BSB Silverstone Results, Race 3 - Variety is the spice of life

The 2023 British Superbike Championship begins this weekend at the Silverstone National circuit. Check this page throughout the weekend for BSB Silverstone results.

Overview

Race 3 - Glenn Irwin becomes third winner from three races in Silverstone

Race 2 - Josh Brookes takes first win in three years in red-flagged Race 2

Race 1 - Ryde outlasts Bridewell to take first win of 2023

Qualifying - Bridewell takes pole for debut PBM Ducati race in red-flagged Q2

FP2 - Two red flags interrupt FP2, but can't stop Jason O'Halloran from ending day one of 2023 at the top

FP1 - Kyle Ryde kicks of the 2023 season on top in first practice at Silverstone

Race 3

After the first Sunday race, Jason O’Halloran started on pole position in the second full-length British Superbike race of the season, which took place in some of the coolest conditions of the weekend. Glenn Irwin became the third winner in three races, while an impressive ride from Danny Kent saw him lead multiple laps in the middle of the race.

Following his red-flag-inducing crash in Race 2 earlier on Sunday, Danny Buchan had been taken to hospital, and so did not start Race 3.

Jason O’Halloran did start the race, and he started it well, taking the holeshot from pole position. Before the end of the opening lap, though, Josh Brookes had hit the front.

Brookes’ pace immediately began to stretch the field out. There was a breakaway group of four by the end of the third lap, led by Brookes and O’Halloran, and tailed by Jack Kennedy and Danny Kent.

Initially, it seemed there was a gap appearing between Kent and Leon Haslam, who headed the chasing pack. However, by lap eight, Haslam had closed the gap down, and had taken Glenn Irwin on the lead Ducati with him.

Brookes was displaced from the lead for the first time on lap 12 by Jason O’Halloran, just as Irwin began picking his way through the lead pack. 

Danny Kent passed Brookes soon after O’Halloran, and then took the lead at the beginning of lap 13. It was the first time the 2015 Moto3 World Champion had led a BSB race, and he was doing it on his own private Honda.

Irwin hit the front at the end of lap 18, with quite a dramatic display of late-braking into Brooklands, and the #2 immediately began imposing his pace. Only Kent was able to run Irwin’s pace initially, and the two opened up a gap of one second to Brookes in third. However, the Race 1 winner was able to close the gap back up, and behind a threat was emerging from another Ducati, that of Tommy Bridewell, who was up to fourth place by lap 25.

Irwin’s pace became impactful again as the race entered the final five laps, as he opened up a gap of half-a-second over Kent, who in turn was coming under pressure from Brookes, Bridewell, and Haslam.

Onto the penultimate lap, it was a three-way fight for the win between Irwin, Brookes, and Bridewell, and it was the former who led onto the final lap.

Irwin did as Ryde in Race 1, and put together a final lap good enough to not offer Brookes a sniff, and so the Northern Irishman made it three winners in three races to open the 2023 BSB season. 

Josh Brookes leads the championship standings after Silverstone. The Australian took his second podium of the weekend, after his win in Race 2, with second place in Race 3; ahead of Tommy Bridewell, who scored his second podium of the day, ensuring he is the only rider to leave Silverstone with three podiums from three races.

Jason O’Halloran took his second fourth place of the weekend, ahead of Danny Kent who scored a career-best BSB finish in fifth, while Leon Haslam rounded out the top six.

 
Kyle Ryde was somewhat disappointing in seventh, and never really showed pace to fight at the front throughout the 30 laps. He was ahead of Jack Kennedy in eighth, Lee Jackson in ninth, and Ryan Vickers in 10th place. 

Full BSB Silverstone results from the third race at Silverstone National are below.

2023 British Superbike Championship (BSB) | Silverstone National | Race 3 Results

Race 2

Following Saturday’s sprint race, Kyle Ryde started from pole position once again in the first full-length British Superbike race of the season, which took place in dry conditions, which had been consistent throughout the weekend. Although he came under threat towards the end of the race, a red flag came just at the right time for Josh Brookes to take his first win in over two years.

Before the race began, Peter Hickaman was already out. The #60 crashed in Warm Up on Sunday morning strangely on the exit of Luffield, and, although the bike was able to be rebuilt in time for the race, there were problems on the bike which became apparent on the sighting laps. Although the FHO team tried to rectify those issues, they were not able to do so, as Hickman discovered on the warm-up laps. Hickman pit from the first warm-up lap, and started the race from pit lane, but retired fearing the problems with his motorcycle could eventually present a safety issue. 

When the race did begin, Kyle Ryde made the holeshot from pole position but the race immediately devolved into the same kind of early-race scrap that transpired on Saturday.
At the front, the characters were more or less the same, with the aforementioned Ryde joined by Tommy Bridewell, Josh Brookes, and Jason O’Halloran in the top four in the early laps, with Leon Haslam and Jack Kennedy lurking behind.

By the close of the opening 10 laps, Josh Brookes had established himself at the front, and had an advantage of almost half-a-second. This was important, as it meant Brookes was not fighting with other riders, and could therefore, theoretically, take greater care of his rear tyre.

On lap 26, Kyle Ryde and Glenn Irwin - who had spent much of the race lurking outside the top four with the likes of Haslam and Kennedy, before making his way forwards in the final third - engaged in quite a costly battle for third place. Their fighting allowed Brookes and Bridewell to escape slightly at the front, and with only three laps to go the #25 and #46 seemed to be the primary contenders for victory. 

However, at the beginning of lap 28, Danny Buchan high-sided on the exit of Woodcote. His bike was outside of the track limits, but the sizeable run-off area in that part of the track, combined with the geometry of the Woodcote corner, meant that it was still in a hazardous position, and therefore the red flag was thrown. Buchan was seen to be walking away with assistance from the track marshals.

Since more than two-thirds race distance was complete, Josh Brookes was declared the winner, taking his first win since 2020, and his first for FHO Racing, who themselves had not won in BSB since Cadwell Park 2021. 

Brookes was followed up by the two riders of his old team, PBM Ducati, as Tommy Bridewell took his second podium of the season, ahead of Glenn Irwin, who climbed into the top three for the first time in 2023. 

Kyle Ryde was fourth, ahead of Jason O’Halloran, while Leon Haslam rounded out the top six. Jack Kennedy was once again solidly inside the top 10 in seventh, ahead of the similarly solid Danny Kent; while Andrew Irwin was ninth, and Lee Jackson showed signs of progress for the Cheshire Mouldings Kawasaki team by completing the top 10. 

Full BSB Silverstone results from Race 2 on the National layout are below.

2023 British Superbike Championship (BSB) | Silverstone National | Race 2 Result

Race 1

Race 1, the 22-lap sprint race, of the opening British Superbike round of the 2023 season at Silverstone saw Tommy Bridewell start from pole position. A tough race with a big group battle eventually went in the favour of Kyle Ryde who took maximum points and therefore the championship lead into Race 2 on Sunday.

Kyle Ryde took the holeshot, ahead of Tommy Bridewell, who slotted into second, and Jason O’Halloran, although the #22 lost out to his compatriot Josh Brookes at turn three on the first lap. At Brooklands, Bridewell hit the front, and led the first lap.

Immediately, it became clear that this race would be a scrap, which is more or less what to expect at Silverstone National. As much as Ryde felt he could get away, the others knew they needed to stay in front of him in order to contain his pace. 

In the middle of the race, O’Halloran had established himself a small advantage of around 0.3 seconds, but, with five laps to go, Ryde reclaimed the lead.

It was clear that O’Halloran was struggling with rear tyre. On corner entry, he could match Ryde, but in the traction zones, especially from Luffield and through Woodcote, he had no match for his fellow Yamaha rider’s traction. 

Bridewell, on the other hand, had an answer for Ryde. He passed O’Halloran at the beginning of lap 20, and proceeded to set the fastest lap. By the beginning of the final lap, he was right on Ryde’s rear wheel.

Ryde’s final lap, though, was stellar, and gave Bridewell no opening to mount a challenge for the win, meaning the #77 OMG Yamaha rider was able to secure the first win of the season; and the first win of the new points format, which gives him 18 points for his triumph.

Bridewell took second place, a solid result for his PBM Ducati debut. Considering Bridewell’s best result at Silverstone last year was a seventh - which he took twice, in the first and third races - and that he was also the best Ducati rider in all three races despite not cracking the top five, it is a positive sign for the rest of Bridewell’s season. 

Similarly, third place for Josh Brookes shows that his move to FHO Racing for 2023 is likely a positive one. Silverstone National is an odd layout, and generally unrepresentative of the rest of the tracks on the BSB calendar, but he ended the race with more grip than Jason O’Halloran, and passed him on the final lap to take third.

Additionally, he was fast at the start, and able to pressure the leaders. Only a mistake in turn two cost Brookes a probable shot at the win.

Despite running out of grip at the end of the race, Jason O’Halloran kept hold of fourth place, ahead of Glenn Irwin on his return to PBM, and Leon Haslam who completed the top six on a 2022 BMW.

Jack Kennedy ran in the battle for the top five for most of the race, and ended a solid seventh, ahead of a late-charging Andrew Irwin back in the red, white and blue of Honda; Danny Kent, and Danny Buchan, who completed the top 10. 

Full BSB Silverstone results from the first race on the National layout are below.

2023 British Superbike Championship (BSB) | Silverstone National | Race 1

Qualifying

Following sunny and stable conditions on Friday, the British Superbike riders had more of the same for the first qualifying session of the 2023 season. Tommy Bridewell put in the best lap time, to take the first pole position of BSB 2023.

Q1 at the Silverstone National circuit for BSB had some surprising names in there. Ryan Vickers, for example, would perhaps not have been expecting to be appearing in Q1 on the OMG Racing Yamaha, even if this weekend is his competitive debut for the 2022 championship-winning team. Similarly, Lee Jackson, a race winner last season, would have been disappointed to find himself forced to go through Q1. 

In the end, it was Vickers who topped Q1, and Jackson advanced to Q2 in fourth place, too. They were joined in moving through to Q2 by Josh Owens, Dean Harrison, Storm Stacey, and Charlie Nesbitt.

Image credit: Ian Hopgood Photography.

Kyle Ryde set a blistering early pace, going 0.3 seconds faster at the beginning of the session than anyone else. Just as Glenn Irwin finally got within three tenths of Ryde’s opening effort, the red flag was brought out for the burning Kawasaki of Storm Stacey with just under seven minutes left in the session.

The initial reason for the red flag was of course the fire that had developed in the motorcycle itself. However, it became clear that this red flag period would also need to be used to clean the track, as the #79 Kawasaki of Stacey had spewed oil from the entry of the super-fast Woodcote corner to around halfway down the pit straight.

The track was cleaned fairly quickly, and the pit lane was open again at 13:43. 

Ryde was displaced by Tommy Bridewell, and, trying to improve, Ryde went down at the end of the session at Brooklands. It was not a heavy crash, and no one was really improving, so he stayed on the front row.

Pole position, though, went to Tommy Bridewell, who could not have asked for a much better debut qualifying with Beer Monster Ducati. On the other side of second-placed Ryde for the first race will be Josh Brookes, on his debut for FHO Racing.

Jason O’Halloran concluded qualifying at Silverstone in fourth place, ahead of Glenn Irwin and Danny Buchan; while Jack Kennedy heads row three for the first race of the weekend, and is joined by Danny Kent and Christian Iddon on that third row. 

Leon Haslam completes the top 10, with Peter Hickman and Ryan Vickers rounding out row four.

Full BSB results from Silverstone qualifying are below.

2023 British Superbike Championship (BSB) | Silverstone National | Qualifying Results

FP2

Second practice for the British Superbike riders at Silverstone took place in generally similar conditions to the first session earlier in the afternoon. FP2 was topped by Jason O'Halloran, who leads the field into Saturday.

There were some new-old names at the top of the times in FP2. Josh Brookes, for example, was able to top the session. The previous two seasons have been terrible for two-time champion Brookes, but he has switched to FHO BMW for 2023, and seems to be getting on better with the M 1000 RR than he did the Ducati Panigale V4 R he rode since 2019.

Brookes’ time-topping lap came after a red flag for Andrew Irwin, who crashed the #18 Honda CBR1000RR-R at Maggots fairly early in FP2. 

Brookes was deposed, with 15 minutes to go, as Leon Haslam - another former champion who suffered in 2022 and who has switched to BMW machinery for 2023 - hit the top, ahead of Kyle Ryde and Christian Iddon.

Jason O’Halloran then went to the top, before the red flag was thrown for the second time in the session, this time for Liam Delves' Rapid CDH Kawasaki, which expired with nine seconds left on the clock, meaning the session did not resume.

That meant Jason O’Halloran ended day one on top, 0.040 seconds ahead of Leon Haslam, while Kyle Ryde completed the top three, ensuring Haslam’s BMW sits within a Yamaha sandwich overnight. 

Josh Brookes completed a Yamaha-BMW-alternating top four on the FHO Racing machine, while Christian Iddon was the top Ducati in fifth. 

Glenn Irwin ended his first day back in Ducati red by closing out the top six, ahead of his teammate Tommy Bridewell, who made sure that three Ducatis are in the top 10 overnight, with his seventh place, even if none are in the top four.

Danny Buchan finished Friday in Silverstone in eighth, while Andrew Irwin was unable to get back out after his early crash, and he finished ninth. The top 10 was rounded out by Jack Kennedy.

Full BSB Silverstone results from combined practice on the National layout are below.

2023 British Superbike Championship (BSB) | Silverstone National | Combined FP Results

FP1

The Silverstone circuit is hardly known for its guarantee of great conditions, but that is what greeted the riders of the British Superbike Championship early on Friday afternoon for the first practice of the 2023 BSB season. Kyle Ryde topped the session, kicking off his season in the perfect way. 

Danny Buchan led the session from early on in its duration, and by a healthy margin, too. The Silverstone National layout is only a 50-odd-second lap time on a BSB-spec motorcycle, and so Buchan’s early gap of 0.118 seconds over Kyle Ryde was relatively significant.

In the final 20 minutes, Buchan’s gap was first cut, by Tommy Bridewell, to under one-tenth-of-a-second, and then the #83 was displaced at the top by the aforementioned Ryde, who went 0.070 clear of the Synetiq BMW.

In the end, Ryde was able to extend his advantage to 0.120 seconds by the end of the session. Tommy Bridewell finished the opening session of the season in second place, while Andrew Irwin finished third in his first competitive session back on a Honda.

Leon Haslam was able to show something more like the speed we would expect from the 2018 BSB Champion with fourth place, 0.150 seconds behind Ryde, while Danny Buchan ended up fifth, ahead of Jason O’Halloran, who completed the top six.

In seventh place was Peter Hickman, ahead of Jack Kennedy at the beginning of his and Mar-Train Yamaha’s first full season of BSB together; while Glenn Irwin was ninth on the second Beer Monster Ducati, and Ryan Vickers began his time with OMG Racing by rounding out the top 10.

Full BSB Silverstone results from FP1 on the National layout can be found below.

2023 British Superbike Championship (BSB) | Silverstone National | FP1 Results

Lead image credit: Mar-Train Racing.

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