BSB Donington: Jason O'Halloran crowned Milwaukee King of Donington

Jason O’Halloran has moved up into second in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship after completing the double in the final race of the weekend at Donington Park.

After sealing his first win of 2022 earlier in the day, the Aussie was the favourite heading into race three. Despite a slow getaway which saw him drop down the order, O’Halloran was able to regroup and fight his way back into podium contention.

When the safety car was deployed following a huge highside for Leon Haslam, as well as a fall for Glenn Irwin after he did everything he could to avoid being hit by the Kawasaki, O’Halloran was in third place.

An entertaining battle with Rory Skinner followed, before O’Halloran set his sights on Bradley Ray once again. O’Halloran made his move at Coppice on lap 17 and held a comfortable lead all the way to the chequered flag.

70 points from three races saw O’Halloran crowned the Milwaukee King of Donington, and he’s now only 28 points behind Ray in the standings with 13 podium credits to his name. Ray was handed the Milwaukee Spring Grand Slam Trophy for scoring the most points across the Oulton Park and Donington rounds.

Lee Jackson finished third as he did in race two to capture his first double podium in BSB, whilst Cheshire Mouldings FS-3 Racing Kawasaki teammate Skinner pipped Kyle Ryde to the line to take fourth spot.

Christian Iddon has moved into the Showdown places after finishing sixth for Buildbase Suzuki, whilst the MCE Ducati duo of Tom Sykes and Josh Brookes came home in seventh and eighth respectively – their best results of the weekend.

Danny Buchan was ninth, whilst Chrissy Rouse completed the top 10 on the Crowe Performance BMW M1000 RR. It’s Rouse’s strongest performance of the season so far and he leaves Donington with 12 points in the bag.

Tommy Bridewell suffered his second DNF of the weekend when he pulled out of the race with a bike problem. Peter Hickman also retired from the race with a technical issue on his FHO Racing BMW, whilst teammate Ryan Vickers also returned to the garage during the race.

BSB now takes a break whilst the Isle of Man TT takes place. Found four of the championship will be at Knockhill on June 17-19.

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BSB Donington: Jason O’Halloran clinches his first win of the season in race two

First published: 22 May 2022 by Josh Close

Jason O’Halloran has returned to the top step of the podium of BSB after securing his first win of the 2022 season at Donington Park.

The Australian, who claimed his first podium in Saturday’s race, managed to get the better of fellow Yamaha rider, and championship leader, Bradley Ray.

Ray took the lead initially on lap two and began to pull away from O’Halloran and the chasing pack. However, O’Halloran regrouped and made his own move on Ray into the Roberts Chicane on lap 12.

From that point, O’Halloran looked reasonably comfortable in the lead, however Ray moved back to within touching distance by lap 20. O’Halloran kept his cool though and extended his lead to over 1.5s with a couple of laps remaining.

The Yamaha pair were joined on the podium by Lee Jackson on the Cheshire Mouldings FS-3 Racing Kawasaki. The leading trio were 7.515s clear of the chasing pack.

The best of the rest was Peter Hickman in fourth, which is his best result of the 2022 season so far. The FHO Racing BMW rider was involved in a fantastic battle with Leon Haslam (5^th), Tarran Mackenzie (6^th), Christian Iddon (7^th) and Rory Skinner (8^th).

The five riders swapped positions on multiple occasions in the closing stages. Skinner’s Kawasaki was rebuilt by the FS-3 team following a crash during Sunday morning’s warm-up session.

Ryan Vickers and Josh Brookes completed the top 10, with Tom Sykes finishing just under half-a-second behind his MCE Ducati teammate.

Chrissy Rouse was 12^th ahead of Danny Buchan, with the latter being handed a two-second penalty for cutting the Roberts Chicane earlier in the race. Andrew Irwin was 14^th, whilst Ryo Mizuno made a move on teammate Takumi Takahashi at the final corner to take the final point in 15^th.

Leon Jeacock crashed out of the race at McLeans on the second lap. On the following lap, Oxford Products Racing Ducati rider Tommy Bridewell went down at the same corner.

Storm Stacey crashed at the Old Hairpin on lap five, whilst race one winner Kyle Ryde crashed out of second at McLeans on the following lap. It’s Ryde’s first DNF of the season.

Glenn Irwin was forced to retire with a technical problem on lap 12 whilst running in fourth place, as did Luke Hopkins. Liam Delves also retired on lap 15.

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BSB Donington: Kyle Ryde pips Jason O’Halloran to secure his first win of 2022

First published: 21 May 2022 by Josh Close

Kyle Ryde came out on top in a last lap battle with Jason O’Halloran to secure his first victory of the 2022 BSB season.

Ryde initially took the lead away from his teammate Bradley Ray at the final chicane on lap seven, and began to open up a little gap as those behind him fought each other. O’Halloran got the better of Ray and closed Ryde down heading onto the final lap.

The two went side-by-side early in the lap, before O’Halloran attempted a move down the inside of Ryde heading into the Roberts Chicane. However, O’Halloran went in slightly too deep, allowing Ryde to produce the cut back and win the resulting drag race to the chequered flag.

Ryde pipped O’Halloran by only 0.038s to take his first Superbike victories since 2020, when he stole the show at Silverstone with a stunning double for Buildbase Suzuki.

For O’Halloran, it’s his first podium of the season and will come as a huge relief to him and the McAMS Yamaha team. Ray finished third to ensure that the podium was a Yamaha lockout.

Lee Jackson was best of the rest in fourth after two thoroughly entertaining scraps with O’Halloran and Glenn Irwin. The latter completed the top five for Honda Racing UK.

Christian Iddon took sixth spot away from Rory Skinner with a couple of laps remaining. Skinner made a fantastic start to the race and went around the outside of Ryde, Ray and O’Halloran to take the lead at turn one.

Tommy Bridewell battled his way through the order to take eighth spot, with Peter Hickman and the returning Tarran Mackenzie completing the top 10. It’s Mackenzie’s first race of the season after he fractured his ankle at the Silverstone Test.

Tom Sykes’ tough start to the year continued in 11^th spot, whilst Danny Buchan and Josh Brookes also struggled in 12^th and 13^th respectively. Chrissy Rouse and Ryo Mizuno took the final two points on offer today.

Dan Jones returned to pitlane before the race start, whilst Ryan Vickers crashed out of the race on the exit of the final chicane on lap two. Storm Stacey went down at Redgate two laps later.

Leon Haslam returned to pit-lane at the end of lap seven with an electronics issue, before returning several laps later to try and set a fast lap-time. However, he returned to the garage after a single lap.

Danny Kent was absent from the race after suffering a concussion in a crash at Craner Curves during Saturday’s FP3 session.

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BSB Donington: Jason O’Halloran takes pole with new all-time lap record

First published: 21 May 2022 at 12:53 by Josh Close

Jason O’Halloran secured his first pole position of the 2022 BSB season at Donington Park after posting the quickest-ever lap around the National Circuit.

The Aussie knocked Bradley Ray off top spot with a 1:05.289, which was just 0.004s quicker than the Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha rider. Kyle Ryde qualified third to ensure that Yamaha lockout the front row for race one.

Rory Skinner and Lee Jackson continued their impressive form onboard their respective Cheshire Mouldings FS-3 Racing Kawasaki bikes, qualifying fourth and fifth respectively. Peter Hickman went sixth with his final flying lap of the session.

That meant that Tom Sykes was pushed down to seventh, but the former World Superbike rider will be pleased to have made some progress with his lap-times this afternoon after having to go through Q1. Sykes pulled off the circuit with a technical issue after the chequered flag.

Tarran Mackenzie will start his first race of the season from eighth on the grid for McAMS Yamaha, with Glenn Irwin and Ryan Vickers completing the top 10.

Leon Haslam is 11^th for the VisionTrack Kawasaki team after being passed fit to ride this morning. Haslam crashed in the closing seconds of FP2 on Friday afternoon and sprained his ankle as a result.

Storm Stacey and Danny Buchan were 12^th and 13^th respectively, qualifying ahead of the struggling Ducati duo of Tommy Bridewell and Josh Brookes.

Andrew Irwin crashed on the exit of McLeans with only a couple of minutes on the clock and the SYNETIQ BMW rider qualified 16^th as a result.

Ryo Mizuno missed out on a spot in Q2 by only 0.045s and will start 17^th on the grid. He’ll line-up alongside Mossey, who crashed at Craner Curves, and Dan Linfoot. Tom Neave, Dan Jones, and James East also crashed during the session.

The opening BSB race of the weekend is due to take place at 16:30 this afternoon.

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BSB Donington: Danny Kent ruled out with concussion following FP3 crash

First published: 21 May 2021 at 10:58 by Josh Close

Danny Kent has been ruled out of the remainder of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship weekend at Donington Park after suffering a concussion.

The Buildbase Suzuki rider fell whilst going through Craner Curves during Saturday morning’s FP3 session and was taken to the medical centre. Kent was diagnosed with a concussion and has been transferred to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham for further assessment.

As per BSB protocol, any rider diagnosed with a concussion is immediately removed from the remainder of the event.

Donington Park is proving to be a difficult circuit for Kent since he returned to the British paddock. The 2015 Moto3 world champion dislocated and fractured his hip after crashing out at Coppice during the second race at last year’s race meeting. He missed the remainder of the season as a result.

Kent had made it straight into Q2 on Friday afternoon after an impressive day saw him finished eighth on the combined standings. As a result of Kent’s injury, Danny Buchan moves up into Q2.

Meanwhile, Jason O’Halloran topped the session with a 1:05.479 – the fastest lap of the weekend so far and also the fastest-ever BSB lap around the National Circuit. Lee Jackson and Glenn Irwin completed the top three.

Q1 is due to begin at 11:50 today (May 21), with Q2 following immediately after at 12:09. The opening BSB race of the weekend is scheduled for 16:30 this afternoon.

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BSB Donington: Bradley Ray breaks the all-time lap record to top the opening day

First published: 20 May 2021 by Josh Close

Bradley Ray continued his impressive start to the 2022 Bennetts British Superbike Championship season this afternoon by smashing the lap record and posting the fastest-ever lap around the Donington Park National Circuit.

The championship leader finished third in FP1 before going on to top FP2 with a 1:05.497, posting that time moments before a short rain shower hit the circuit. Ray’s time is the new all-time best around the National Circuit, beating the previous best set by Jason O’Halloran in qualifying in 2020 – 1:05.637.

Riders did eventually return to the circuit with a few minutes remaining, only for the red flags to be waved following a crash for Leon Haslam at Craner Curves with two minutes on the clock. As a result, Ray was unchallenged at the top of the standings.

His Rich Energy OMG Racing teammate, Ryde, finished second overall, just ahead of Oulton Park race winner Lee Jackson. O’Halloran posted his best time of the day just before the chequered flag was waved, recording a 1:05.592 (0.455s). The top four riders were all under the existing official lap record (must be set in a race), a 1:06.081 set by Peter Hickman last season.

Rory Skinner completed the top five on the second of the Cheshire Mouldings FS-3 Racing Kawasaki machines, whilst North West 200 double race winner Glenn Irwin was sixth on his Honda Fireblade. Irwin has finished second in five of the last six races held on the National Circuit at Donington Park.

Peter Hickman was the quickest BMW rider in seventh, finishing the day just ahead of Danny Kent and Tommy Bridewell. Christian Iddon completed the top 10 for Buildbase Suzuki.

The final two automatic Q2 qualification spots were taken by Andrew Irwin and Haslam, with the latter being taken to the medical centre following his fall at Craner Curves. Danny Buchan missed out on the top 12 by only 0.005s.

Meanwhile, it was another difficult day for the MCE Ducati team. Tom Sykes and Josh Brookes were 14^th and 15^th respectively on the combined standings.

Reigning champion Tarran Mackenzie made his return after being passed fit by the BSB Medical Team on Friday morning. The 26-year-old ended the day 17^th overall with a best lap-time of 1:07.128.

Tomorrow’s FP3 session is due to begin at 09:30, and will be followed by Q1 at 11:50 and then Q2 at 12:09. The first Superbike race is scheduled for 16:30 tomorrow afternoon (May 21).