BSB Donington Park: Glenn Irwin secures his eighth win of 2024 in a thrilling second race

Glenn Irwin kept his Bennetts British Superbike Championship title hopes alive with victory in a thrilling sprint race at Donington Park.

Irwin came out on top in a four-way battle with Tommy Bridewell, Kyle Ryde and Danny Kent to secure his eighth victory of the 2024 season. In doing so, the Hager PBM Ducati rider stays within 44 points of Bridewell in the standings.

Irwin also set a new Donington Park lap record with a 1:27.345, which also means he’ll start the final race of the weekend from pole position. Irwin now has nine podiums to his name in 2024.

Bridewell fended off Ryde and survived a huge scare going down Craner Curves when he was nearly launched from his Honda Racing UK Fireblade. As a result of coming home in second, Bridewell moves six points clear of Ryde with four races remaining.

Ryde claimed the final podium position ahead of Kent, who now has 15 to five results in 2024, with the leading quartet just over a second clear of Charlie Nesbitt in fifth. Andrew Irwin finished sixth on the second of the factory Hondas, ahead of Lee Jackson and Christian Iddon.

Max Cook and Josh Brookes completed the top 10 ahead of Ryan Vickers, whilst Jason O’Halloran, Peter Hickman, Storm Stacey and Rory Skinner secured the final points available in the race.

Lewis Rollo down at the first corner with Bradley Perie left with nowhere to go but onto the grass as well. Perie was able to rejoin the race, eventually finishing in 21^st. Leon Haslam retired with a bike problem on lap eight.

The third and final BSB race of the weekend at Donington Park is due to begin at 16:30.

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Kyle Ryde kept his cool in the opening Bennetts British Superbike Championship race of the weekend at Donington Park to secure his seventh victory of the season.

Ryde, starting his 150^th race in BSB, led from start-to-finish but did have to withstand a little bit of pressure from Tommy Bridewell in the middle of the race. However, the Honda Racing UK man was unable to get close enough to attempt a move on Ryde.

Ryde has now won five of the last seven races and has closed the gap to Bridewell in the standings to just three points with five races remaining this season.

Glenn Irwin completed the podium onboard the Hager PBM Ducati but was 8.689s behind Ryde and 6.618s behind Bridewell. After fighting his way through from sixth on the grid, Irwin reached his limit and ended up with immense pressure from brother Andrew for the majority of the second half of the race.

Fourth for Andrew Irwin is his best result since Race Two at Brands Hatch back in July. Danny Kent completed the top five after recovering from a first lap incident which saw the McAMS Racing Yamaha racer run straight on at the Foggy Esses.

Kent was much quicker heading into the corner than Ryde and had to lift his bike up and run on in order to miss the race leader.

Charlie Nesbitt came home in sixth spot ahead of Ryan Vickers and Lee Jackson, whilst Josh Brookes and Christian Iddon completed the top 10.

Leon Haslam came home in 11^th after having to serve a long lap penalty for cutting the Foggy Esses. Max Cook was the leading Kawasaki rider in 12^th ahead of Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki teammate Jason O’Halloran, with Billy McConnell and Peter Hickman securing the final two points available.

Brayden Elliot pulled off the circuit when his chain came off the DAO Racing Kawasaki at the start of lap three. Luke Hedger returned to pit-lane at the end of lap 17.

Sunday’s BSB races at Donington Park are scheduled to take place at 12:15 and 16:30.

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Kyle Ryde continued his dominance at Donington Park on Saturday morning by claiming pole position for the opening Bennetts British Superbike Championship race of the weekend.

Ryde, quickest on Friday and again in FP3 on Saturday morning, posted a best lap-time of 1:27.428 midway through the session and sat comfortable inside the OMG GRILLA Racing Yamaha garage watching his rivals attempting to beat him.

Nobody could better the local hero and as a result Ryde and his team celebrates pole position for the third time in 2024.

Danny Kent and Josh Brookes will join Ryde on the front row, the latter putting his FHO Racing BMW M1000 RR on row one for the second consecutive round. Charlie Nesbitt’s strong end of season form continued in fourth onboard the MasterMac Honda.

Meanwhile, Ryde’s main title rivals Tommy Bridewell and Glenn Irwin qualified fifth and sixth respectively. Bridewell looked set to improve on his final flying lap, but appeared to run in a little too deep at the final corner and had to settle for fifth, much to his visible disappointment.

Leon Haslam, who podiumed twice at Donington Park earlier in the season, heads the third row ahead of Lee Jackson and Andrew Irwin, with Christian Iddon completing the top 10 onboard the Oxford Products Racing Ducati.

Ryan Vickers struggled down in 11^th, whilst Jason O’Halloran was 12^th onboard the Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki having gone through Q1. Lewis Rollo, Max Cook and Billy McConnell were the final classified riders in Q2 and complete the top 15.

Peter Hickman was the best of the rest in Q1, missing out on a spot inside the all-important top three by 0.084s. The FHO Racing BMW rider was running in third when something fell off his bike exiting the final corner.

Hickman will be joined on the sixth row by Bradley Perie and Storm Stacey, whilst Fraser Rogers heads row seven onboard the TAG Racing Honda. Earlier this week it was revealed that Rogers will remain with the team next season. Tom Ward and Brayden Elliot join Rogers the seventh row.

Luke Hedger, James Westmoreland and Corey Tinker complete the grid for race one. Westmoreland is back on the grid for the first time since 2017 with Team IWR Honda, whilst Tinker is making his debut with the NP Racing Kawasaki team as a replacement for Louis Valleley.

Race one at Donington Park is due to begin at 16:00.