Donington Park BSB Race 3 - World Racing News

Spread the love

Jason O’Halloran clinched a stunning victory in a thrilling race at Donington Park, and the British Superbike Championship title contenders found themselves in the midst of yet more dramatic moments.

In yet another action packed race at Donington Park on a Sunday afternoon, Jason O’Halloran, representing McAMS Yamaha, emerged on top in the final British Superbike Championship showdown of the weekend. This dramatic race had far-reaching consequences for the BSB title battle.

It had been an eventful weekend for the leading contenders, and Race 3 was no exception. The race unfolded with high tension right from the start. Glenn Irwin faced a heart-wrenching retirement at the very first corner, while his BeerMonster Ducati teammate, Tommy Bridewell, struggled to secure a ninth-place finish. Leon Haslam’s race took an unfortunate turn as well, with his BMW encountering problems in the closing stages, forcing him to retire from a strong second position.

Kyle Ryde, the winner of the second race, found himself in 12th place during this race. All these twists and turns in the championship standings mean that Tommy Bridewell now leads the championship by a narrow margin of 7.5 points ahead of Glenn Irwin, as they head into the final round of the season. Kyle Ryde trails further behind, 26.5 points adrift, while despite Leon Haslam’s disappointment, he remains in contention, just 41 points behind Bridewell in fourth place.

As the race kicked off, O’Halloran swiftly seized the lead. However, the opening corner proved to be nothing short of dramatic. Glenn Irwin encountered a technical issue, slowing down and pulling off the circuit in a heartbreaking turn of events. Meanwhile, Tommy Bridewell faced his own challenges, running wide on two consecutive corners, which dropped him to fifth place by the end of the opening lap. He found himself trailing O’Halloran, the LAMI OMG Racing duo of Ryan Vickers and Kyle Ryde, and Leon Haslam.

Ryan Vickers unfortunately crashed out at the Old Hairpin, allowing O’Halloran to extend his lead to 3.6 seconds. Another second was added to his lead on the following lap. Meanwhile, Haslam had moved into second place, followed by Christian Iddon on the Oxford Products Racing Ducati, and Bridewell, who was now in fourth place. Ryde, on the other hand, experienced a setback, dropping all the way to ninth.

After just four laps, O’Halloran’s lead expanded to over five seconds for the first time. Haslam maintained a second-place advantage over Iddon, while Bridewell faced increasing pressure from Josh Brookes of the FHO Racing BMW team and Jack Kennedy from Mar-Train Racing Yamaha.

Haslam managed to close the gap to O’Halloran by one second in the next lap, just as the skies began to brighten. By lap eight, the distance between the two had narrowed to 3.4 seconds. However, Haslam found himself under pressure from Iddon, who had become the fastest rider on the track. Meanwhile, further back in the pack, Bridewell was still in fourth place but had to fend off challenges, and he ran wide again at the Melbourne Hairpin, slipping back to seventh.

At the halfway point of the race, O’Halloran responded to Haslam’s pursuit and extended his lead to 4.4 seconds, with Iddon trailing a further half-second behind. Brookes had climbed to fourth place, ahead of Charlie Nesbitt from MasterMac Honda by Hawk Racing, and Storm Stacey from Starline Racing Kawasaki.

Tommy Bridewell continued to grapple with braking issues as he approached the Melbourne Hairpin, and his struggle had now pushed him down to eighth place. Just ahead of him was Peter Hickman on the second FHO machine. Meanwhile, Kyle Ryde’s earlier triumph in the day was rapidly unraveling as he found himself in 13th place.

At the front of the pack, O’Halloran maintained his 4.5-second lead over Haslam, making the most of Bridewell and Irwin’s troubles. O’Halloran had also created a comfortable gap of almost two seconds from Christian Iddon. Josh Brookes held his position in fourth, with Charlie Nesbitt and Storm Stacey in fifth and sixth, respectively. However, on lap 15, Jack Kennedy managed to overtake Stacey.

The championship took yet another twist when Leon Haslam’s bike spewed out a plume of smoke coming out of Coppice on lap 16. With the race red-flagged, Jason O’Halloran secured the win, with Iddon and Brookes joining him on the podium. Brookes celebrated his first podium finish since July at Snetterton.

Nesbitt claimed fourth place ahead of Kennedy, Stacey, Hickman, and Lee Jackson from Cheshire Mouldings Kawasaki. Bridewell secured ninth place, while Davey Todd on the Milwaukee BMW rounded out the top ten.

Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Donington Park, Race 3 result: