BSB: The Bennetts British Superbikes Head To Donington Park GP Circuit For The Penultimate Round Of The Season.
By Dawn Hammersley
The Showdown Heats Up With A New Championship Leader As The Bennetts British Superbikes Head To Donington Park For Round Ten.
Round Ten of the Bennetts British Superbikes is at the iconic Leicestershire circuit of Donington Park, the lay out for Round ten is the GP circuit. The previous round at Oulton Park delivered three outstanding races and we saw McAMS Yamaha’s Tarran Mackenzie take the Championship lead from his Team-mate Jason O’Halloran. Oxford Products Racing Ducati’s Tommy Bridewell stole the show at Oulton Park winning two out of the three races.
McAMS Yamaha’s Tarran Mackenzie is now leading the 2021 British Superbike Championship by just two points from his team-mate Jason O’Halloran. Tarran claimed his sixth win of the season at Oulton park and a further podium in Race two with a third place finish. Jason O’Halloran had a weekend to forget, the Australian rider had two crashes, something we haven’t seen a lot of from Jason so far this season. Jason is only two points adrift from Tarran, so going into Round ten Jason is still in a very strong position in the Championship Title fight.
Oxford Products Racing Ducati’s Tommy Bridewell delivered two master class victories at Oulton Park, Tommy didn’t have the best qualifying session and started race one from 16th position, he finished the race in a strong sixth place. There was no stopping the Wiltshire rider in races two and three, in race three Tommy ran away with the victory leaving the rest of the field 5.9 seconds behind. He is in third place in the championship standings, just nine points adrift from Mackenzie. Tommy goes into round ten in a very sturdy position in the title fight.
VisionTrack Ducati’s Christian Iddon got a best place finish of third in race one at Oulton Park, he is in fourth place in the championship standings, the Stockport rider is 33 points adrift from Mackenzie. Josh Brookes had a turn around in form at Oulton Park, the Australian claimed his first Pole Position of the 2021 season. He had two second place finishes, unfortunately Josh crashed out of race two on the last lap. He is in sixth place in the standings 51 points adrift from Mackenzie. Will we see Josh get his first win of the 2021 season this weekend at Donington Park?
FHO Racing BMW’s Peter Hickman is in fifth place in the standings, 43 points adrift from Mackenzie, Peter was always in the top five battling for a podium finish at Oulton Park, he had a best place finish of fourth in race three. Can the Louth rider finish higher at Donington Park and get that all important podium finish.
SYNETIQ BMW Motorrad’s Danny Buchan had a fairly mediocre round at Oulton Park, his best place finish was sixth in race three. The Essex rider got caught up in Ryan Vicker’s crash in race one, leaving Danny having to run off track, putting him down in the order, he managed to make up some positions to finish the race in seventh place. Danny is in seventh place in the standings.
Honda Racing’s Glenn Irwin is in the last showdown spot in eighth place, the Northern Irish rider is 64 points adrift from first place man Mackenzie. Glenn had a best place finish of seventh at Oulton Park. Glenn has good form at Donington Park, he will be one to watch out for in the hunt for race wins this weekend.
Rider Cup hopefuls RICH Energy OMG Racing BMW’s Bradley Ray and FS-3 Racing Kawasaki’s Lee Jackson were at the sharp end at Oulton Park. Bradley got his second podium finish of the season in race three. Lee Jackson was in the mix in all-three races, unfortunately Lee and Tarran Mackenzie had a coming together in race three, which resulted In Lee crashing out at Old Hall Bend. There are 24 points between Bradley and Lee, with Bradley leading the way in ninth place in the championship standings. Can they get in the mix this weekend and stir things up at the sharp end?
FHO Racing BMW have announced that Joe Francis will be joining them for the penultimate round at Donington park, Joe has been aboard the BMW M 1000 RR for the 2021 season so joining The FHO Racing Team for round ten will be a good switch for the Chester rider.
Featured Images: Double Red Photographic, Michael Hallam Photography, McAMS Yamaha Racing, Tommy Bridewell Racing, M Photographic, FHO Racing, Josh Brookes Racing, SYNETIQ BMW Racing, Honda UK, Bradley Ray Racing, Lee Jackson.