Donington BSB: O'Halloran Triumphs in Donington Race 3 Brawl

Donington Park hosts round three of the 2024 British Superbike Championship, with Glenn Irwin arriving at the first Donington BSB with the points lead after he took all three wins at Oulton Park.

Overview

• Race 3 - O'Halloran takes first Kawasaki win after four-way lead battle

• Race 2 - Irwin fends of Haslam for Race 2 win, Vickers crashes out

• Race 1 - Ryde wins shortened Race 1, Bridewell second, Haslam third

• Qualifying -  Vickers takes Donington Superpole from Ryde

• Friday Practice - Vickers fastest on day one as top four go under 1:28

Race 3

Jason O’Halloran won his first race for Kawasaki in BSB Race 3 at Donington Park, after a four-way fight that lasted the second half of the 20 laps.

Tommy Bridewell made the holeshot, but Glenn Irwin had taken the lead by the end of the first lap.

It stayed that way at the front until lap seven, when Bridewell came back at the Old Hairpin, only for Irwin to come back on lap 10. By now, Jason O’Halloran had worked his way into the podium positions, and he took second from Bridewell on lap 11. Bridewell came back again, though, on lap 15 - he sensed Irwin breaking away, and set the fastest lap on his way through O’Halloran.

Credit: Ian Hopgood.

The Australian stayed in the fight, though, and went with Bridewell back to the rear wheel of Irwin, who was passed on lap 18 for the lead once more, this time at Melbourne Hairpin. This time, O’Halloran snuck through on the inside to take second place, and then he went to the front on lap 19.

With one to go, O’Halloran was dropping the hammer, and his victory bid was helped by battling behind. Irwin passed Bridewell at the Foggy Esses, but ran wide and lost out on the run to Melbourne to both Bridewell and Danny Kent, who had been a bystander to the battling among the top three in the final five laps.

Bridewell went super-defensive into the final corner, which almost allowed Kent around his outside. In trying, Kent nearly lost third place to Irwin, but in the end both he and Bridewell held onto their positions, Kent himself moving back up to second in the championship as the leading Yamaha behind Ducati's Irwin. As did O’Halloran, a winner for the first time with Kawasaki.

Irwin was the unlucky loser of the battle and took fourth, while Race 1 winner Kyle Ryde was five seconds off the win in fifth. Leon Haslam looked to challenge for the podium in the early part of the race, but didn’t have the pace in the second half and ended sixth, ahead of Andrew Irwin in a season-best seventh. Lee Jackson was eighth, Christian Iddon ninth, and Max Cook rounded out the top 10.

Full BSB results from Race 3 at Donington Park, are below.

2024 Donington Park BSB | Race 3 Result

Race 2

Glenn Irwin fended off late pressure from Leon Haslam in BSB Race 2 to take victory for the fourth time in five races.

Irwin started from the front row, and got past fellow Ducati rider Christian Iddon into turn one to take the early lead. It was a crucial move for Irwin, who broke clear of Iddon while the #21 - suffering with injuries sustained in his red flag-causing crash in Race 1 - became something of a cork in the bottle.

Haslam was the first rider to break through, but Irwin already had a one second lead. It took until lap eight for Haslam to cut Irwin’s lead to half-a-second, but he was never able to be strong enough in the right places in order to put a move on the #2 for the lead.

Irwin, for his part, made no mistakes on his way to a fourth win in five races, while Haslam took his second podium of the Donington Park weekend, the same true for Tommy Bridewell who came through to third place after battling with Kyle Ryde.

Credit: Ian Hopgood.

Both Bridewell and Ryde had been able to get through Iddon fairly early, but not early enough to do anything about the two leaders. The same was somewhat true of Danny Kent, who was the major loser of some of the early melee. Fortunately for Kent, his strong pace paid in pole position for Race 3, although he only finished fourth in Race 2.

Ryde took fifth place, ahead of Iddon, Charlie Nesbitt, Josh Brookes, Andrew Irwin, and Fraser Rogers who completed the top 10.

Both FS-3 Kawasakis were also in the mix, but retired within 30 seconds of each other, Jason O’Halloran dropping out at the final corner of lap six, while Max Cook was out at Hollywood on lap seven.

Ryan Vickers crashed again at the Melbourne Hairpin. Initial reports are that he has broken a collarbone.

Full BSB results from Race 2 at Donington Park, are below.

2024 Donington Park BSB | Race 2 Result

Race 1

Kyle Ryde took victory in a red-flagged BSB Race 1 at Donington Park, following a crash for Christian Iddon.

It was Ryan Vickers who made the holeshot, but he threw the lead away on lap two when he crashed at the Melbourne Hairpin. 

Credit: Ian Hopgood

From there, Ryde led mostly unchallenged. The pressure on him was just beginning to build from Leon Haslam on the BMW and Honda's Tommy Bridewell when the red flag came out for Iddon’s crash. Those two swapped positions at Goddard’s on what turned out to be the final lap when Haslam ran wide, and so Bridewell took second and Haslam third.

Danny Kent was fourth and moved up to second in the championship, while Glenn Irwin took fifth place. Max Cook was sixth, ahead of Max Cook, Lee Jackson, Jason O’Halloran, Charlie Nesbit, and Josh Brookes who completed the top 10.

After the red flag, Iddon was reported as talking to the medical team and complaining of pain in his ankle.

Full BSB results from Race 1 at Donington Park, are below.

2024 Donington Park BSB | Race 1 Result

Qualifying

The Superpole format returned for BSB qualifying at Donington Park. That meant the top three from Q1 would go through to join the top 12 from the combined free practice times in the one-lap shootout session. Those riders were three Honda riders, but perhaps not all the ones that might have been expected: Fraser Rogers, Tommy Bridewell, and Billy McConnell.

Superpole itself looked to be going the way of Kyle Ryde, who beat his best time from the preseason test with a 1:27.634 on his one flying lap. However, he was beaten by the final rider to set a lap, his OMG Yamaha teammate Ryan Vickers with a 1:27.608.

In third place was Leon Haslam, reportedly having solved electronics problems on the #91 BMW that had been holding him back so far in 2024.

Danny Kent was fourth, ahead of Lee Jackson and Tommy Bridewell on row three, while Christian Iddon heads up row three from points leader Glenn Irwin Max Cook.

Josh Brookes completed the qualifying top 10, ahead of Billy McConnell and Fraser Rogers on row four. Luke Mossey’s 1:29.880 was the slowest lap set in the session, but he was promoted from 15th to 13th thanks to cancelled laps for both Jason O’Halloran and Charlie Nesbitt.

Full BSB results from qualifying, and the pre-qualifying FP3 session at Donington Park, are below.

2024 Donington Park BSB | Qualifying Result

2024 Donington Park BSB | FP3 Result

Friday Practice

Friday practice in Donington Park for round three of the 2024 BSB season saw Ryan Vickers end fastest, as FP2 proved to be the much fastr of the two sessions run on Friday.

Lee Jackson topped FP1 on a 1:28.740, but Vickers' FP2 time was almost a full second faster. Jackson himself ended the day in ninth, while the rider who replaced him at FS-3 Kawasaki for this year, Jason O'Halloran, was second overall.

Credit: Ian Hopgood.

Leon Haslam was third-fastest, ahead of points leader Glenn Irwin, who was the last rider under 1:28. Danny Kent rounded out the top five, ahead of Kyle Ryde in sixth, Christian Iddon seventh, Charlie Nesbitt eighth, Lee Jackson ninth, and Max Cook who completed the top 10. The final two automatic Superpole spots were taken by Peter Hickman and Luke Mossey, who is standing in this weekend for the still-injured Tom Neave.

Rory Skinner didn't set a time in FP2, and ended the day 23rd based on his FP1 time.

Full BSB results from FP1 and FP2 at Donington Park are below.

FP2

FP1

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Image credit: Ian Hopgood.