BSB Donington Park | Maiden win for Gino Rea in wet Donington crash-fest

Gino Rea has swept to his first British Superbike Championship (BSB) win at Donington Park after out-lasting his rivals in a dramatic weather affected opening race that saw Tommy Bridewell fail to finish.

Only 15 of the 26 starters reached the chequered flag as tricky conditions made the Leicestershire circuit a handful, particularly for the Title Showdown fighters in what is expected to be a pivotal race for the title.

Already starting from his maiden BSB pole position, though Rea ceded the lead to Danny Bucham on the opening lap, he reclaimed it on lap three and proceeded to put distance between himself and the chasing pack.

That was enough for him to keep going all the way to his first victory at BSB level, while it’s also the first win for the Hawk Racing Buildbase team and Suzuki machinery of 2021.

Further back, there was more drama as a number of key riders fell. First to go was Peter Hickman with a tumble on lap three, followed by Josh Brookes on lap five.

After two wins at Oulton Park hauled him right back into the title fight with the McAMS Yamaha pair,  Bridewell’s title dreams took a huge knock with a fall at Coppice, also on lap five.

From the melee came ex-Suzuki rider Kyle Ryde through to his first podium with OMG BMW squead in second place, though this did come at the expense of the unlucky Storm Stacey, who crashed out of what would have been a remarkable first podium on the GR Kawasaki.

Christian Iddon boosted his title hopes with a run to third as the best of the Showdown contenders, ahead of Lee Jackson.

At the head of the standings, Jason O’Halloran and Tarran Mackenzie are now tied at the top after finishing fifth and seventh respectively, the pair now 18 points up on Bridewell and 26 clear of Iddon.

Joe Francis marked his FHO BMW debut with a career-best run to sixth place, while Ryan Vickers, Bradley Ray and Rory Skinner survived to round out the top ten.