Oulton Park BSB round a disaster for McAMS Yamaha

2022 British Superbike Championship
Round Nine – Oulton Park

Images Dave Yeomans

British Superbike Race Two

Lee Jackson won an incident-packed second Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park for Cheshire Mouldings FS-3 Kawasaki, holding off Tommy Bridewell and Bradley Ray for the victory over a seven-lap restart following two red flags.

Jason O’Halloran launched off the line into the lead on the first start, but Ray was instantly on the attack to take the lead at Cascades.

As the pack streamed through Druids for the first time, there was contact between O’Halloran and Tommy Bridewell and the McAMS Yamaha rider once again crashed out of the race.

Bridewell was issued a ride through penalty, a drop of three grid positions for Race 3 and 2 penalty points on his judicial record by Race Direction for his move that left O’Halloran on the deck.

Meanwhile Bradley Ray was making a break at the front but behind the riders were battling for the podium places. Rory Skinner was ahead of Tarran Mackenzie and Leon Haslam.

Mackenzie though crashed out at Hislops on lap four and the race was red flagged. Tarran has a suspected broken femur.

The race restarted and Ray again hit the front of the field ahead of Kyle Ryde, Jackson, Skinner and Christian Iddon. However, the race was then red flagged for a second time when Skinner, Ryde and Iddon tangled at Brittens.

Rory Skinner had abdominal pain and Christian Iddon was briefly unconscious so both riders were declared unfit for the rest of proceedings.

Bridewell had started 22nd on the grid due to his ride through time equivalent penalty of 15 seconds, but had fought through to sixth.

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The race was restarted again over seven laps and Ray took the lead from Glenn Irwin and Jackson, but there was more drama on the opening lap when Ryde and Tom Neave crashed out at Old Hall.

Ray was trying to fend off the chasing pack, but on lap four, Jackson went for a move on Irwin at Old Hall to take second and then dived ahead of the championship leader at Cascades.

A lap later and Bridewell was into second place as he pushed Ray back a further position with a move down the inside at Old Hall.

The leading five riders were inseparable as Jackson was holding off Bridewell, Ray, Irwin and Danny Buchan, but the Cheshire Mouldings FS-3 Kawasaki rider had the edge and he was able to hold off his Ducati rival on the drag to the chequered flag.

Ray was narrowly able to hold off Irwin for the final podium position as Buchan completed the top five for Synetiq BMW.

Leon Haslam was sixth for the VisionTrack Kawasaki team, with the MCE Ducati pairing of Tom Sykes and Josh Brookes completing the top eight.

Andrew Irwin and Peter Hickman completed the top ten ahead of this afternoon’s third race.

British Superbike Race Two Results

British Superbike Race Three

Tommy Bridewell claimed his first win of the 2022 Bennetts British Superbike Championship in the final race of the weekend at Oulton Park, fending off his title rivals to become the eighth different victor of the season for Oxford Products Racing Ducati.

The battle for victory in race three became a tussle between four different teams and manufacturers with Bridewell, Glenn Irwin, Lee Jackson and Danny Buchan all in contention.

At the start of the race Glenn Irwin grabbed the lead from Bradley Ray and Jackson with Bridewell and Buchan in formation.

Ray was looking for a move and he dived down the inside at Lodge on the opening lap to take the lead.

Irwin fought back and on lap eight, he reclaimed the position with a move at Lakeside, but Bridewell was through to third and a lap later, he grabbed second position at Old Hall.

The Oxford Products Racing Ducati rider then had Irwin in his sights and he made a decisive move at Lodge to head the pack.

Bridewell was then holding off Irwin, who was piling on the pressure and as they took the chequered flag there was just 0.089s between them.

In the battle for third place, Jackson and Buchan were trading places for the final spot on the podium. On the penultimate lap, the Cheshire Mouldings FS-3 Kawasaki rider reclaimed third and was able to hold off Buchan to the finish line.

Ray crossed the line in fifth place as Tom Sykes recorded his best result of the season for the MCE Ducati team, maintaining his place ahead of Peter Hickman on the FHO Racing BMW and Josh Brookes, who completed the top eight.

Kyle Ryde had carved his way through the pack from his back row start after his race two crash to finish in ninth place with Danny Kent completing the top ten.

British Superbike Race Three Results

British Superbike Championship Standings

The Championship now heads to Donington Park next weekend for the penultimate round of the season.

Bradley Ray heads the standings by 40 points from Bridewell, who surges into second following his victory and double podium finish at Oulton Park this weekend.

Jackson is just eight points adrift of his Ducati rival ahead of him, with Glenn Irwin holding just a further three point deficit.

Jason O’Halloran and Tarran Mackenzie hold fifth and sixth in the standings, with the defending champion sustaining a suspected broken femur following his race two crash. Jason O’Halloran sustained some ankle injuries and is at risk of not being fit to race next time out at Donington.

British Superbike Championship Points

British Superbike Rider Quotes

Tommy Bridewell

“A win and two seconds this weekend was good for me; on Thursday I said to the team that if we get everything right with the bike here then my aim is to leave here in the top three in the championship as it was so close.

“We have closed some points on Brad and moved up the order so that is a big boost for me and the team as we head to Donington Park next weekend. It just makes us believe; we know we are capable.

“There are a few areas still to work on as there is a lot more potential in the bike and if we can unlock that then the wins might come a bit easier.

“I had the opportunity to pass Glenn and then my mind switched to slowing the race down to conserve the tyre. I used the strengths of the Ducati so credit to the team and we need to try and keep the ball rolling now at Donington Park.”

Glenn Irwin

“This weekend is a reward for a lot of hard work and the biggest credit must go to the team, we have a bike that is a fantastic Superstock bike, and also a fantastic Superbike at many different tracks, as we have seen in road racing and also here in BSB. But we’ve also had tracks where we have been weaker.

“I’d love to have won today and on the final lap I tried with Tommy [Bridewell] and I could see his tyre was dropping off so I had to get Druids as good as I could, and I feel that I got it as good as I could, we just lost out a little to him in the run to the last corner. But to come away with a second place here, it feels like a victory!

“It’s been an incredible run of races with Snetterton and being so close to a podium there, then two fourths and a second here. The consistency that got us into the Showdown remains so far and we now go to Donington, which is a track where I think we’ll be a lot stronger.”

Josh Brookes

“In some respects, we’ve had a better day than some others, but today’s races were still hard, and I felt I could have visited the scenery myself on more than one occasion. I was glad I didn’t, but the weekend has again shown just how sensitive the bike is to the changes made.

“We’ve made some really minor changes to the bike this weekend, all of them in what we believed were in the right direction, but it was amazing how much they changed the characteristics of the bike. We went back to what we had in qualifying today, which was better than what we’ve had recently, and I felt like I was competitive again today, especially in the last race. They are small positives, but we’ll take every one we can.”

Tom Sykes

“Today has been a better day in terms of the results achieved with sixth and seventh being my two best finishes so far this season but it’s still frustrating not being in a position to show my true potential.

“Fair play to the team, they made a number of slight changes to try and help with the feel of the bike I was getting so I was able to pull some average results out of the bag.

“If we could get a better package, we’d be able to show much better but getting closer to the leaders was a small step forward whilst starting from the second row also made things a lot easier. It’s Donington Park next, a circuit I love, so let’s hope we can make further improvements there.”

British Superstock Race Two

Davey Todd increased his championship lead with another win, beating rival Alex Olsen by 2.312secs after a lights-to-flag win.

Todd led from pole to beat his FHO Racing with Kobelco rival as fellow title rival Billy McConnell crossed the line third.

Brayden Elliott was the best of the rest as he finished in fourth spot, just ahead of Tom Ward.

Levi Day crossed the line in P13 after suffering a DNF on Saturday.

Countryman Mark Chiodo had suffered with some wiring issues on his bike that held him back all weekend.

Chiodo started from the rear grid and was rapidly making up some places on the opening lap before having a motorcycle destroying crash. Chiodo also suffered wrist injuries in the crash that he is having assessed ahead of likely surgery. A tough way to end his venture into BSB.

Billy McConnell – P3

“It’s been a bit of a tough weekend and although third and fourth gave us some good points, seeing Davey get a double victory is a bitter pill to swallow especially as we’ve lost a chunk of points this season due to being taken out by other riders. We didn’t have the greatest of Friday’s due to the settings we tried with the bike and then only got one flying lap in qualifying, but I felt good in Saturday’s race, battling for the lead, although I just couldn’t put the passes in that I wanted.”

“I got a terrible start on Sunday so still need to look at that and fair play to both Davey and Alex, they were riding very well. I wasn’t far away from them but we’ve lost some ground and points to Davey so will need to come out swinging at Donington next weekend. There are still three races to go and 75 points available so anything can still happen, but wins are all that matter now as I’m only interested in winning the championship.”

British Superstock Race Two Results

British Superstock Championship Points

British Supersport Race Two / Feature

Bradley Perie was back on the top step of the podium after beating Lee Johnston to the Feature race win by just over half a second.

The Appleyard Macadam rider took his second victory of the weekend as recently re-crowned champion Jack Kennedy took third in what is set to be his final Supersport race before he moves up to Superbikes.

Jamie Perrin ended the race in fourth place, just 0.184secs behind Kennedy as Jamie van Sikkelerus rounded out the top five.

Kiwi Damon Rees was seventh while countryman Shane Richardson rounded out the top ten.

Tom Toparis completed practice and qualified well enough but was suffering badly with some nerve issues in his arm and pulled out of the races.

Jack Scott was back in control of the GP2 action as he took the class win from 11th place, just ahead of Jake Archer as Harvey Claridge finished third.

British Supersport Race Two/Feature Results

British Supersport Championship Points

GP2 Championship Points

British Junior Superstock Race Two

Max Cook took the win and the 2022 title as he beat Franco Bourne by just over three seconds with a lights-to-flag victory, as Sam Laffins took third.

“I’m speechless to be fair,” said a thrilled Cook. “A lot of people said I could play it safe but that’s not how it works for me. I wanted to do this the right way and be a true champion – by winning the race as well as being crowned champion.”

Owen Jenner was fourth – and then crashed on the cool down lap as rain began to fall – as Seth Crump rounded out the top five to back up his podium on Saturday.

Young Kiwi Zak Fuller crossed the line in P13 while Jacob Hatch finished P17.

British Junior Superstock Race Two Results

British Junior Superstock Championship Points

British Junior Supersport Race Two

James McManus took the second race win of the weekend as he beat Completely Motorbikes/Affinity team-mate Mikey Hardie by 0.397secs.

Kieran Kent ended a close third and just 0.006secs behind Hardie, with Charlie Atkins just another 0.078secs behind in fourth and Joe Ellis a close fifth.

British Junior Supersport Race Two Results

British Junior Supersport Championship Points