BSB Oulton Park: Irwin Denies Iddon to Sweep to Oulton Treble

Round two of the 2024 British Superbike championship sees the first of two trips to Oulton Park this season. Ryan Vickers leads the riders' standings heading into the first BSB Oulton Park of 2024 after winning both races in Navarra at round one.

Overview

• Race 3 - Irwin sweeps Oulton with excellent defensive display in Race 3

• Race 2 - Glenn Irwin dominant again to win Race 2 as Bridewell takes his first Honda rostrum

• Race 1 - Irwin outpaces Iddon to take dominant Race 1 win

• Qualifying - Ryde topples Irwin to secure Oulton Park pole

• Saturday practice - Irwin maintains Oulton dominance to end day one on top

Race 3

Glenn Irwin was victorious once again in BSB Race 3 at Oulton Park, meaning that both rounds so far have been swept by one rider.

After Ryan Vickers’ double at the Navarra BSB, it was Glenn Irwin’s turn to perfect a weekend in Oulton Park, although it was Christian Iddon who made the holeshot.
Iddon pulled out over half-a-second early on over Irwin in second place, but by lap 12 the gap was gone and Irwin was through.

Both riders had different strong and weak points, but what won Irwin the race was his strength on the brakes. The race came down to the final corner between the two, which the #2 PBM Ducati rider defended perfectly, going super-tight on the entry but not running too wide on the exit. Iddon couldn’t carry more momentum than Irwin, who therefore secured his third win of the weekend.

Iddon took second place, ahead of Ryan Vickers in third. Vickers had looked out of it at half-distance, but some strong pace in the final part of the race saw him catch the podium group. Danny Kent had run in third behind the leading Ducatis for almost the entire race, but was unable to find a way through. He lost his podium position to Vickers at the Hislop Chicane on the final lap and had to settle for fourth.

Leon Haslam finished fifth, ahead of Tommy Bridewell, Jason O’Halloran, Josh Brookes, Max Cook, and Storm Stacey who rounded out the top 10.

Full BSB results from Race 3 at Oulton Park are below.

2024 BSB Oulton Park Results | Race 2

Race 2

Glenn Irwin took his second victory of the weekend at Oulton Park, hanging on ahead of Honda’s Tommy Bridewell.

Irwin took the early lead in the 12-lap race two, and was more or less unchallenged until he saw the chequered flag just under 19 minutes after the lights went out.
Although Bridewell was unable to challenge Irwin, he cut his way through Danny Kent and Christian Iddon to get himself onto the podium for the first time in 2024, proving the potential he has with the Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade.

Iddon completed the podium after losing out to Bridewell for second place at Cascades on lap eight, and behind was Danny Kent, the best of the Yamaha riders in fourth.

Race 2 at Oulton Park marked the first race of 2024 without a Yamaha on the podium. Kyle Ryde was the only rider to have finished in the top three of every race this season after Race 1 this weekend, but he lost that record in Race 2, finishing fifth ahead of Jason O’Halloran in sixth on the Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki.

Josh Brookes was the best BMW rider in seventh, ahead of Leon Haslam in eighth, Ryan Vickers in ninth, and Max Cook who completed the top 10.

Race 2 took place without Rory Skinner on the grid after he was taken to hospital following a crash in Warm Up that saw his helmet come off. Skinner was taken to hospital, and was discharged before the end of Race 2.

Full BSB results from Race 2 in Oulton Park are below.

2024 BSB Oulton Park Results | Race 2

Race 1

Glenn Irwin sealed a masterful victory in BSB Race 1 at Oulton Park, sealing his first triumph of the season in a Ducati 1-2.

Ryan Vickers made the best start from the front row and took the holeshot. He only led until lap three, though, when Irwin made his way through at Hislop’s on lap three.
From there, Irwin imposed his pace. He opened out a half-second gap to Christian Iddon, who had come through the Yamaha duo of Vickers and pole sitter Kyle Ryde to second place, on lap four, before extending that out to over a second in the last five laps.

Iddon stuck in the fight for the majority of the race, but ultimately didn’t have the pace down the stretch to mount a serious challenge to Irwin, having to settle for second instead.

Kyle Ryde slipped backwards in the first half of the race, but conserved his rear tyre better than his fellow Yamaha riders, Vickers and Danny Kent, who he stretched away from in the last laps. 

Tommy Bridewell sat in sixth place for much of the race, but was able to take advantage of Vickers’ and Kent’s respective lack of late-race rear grip to get through to fourth. He had better pace than Ryde at the end but ran out of time to catch the #77.

The closest battle on track towards the end was for fifth place between Vickers and Kent. The latter had better edge grip and corner speed in the closing laps than the former, but Vickers was fast enough in the right areas until he made a small mistake exiting Island Corner on the final lap. Kent passed, but Vickers repaid the favour at the final corner to reclaim fifth, while Kent had to make do with sixth.

Behind Kent there were two seconds back to Jason O’Halloran in seventh place on the leading Kawasaki, while Rory Skinner was the best BMW in eighth. Josh Brookes and Leon Haslam ensured that BMWs locked out the final three top 10 positions.

Max Cook has been running ahead of his teammate, O’Halloran, in the first part of the race, but a crash at Shell Oils dropped him out of contention.

Full BSB results from Race 1 in Oulton Park are below

2024 BSB Oulton Park Results | Race 1

Qualifying

Kyle Ryde secured pole position for BSB Race 1 at Oulton Park, his first run being good enough for him to sit back in the pit box and watch everyone try to beat his time of 1:33.411 in the final minutes of the session.

But, in the end, no one was able to prevent Ryde from taking his second pole position from the first two races - not even Glenn Irwin, who had been fastest in every session before qualifying, including the two-day test earlier in the week.

Irwin qualified second, though, and so kept himself right in the mix, splitting the OMG Yamaha riders as Ryan Vickers qualified third.

Jason O'Halloran was the best Kawasaki in fourth place, ahead of the third Yamaha - the McAMS-backed Mar-Train Racing machine of Danny Kent - in fifth, while Christian Iddon was the second of the two Ducatis in sixth.

Rory Skinner took seventh place, ahead of Tommy Bridewell - unable to match his FP2 time from Friday - and Josh Brookes who took ninth. Max Cook rounded out the qualifying top 10, ahead of Storm Stacey and Leon Haslam (who had technical issues early in the session) who completed row four. Lee Jackson was 13th, ahead of his MasterMac Honda teammate Charlie Nesbitt in 14th.

Peter Hickman qualified 15th, but didn't set a time in Q2 after crashing in the right-hand sweeper between Shell Oils and Brittens. Hickman's crash brought out the red flag, but he walked himself onto the back of a Yamaha Tenere and was ridden back to the FHO BMW garage.

Full BSB results from qualifying in Oulton Park are below.

2024 BSB Oulton Park Results | Qualifying

Saturday Practice

Saturday practice at Oulton Park's May Bank Holiday round was dominated by Glenn Irwin, who had already been fastest on both of the two test days that were held before the weekend at the Cheshire circuit. 

On Friday afternoon, Irwin lowered the pace into the 1:33s, and only five other riders were able to join him in going sub-1:34. These were Tommy Bridewell, who finished the day second, Ryan Vickers, Leon Haslam, Christian Iddon, and Jason O'Halloran.

Considering their relative dominance of the Navarra BSB two weeks ago, it is perhaps a surprise to see only one of the Yamaha trio - Vickers - inside the top six at the end of day one. the next-fastest was Danny Kent in seventh, while Kyle Ryde was 10th. Between them were Storm Stacey in eighth and Rory Skinner in ninth. 

Full BSB results from FP1 and FP2 in Oulton Park are below.

2024 BSB Oulton Park Results | FP2

2024 BSB Oulton Park Results | FP1

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Image credit: Ian Hopgood.