At a time when some have been left wondering where the action in MotoGP has disappeared to, the British Superbike Championship (BSB) put in a convincing pitch to earn status as the ‘World’s Most Exciting Motorcycle Racing Series” following an epic fight for honours at Thruxton over the weekend.
With its combination of big grids, gnarly technical circuits and a regulatory ethos that places rider skill above motorcycle superiority, the BSB has rarely failed to deliver slugged-out, action-packed racing up and down the field over the last decade.
However, this weekend’s sixth round of the season at Thruxon - the fastest circuit on the calendar - appears destined to go down in the annuals as a cast-iron classic as the series’ form trio of McAMS Yamaha’s Jason O’Halloran and Tarran Mackenzie, plus Bradley Ray on the OMG Yamaha, delivered a spectacular showcase for dogged, limit-flirting two-wheel tussling right to the flag.
If you haven’t seen the outcomes then we won’t spoil it the result or the manner in which they were achieved, suffice to say all three races were utterly dominated by the Yamaha R1-equipped trio, who - despite their frequent high-speed dust ups - not only filled the podium on each occasion, but did so with fistfuls of seconds in hand to their trailing rivals.
Of the three races, it was two and three - the closing stages of which we have embedded in the videos below - that will go down in retrospectives for years to come. Then again, with Mackenzie and Ray split for second and third place at the line by just 0.003s, it’s worth seeking out too.
Race 2 - Final Laps
Race 3 - Final Laps
Race 3 - Onboards
Thanks to their brace of podiums at Thruxton, O’Halloran and Ray are the first to officially book their places in the BSB Title Showdown.
While Australian O’Halloran heads for the Showdown determined to amends for his slump in form during the critical final rounds of 2021, this marks only the second time Ray has reached the lattermost stages of a season, his first and only appearance coming in 2018 on the Hawk Suzuki.
Moreover, Ray’s booked spot also means OMG Racing will contest the Title Showdown for the first time, some five years after its maiden BSB season in 2018.
Mackenzie, meanwhile, looks set to go forward for the chance to defend his BSB title after ascending to seventh in the standings. The Scot missed the first two rounds of the season through injury, but strong showings during Round 5 and 6 at Brands Hatch and Thruxton has launched him into a safe provisional Showdown spot with two events to go before the cut-off.
