2024 British Superbikes: Brands Hatch - Race Results (2)

Already a sprint, the second British Superbikes race at Brands Hatch was reduced to a five lap dash, won by Ryan Vickers, who pulled away again with just five laps to gain his advantage this time out for OMG Grilla Yamaha.

The original launch from the line saw the safety car out almost immediately after a crash involving Glenn Irwin, Danny Buchan and Danny Kent. The red flag followed on just lap seven of twelve as Luke Hedger and his bike needed time and care to be removed.

As Hedger slipped off, Vickers, who had lost the lead to Bridewell after a small error at Surtees gave him the opportunity to pass, had just pulled off a huge move, from third to first, taking advantage from a double slipstream, from the Honda man and Christian Iddon.

That saw the #7 ahead and back on pole for the restart.

• British Superbikes, Brands Hatch: Vickers - ‘I just want to deliver what I know is possible’
• 2024 British Superbikes: Brands Hatch - Race Results (1)

This time there was no safety car to re-bunch the pack behind him and Vickers lead into turn one. Despite the short distance, the rider from Norfolk was able to hit the 1m25s pace that saw him dominate race one, visibly ahead by the penultimate lap to win by 1.188s.

Tommy Bridewell was second again for Honda Racing UK, pushed all the way by Kyle Ryde.

Ryde looked to have solved the issues holding him back on Saturday, where he needed a trip in Q1 to finish sixth after racing hard, when he topped the tricky damp warm up session in the morning.

Up to fifth in the race before it’s stoppage, from that spot on the grid the second OMG Grilla Yamaha rider was much better placed to fight for the podium places, having moved straight into third. Unable to find a safe slipstream past the #1 bike, Ryde completed a team 1-3 to finish back on the rostrum.

Andrew Irwin had sent his brother wide and into trouble on the first start and was still in the thick of the action at the second lights out. The Honda UK rider this time sat up Christian Iddon, who had been a comfortable third before the red flag.

After a podium in race one, Irwin backed up his performance with fourth, just ahead of Leon Haslam , who made up the most places over the five laps to claim fifth for his ROKiT BMW Motorrad team, from an eighth placed start.

Iddon recovered to finish sixth for Oxford Products Ducati, having dropped as low as eighth on the first lap.

Lee Jackson was a solo seventh for MasterMac Honda, with Josh Brookes staging his own recovery behind for FHO Racing BMW Motorrad.

The Australian passed Franco Bourne on the last lap to claim the place, leaving the Rapid Honda rider a close ninth.

The battle for the final top ten space was close, with Charlie Nesbitt making up for his issues on day one to bounce back and lead the train over the line on the second MasterMac entry.

Jason O’Halloran slipped back into that fight, having previously climbed high enough to begin the restart from fourth for Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki, finishing a disappointing eleventh and just holding off Peter Hickman, who made big gains on the first lap to take twelfth for FHO Racing.

The remaining points went to Max Cook in 13th for Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki, Storm Stacey in 14th for LKQ Euro Car Parts Kawasaki and the top Pathway bike, the honour going back to Lewis Rollo, who was as high as tenth on his way to a 15th place finish for In Competition/Sencat Aprilia.

Official British Superbike Brands Hatch Records:

Lap record: Josh Brookes (Yamaha, 2017) 1m 24.873s

Brands Hatch in 2023:

Round 6
Qualifying (superpole): 
1: Tommy Bridewell
2: Ryan Vickers
3: Josh Brookes

Race 1 (Sprint):
1: Ryan Vickers
2: Danny Kent
3: Christian Iddon

Race 2:
1: Tommy Bridewell
2: Christian Iddon
3: Danny Kent

Race 3:
1: Tommy Bridewell
2: Glenn Irwin
3: Ryan Vickers

Round 11 (showdown)
Qualifying : 
1: Jason O’Halloran
2: Leon Haslam
3: Charlie Nesbitt

Race 1 (Sprint):
1: Kyle Ryde
2: Jason O’Halloran
3: Tommy Bridewell

Race 2:
1: Glenn Irwin
2: Tommy Bridewell
3: Kyle Ryde

Race 3:
1: Glenn Irwin
2: Tommy Bridewell
3: Kyle Ryde

Crashes, injuries and replacements

Richard Kerr continued his weekend sitting in for Rory Skinner at Cheshire Mouldings BMW, this time taking 16th after lining up 24th on the grid and 18th on the restart.

Before the red flag three riders exited on the first lap. Glenn Irwin was sat up by his brother, moving him into the path of Danny Buchan and Danny Kent, with Buchan losing the front, collecting Kent, and Irwin heading into the aftermath.

They were assessed at Paddock Hill bend, with the safety car out as the Ducati rider was holding his shoulder and loaded onto a stretcher, to be transferred into an ambulance for further checks.

The red flag came out for Hedger’s fall at Hawthorn Hill, the bike split in two after he ran off into the gravel.

Post-race both Kent and Buchan were immediately declared fit to continue, with Hedger unfit, diagnosed with a soft tissue injury at both his neck and forearm.

Irwin has no fractures but is reporting muscle spasms in his neck, so will continue his physio and be reviewed before race three.

The warm-up lap on the return to track saw Billy McConnell pull off track with a reported oil leak.

All the riders made it around the five lap dash with no further incidents.

Tom Neave was officially withdrawn by his Stauff Fluid Power Kawasaki team, following his huge QP fall near Surtees, which had already seen him sit out race one.

Championship Standings

Starting the race tied for points, it is now advantage Bridewell with a sixteen point gap from his second place finish over Irwin. Bridewell is also the first rider to pass the 200 point mark, moving onto a total of 205.

Irwin is second on 189, with Iddon remaining third overall on 177. A much improved third in the race sees Ryde close in, just six points further back.

Although he recorded another DNF in race two, Kent remains fifth on 147 points.