Haslam edges O’Halloran to double up for BSB lead

Full BSB race two results from Oulton Park

Leon Haslam has taken the Bennetts British Superbike championship lead for JG Speedfit Kawasaki after sealing a double victory at Oulton Park having fended off Honda’s Jason O’Halloran.

The JG Speedfit Kawasaki rider was shuffled back to fourth on the opening lap after starting from pole position but found his rhythm to carve up the order during the first half of the race.

After darting past Bradley Ray and Jake Dixon at Lodge corner on lap four and lap seven respectively, Haslam used his favoured overtaking spot to dive up the inside of O’Halloran at the end of lap 12 to take the lead. Despite unrelenting pressure from the Honda Racing rider, Haslam gave no inch to the Australian rider to double up from his race one win and secure victory.

Haslam’s third win of the year, and his eighth at the Cheshire track in total, sees the JG Speedfit Kawasaki rider take the BSB championship lead from Ray by 14 points along with the healthy helping of Podium Points.

With O’Halloran having to settle for second place, Dixon saw off a late race charge from defending BSB champion Shane Byrne to hold on to the final podium spot, with Byrne’s Be Wiser Ducati teammate Glenn Irwin in fifth place.

McAMS Yamaha’s Josh Brookes battled up to sixth place after diving past Ray on the final lap with Danny Buchan narrowly missing out in eighth place on the FS-3 Racing Kawasaki.

Richard Cooper enjoyed his strongest BSB round so far in 2018 for Buildbase Suzuki with ninth place in race two ahead of Tommy Bridewell on the Movuno.com Halsall Racing Suzuki.

Peter Hickman bounced back from his race one crash to take 11^th place for Smiths Racing BMW before heading off to the North West 200 during the mid-season break.

James Ellison secured 12^th place for Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha ahead of Tyco BMW’s Michael Laverty as Taylor Mackenzie (Moto Rapido Ducati) and Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) completed the points finishers.