min 49.574s.

FHO Racing with Kobelco’s Alex Olsen took second on the grid and will be joined on the front row by Dan Linfoot. Charlie Nesbitt will start from fourth, just ahead of points leader Billy McConnell.

Brayden Elliott will start Sunday’s race from sixth place on the grid ahead of countryman Levi Day who will start from tenth.

Victorian Mark Chiodo qualified 19th on his debut in the category on a Tamworth Yamaha backed YZF-R1.

British Superstock 1000 Qualifying Results

British Junior Supersport Race One

Charlie Atkins closed in on points leader James McManus as he beat Kieran Kent by 0.597sec in the first race of the weekend.

The early leader slipped to second when Mikey Hardie hit the front a few laps into the race, but just when it looked like he had it in the bag he crashed out on lap six, handing the lead back to Atkins who held it the end.

Christian Smith finished third, some 18secs adrift of Kent as Abbz Thomas enjoyed an astonishing race, fighting through from 30th on the grid to finish fourth, just ahead of Harry Cook in fifth.

British Junior Supersport Race One Results

British Junior Supersport Championship Points

British Junior Superstock Qualifying

Australia’s Jacob Hatch took a surprise pole for this weekend’s race as he beat points leader Max Cook by 0.012sec with a best lap of 2min 07.947s.

After a hard-fought battle in the wet, Cook had to settle for second on the grid, lining up alongside Cameron Dawson. Cameron Hall leads the second row in fourth place, just ahead of Dan Brooks in fifth.

Kiwi Zak Fuller qualified 15th while Seth Crump will start from 19th on the grid.

British Junior Supertock Qualifying