BSB Snetterton Results, Race 3 - To the final corner

Round five of the 2023 British Superbike Championship takes the series to Snetterton, where Tommy Bridewell arrives with an eight-point championship lead. Check this page throughout the weekend for BSB Snetterton results.

Overview

Race 3 - Bridewell completes Snetterton triple after strong fight with Irwin

Race 2 - Bridewell doubles up in red-flagged Race 2

Race 1 - Bridewell triumphs as Irwin drops from 1st to 4th on final lap

Qualifying - O'Halloran takes pole with almost lap record pace

FP2 - O'Halloran hits the 1:47s to end day one fastest

FP1 - Iddon starts out on top as Rabat impresses on debut with fifth

Race 3

Race 3 for BSB saw Tommy Bridewell start from pole position with the chance of a first-ever ‘triple’ - a chance he took.

From pole position, Tommy Bridewell did not make a great launch, and was out-dragged to turn one by Ryan Vickers, but the #46 slotted into second place ahead of Josh Brookes.

Brookes, though, found his way to the front, past both Bridwell and Vickers, by the end of lap two.

Credit: Mar-Train Racing.

By lap five, Brookes was strengthening his position at the front, while Glenn Irwin had fought his way up to second, and Leon Haslam to third, but the Australian’s victory hopes were over five laps later when he suffered a terminal mechanical problem.

Brookes’ misfortune was to the benefit of Irwin, who inherited the lead ahead of Haslam. 

It took until the end of lap 12 for Bridewell to displace Haslam from second place, as he sensed his teammate, Irwin, was beginning to break away. Certainly, it did not take much time for Bridewell to distance himself from Haslam after he had passed the #91. That distance was erased on lap 14, though, as the two PBM Ducati teammates engaged with some brutality, which led to a four-rider battle for the win with two laps to go.

Bridewell led onto the final lap, which he put together sufficiently well to hold onto the win by 0.032 seconds from his teammate, Irwin.

Leon Haslam rounded out the podium in third place, ahead of Ryan Vickers in fourth. Christian Iddon rounded out the top five and was the third Ducati within it, ahead of Jason O’Halloran who ended his weekend with a sixth.

Lee Jackson repeated his result of Race 2 with a seventh place as the top Kawasaki, while Kyle Ryde (8th), Danny Kent (9th, top Honda), and Tito Rabat (10th) rounded out the top 10.

Full BSB Race 3 results from Snetterton are below.

2023 BSB Snetterton Results | Race 3

Race 2

BSB Race 2 at Snetterton saw the first start red flagged, and Tommy Bridewell emerge victorious in the shortened, restarted race.

The first start was red flagged after crashes for both Peter Hickman and Danny Buchan leading to both a suspicion of oil and a necessity for medical attention to Buchan. The Synetiq BMW rider was able to get back to his feet and walk - with assistance - to the ambulance, but his unsteadiness when he did so seemed symptomatic of a hit to the head. Hickman, speaking to Eurosport before the race was restarted, reported that Buchan had a bleeding nose after the incident.

The restarted race set the grid with the race positions from lap six, meaning Jason O’Halloran started from pole position, and was run over eight laps.

Credit: Mar-Train Racing.

O’Halloran made a strong launch from pole position, but so did Josh Brookes, whose BMW’s additional power compared to O’Halloran’s Yamaha allowed him to make the holeshot.

The first start saw the field stay almost glued together in the opening laps, which were led by Brookes. In the second start, the situation was identical, with the opening two-and-a-half laps seeing the front group extending far beyond the top 10.

Midway through lap three, Tommy Bridewell got to the front, and by the start of lap four he was beginning to pull away. Bridewell’s lead in the end was over two seconds, in part thanks to his own pace, and in part thanks to those behind engaging with each other.

Josh Brookes produced a strong defensive ride to hold off three riders who all seemed to have stronger pace than him in order to secure second place. Leon Haslam, meanwhile, was the best of those who could not find their way past Brookes, finishing third.

In fourth place was Glenn Irwin, thanks to a last corner pass on O’Halloran, who finished fifth.

Danny Kent was the best-placed Honda in sixth, ahead of Lee Jackson on the top Kawasaki in seventh; while Christian Iddon (8th), Ryan Vickers (9th), and Jack Kennedy (10th) completed the top 10.

Full results from BSB Race 2 in Snetterton are below.

2023 BSB Snetterton Results | Race 2

Race 1

BSB Race 1 at Snetterton was dominated by four riders, as Tommy Bridewell won out in a battle between himself, Glenn Irwin, Jason O’Halloran and Josh Brookes.

It was O’Halloran who made the holeshot, but he was passed by Glenn Irwin on the inside into turn two, and by Tito Rabat around the outside of the same corner, although the Australian reclaimed second place from his new teammate at the end of the back straight.

By the end of lap one, O’Halloran was back to the front, but only so as to demonstrate the Ducati’s speed advantage at turn one at the beginning of lap two.

It took around five laps for the front three - O’Halloran, Irwin, and Tommy Bridewell - to break away. It came as Tito Rabat got beaten out of contention, and, as progressed, it also emerged that the two PBM Ducati riders were stronger than McAMS Yamaha’s O’Halloran.

It wasn’t that O’Halloran did not have the pace of the two Ducatis, but that he did not have the ‘raceability’ his rivals are afforded by one specific advantage of their bike: straight line speed.

By lap nine, O’Halloran had dropped back from the leading Ducatis, now with Bridewell leading Irwin, and he also fell behind Josh Brookes, who perhaps had the pace to catch the two leaders.

The #25’s cause was helped when said leaders engaged each other on lap 10, with Irwin regaining the lead from Bridewell.

Irwin held the lead onto the last lap, by which time the fight for the lead seemed entirely three-way, but he was passed at the end of the back straight by Bridewell and ran wide.

Irwin’s compromised line at the end of the back straight gave Brookes the chance to pass into the final corner, which he did and, in turn, compromised again Irwin’s line on the exit onto the front straight. That allowed O’Halloran to out-drag Irwin to the line and claim the last podium position.

Irwin, then, finished fourth, ahead of Christian Iddon who made it three Ducatis in the top five, while Danny Kent was the top Honda in sixth.

Lee Jackson was seventh and the top Kawasaki rider, ahead of Jack Kennedy, Charlie Nesbitt, and Tito Rabat, who completed his debut race for McAMS Yamaha in 10th place.

Full BSB results from Race 1 in Snetterton are below.

2023 BSB Snetterton Results | Race 1

Qualifying

Qualifying for BSB at Snetterton managed to avoid any precipitation, despite the constant looming clouds, and ____ took pole position.

As always, Q1 began qualifying at Snetterton, and it was topped by Tito Rabat, making his McAMS Yamaha debut this weekend.

Rabat was joined in advancing to Q2 by Danny Kent, Luke Mossey, Jack Kennedy, Charlie Nesbitt, and Tom Neave.

Image credit: McAMS Yamaha.

Q2 was dominated by one lap from Jason O’Halloran, which was within 0.1 seconds of the lap record set last year by his then-teammate Tarran Mackenzie.

The lap was set early on and it was enough for O’Halloran to set pole position, ahead of Glenn Irwin on the fastest of the Ducatis.

Tito Rabat, having impressed on Friday and arrived at Q2 through Q1, qualified third for his first race at Snetterton.

Tommy Bridewell was fourth fastest, ahead of Josh Brookes (5th) on the lead BMW and Leon Haslam (6th) on the second row; while Charlie Nesbitt heads up the third row in seventh as the fastest Honda rider, ahead of Danny Kent (8th) and Jack Kennedy (9th).

The qualifying top 10 was rounded out by Danny Buchan, who will be joined by Christian Iddon (11th) and Max Cook (12th, top Kawasaki) on the fourth row.
 

Full BSB results from qualifying in Snetterton are below.

2023 BSB Snetterton Results | Qualifying

FP2

BSB FP2 at Snetterton saw a drop in lap times compared to FP1, with Jason O’Halloran going fastest.

It was a strong start to the session for Tommy Bridewell, who topped the early running with a time 1.2 seconds faster than what he managed in the first session.

At that point, Jason O’Halloran was a few tenths shy of Bridewell’s time, but by the end he was over 0.3 seconds clear of the #46 rider.

Image credit: McAMS Yamaha.

It was a dominant display by the McAMS Yamaha rider, who was the only rider to set a lap time in the 1:47s.

Bridewell ended up second and fastest Ducati, ahead of Leon Haslam (3rd, fastest BMW), Ryan Vickers (4th), and Kyle Ryde (5th), who completed the top five.

Glenn Irwin (6th) rounded out the top six, ahead of Lee Jackson (7th, top Kawasaki), Christian Iddon (8th), Danny Buchan (9th), and Josh Brookes (10th) who completed the top 10. 

With a view to qualifying tomorrow, the final two spots for direct access to Q2 were taken by Max Cook (11th) and Peter Hickman (12th), the latter fresh from road racing in Imatra.

The only rider to go slower in FP2 than FP1 was Luke Mossey.

Full BSB results from combined practice and FP2 in Snetterton are below.

2023 BSB Snetterton Results | Combined FP

2023 BSB Snetterton Results | FP2

FP1

The weekend began with dry weather for BSB in Snetterton, although lap times by the end were still two seconds off the record set last year by Tarran Mackenzie. The fastest of them, though, was Christian Iddon.

Iddon's pace this year has been generally quite underwhelming. We have seen Iddon compete for race wins in the past, and the same can be said of the Oxford Products team he has moved to for 2023. But, so far, the speed has not been there for Iddon this year. A corner seemed to be turned in more recent rounds, and perhaps this FP1 performance in Snetterton is a confirmation that the #24 is now at the level to be challenging for BSB podium positions.

Image credit: Mar-Train Racing.

The early pace was made by Leon Haslam, but he was jumped at the end by Iddon to end the session in second place. Still, the #91 was almost a-quarter-of-a-second ahead of third-placed Jason O'Halloran on the fastest Yamaha by the end of the session.

Perhaps the surprise of FP1, though, came from the other side of the McAMS Yamaha garage, which is now occupied by 2014 Moto2 World Champion Tito Rabat. The Spaniard debuted in BSB last year with the TAG Honda team, but that lasted no more than, essentially, one round. Tim Neave's withdrawal from racing before Knockhill opened up the second McAMS seat, and now Rabat seems to be taking full advantage: fifth place in FP1, half-a-second off the pace, and less than 0.1 seconds behind Ryan Vickers.

Tommy Bridewell, the points leader coming into round five this weekend, ended FP1 in sixth, ahead of Lee Jackson (7th, fastest Kawasaki), Glenn Irwin (8th), Danny Kent (9th, top Honda), and Danny Buchan (10th), who completed the top 10.

Full BSB Snetterton results for FP1 are below.

2023 BSB Snetterton Results | FP1                    

Lead Image credit: Mar-Train Racing.