Silverstone BSB Support class round up

2023 British Superbike Championship
Round One – Silverstone
Support Categories

The 2023 British Superbike Championship season got underway in mainly fine weather at the short Silverstone National Circuit layout in Northamptonshire.

For the Superbike round up see here, for the support class round up see below.

Supersport / GP2 Feature Race

Lee Johnston overcame a race-long battle with Rhys Irwin to take his second win of the weekend by a mere 0.062secs.

The Ashcourt Racing rider was under intense pressure from Irwin’s Astro JJR Suzuki from lap six as Irwin climbed up the order to second place.

On lap eight, Irwin made his first move for the lead and held it for a handful of laps but Johnston wasn’t keen to let him go. The pair continued to swap places all the way to the flag, Johnston just edging it at the flag.

Third was Tom Toparis with Jamie Perrin fourth on the second Astro JJR Suzuki and Jaimie van Sikkelerus fifth.

Ben Currie finished sixth while countryman Seth Crump garnered three points from his 13th place finish.

Johnston’s perfect two from two sees him leave Silverstone as the Supersport Championship leader with a 12-point margin over Goulburn’s Tom Toparis.

In GP2, Saturday’s winner Joe Collier retired on lap 22, the win going to Cameron Fraser with Harry Rowlings second and Luke Wallington third.

Supersport / GP2 Feature Race Results

Supersport Championship Points

GP2 Championship Points

Superstock 1000 Race Two

Series rookie Franco Bourne held off a charging Dan Linfoot to take his first class win in just his second ever Superstock race.

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The Marvel HCL Motorsport rider hit the lead on the opening lap and managed to stay ahead for the whole 21 lap race, keeping Linfoot at bay all the way to the flag to win by 0.136secs.

Race one winner Alex Olsen took third, with Joe Talbot fourth and Richard Kerr fifth.

Billy McConnell had worked his way up from ninth as far as fourth before the South Australian was caught out by oil and debris as the race was red flagged.  Countryman Brayden Elliott finished 12th.

A brace of TT and North West 200 stars were using the BSB weekend to get up to speed on their mounts ahead of the Road Racing season getting underway next month.

Michael Dunlop finished Sunday’s race in 17th place on a Hawk Honda ahead of Conor Cummins on a Milenco Padgetts Honda.

David Johnson pulled into the pits early on with technical problems. John McGuinness was 20th.

John McGuinness

“For me, I think every box is ticked and it’s a great start to the season. It’s been dry, I’ve rode two sensible 22 lap races and the bikes never missed a beat for the whole of the weekend. I love working with the team which bodes well for what they’ve employed me for! I’ve also done my best with all of the team and tried to give as much input as I can with the bikes, the guys and everything. I’m in a much better place now than I was last year as I’ve done a lot more mileage, I’m more bike fit and I understand the bike more. Last year there was quite a bit of pressure too, whereas this year, I just pop the lid on and ride my bike!”

Superstock 1000 Race Two Results

Superstock Championship Points

Junior Superstock Race

Aaron Silvester beat Taylor Rose to the first round honours in a shortened Junior Superstock battle, clinching the win by 0.151s.

The lead swapped several times between a number of riders, with Cameron Dawson hitting the front on lap three, before Silvester took the lead on lap nine.

The race was stopped at the end of lap 13 after a crash further down the field, with Dawson taking third, polesitter Owen Jenner fourth and Edmund Best fifth.

Young Aussie Jacob Hatch put 12 points on the board with a seventh place finish in the season opener.

Junior Superstock Race Results

Junior Superstock Points

BMW F 900 R Cup Main

Richard Cooper took the first ever Main Event victory after a hard-fought battle with Thomas Strudwick and Michael Rutter.

After swapping the lead several times over the course of the race, Cooper hit the front for the final time on lap 13 and was able to edge out a gap, finally crossing th line 3.084secs ahead of Strudwick.

Rutter finished a close third, just 0.316secs behind Strudwick as Dominic Herbertson came home fourth, some 12 seconds behind with James Kelly fifth.

BMW F 900 R Cup Main Results

BMW F 900 R Cup Points