BSB Donington Park Race 2 Results [TS 2/3] | Sykes doubles up, Ray nears title

Tom Sykes notched up his second win of the British Superbike Championship (BSB) weekend at Donington Park, while Bradley Ray took another significant step towards the 2022 title with a comfortable second place finish.

Having gone a long way to revitalising his season with a commanding victory in Saturday’s sprint race, Sykes was in similarly rampant form in Race 2 after recovering from a poor start to pick his way to the front before stretching clear of the field.

While another success for Sykes on what is turning out to be a transformative weekend for the 2013 WorldSBK Champion stole the headlines, it was Ray’s run to second place that is of greater significance as he moved to within mathematical range of clinching the 2022 BSB title in Race 3.

Leading initially after getting the holeshot into Redgate, though Ray couldn’t resist the advance of Sykes as the MCE Ducati rider dipped beneath him at Turn 1 on Lap 3, the OMG Yamaha rider was able to stick close enough to join the Yorkshireman in gapping the chasing pack.

With his closest title rivals mired in a busy battle for no better than fourth position, Ray’s lead over the opposition - still headed by Tommy Bridewell - sits at 55 points. As a result, should Ray score 20 points more than the Oxford Ducati rider in Race 3, he will be crowned champion with a round to spare.

Indeed, it was another frustrating race for the six remaining Title Showdown contenders as they quickly fell away in their attempts to keep up with Ray and Sykes.

Andrew Irwin led the chase early on but lost touch amid a scrappy fight with his title-fighting brother Glenn that was eventually decided in the latter’s favour when he made a pass stick on Lap 9. Though he’d make good headway in breaking a three second gap to the leaders, the Honda rider would eventually settle for a lonely third.

Behind him, the battle for fourth went down to the wire with Andrew Irwin eventually prevailing when Bridewell - having clawed his way up from running as low as tenth early on - made a mistake to allow the Synetiq BMW man through.

Worse was to follow the Devizes man though when he ran wide at Goddards on the final lap and was clipped at the rear by Oulton Park sparring partner Jason O’Halloran as he attempted to recover. With both riders losing momentum for the sprint to the flag, it allowed Lee Jackson to get past both to snatch fifth palce, with Bridewell sixth and O’Halloran seventh.

In the context of the title standings, while Bridewell (55 points behind Ray), Irwin (57 points) - now third overall - Jackson (60 points) and O’Halloran (69 points) still have a mathematical shot at the 2022 BSB title at this stage, they must remain within 74 points of Ray come the end of the day to still have a chance at the Brands Hatch finale.

Peter Hickman ran fourth at the mid-way stage before fading back to eighth, while Josh Brookes and Ryan Vickers completed the top ten.

Rounding out the points’ was Kyle Ryde - whose very slim title hopes have now come to an official end - in 11th, Danny Buchan in 12th, debutant Buildbase Suzuki rider Charlie Nesbitt in 13th, Danny Kent in 14th and Takumi Takahashi in 15th

2022 British Superbike Championship | Donington Park | Race 2 RESULTS