2024 British Superbikes: Donington Park (Showdown) - Race Results (1)

Kyle Ryde showed that after winning in a variety of ways over the last few rounds, that he was capable of soaking up pressure as he kept title rival Tommy Bridewell behind to win the first race of the second Showdown meeting at round ten of the British Superbike championship at Donington Park.

Starting from pole, the only minor blot on the OMG Grilla Yamaha rides race was a poor start, but all was recovered by turn one, leading the whole distance from there, for his seventh BSB win of the season as he reduces the gap in the championship standings.

Danny Kent initially held second but got too close to his fellow Yamaha rider, forcing him to run on at the Esses to rejoin the race on the first lap.

That saw Tommy Bridewell up to second, a position he held for the remainder, piling pressure on Ryde ahead, setting the fastest lap, and earning pole for the sprint tomorrow in the process.

Within touching distance for eighteen of the twenty laps, only over the closing stages did the reigning champion prioritise staying upright as he struggled to keep in touch, finishing 2.071s behind.

• 2024 British Superbikes: Donington Park (Showdown) - Qualifying Results
• 2024 British Superbikes: Donington Park - Friday Practice Results

Glenn Irwin fought his way up to the group that had his brother in and was soon past his sibling. Behind, Andrew Irwin sometimes looked to be piling on the pressure, but did not take an opportunity to pass the Ducati back, allowing the PBM rider to finish third, while he brought home the second Honda in fourth, both over eight seconds behind Ryde as the rest of the field found the pace of the #77 around his home track hard to match.

Kent dropped to twelfth but staged a huge comeback on his McAMS Yamaha, climbing back up to fifth by the chequered flag.

Recovery for Nesbitt after chain incident

Kent was not the only rider with places to make back up. An early retirement for Brayden Elliott occurred when his chain came away from his DAO Racing Kawasaki.

The missing chain was on the track - and was sent flying when the bikes came back around for the next lap, hitting Charlie Nesbitt on the knee while in fourth.

That caused the MasterMac Honda rider to drop back into the pack with the pain. Nesbitt fought back for his best finish at Donington in the dry to date, taking sixth.

Ryan Vickers continued to struggle, picking up seventh on the second OMG Yamaha.

Eighth went to Lee Jackson on the second MasterMac bike, just holding off Josh Brookes in ninth after he faded back from third, holding on and causing a train behind for as long as possible for FHO Racing.

Christian Iddon completed the top ten for Oxford Products Ducati just over a second later.

Leon Haslam was ninth when he was informed by race direction that he had a long lap penalty for cutting the course on lap four, dropping the ROKiT Haslam BMW bike to eleventh, where he stayed.

Max Cook fought with his teammate Jason O’Halloran to be the top Kawasaki on the Completely Motorbikes machines, with Cook taking twelfth, eventually with three seconds over the Australian.

The remaining points went to Billy McConnell in 14th for C&L Fairburn/Look Forward Racing in 14th and Peter Hickman for FHO Racing in 15th.

Rory Skinner missed qualifying after a technical issue saw him stop in the Esses section of the circuit in FP3 right before Q1. The Cheshire Mouldings BMW rider was allowed to join up on the back of the grid, in 25th. The Scottish rider made it to an impressive 16th, just missing out on the points but only just over three seconds behind Hickman.

Lewis Rollo was the top Pathway bike once again and although he faded back to 20th in the race, the Aprilia rider was still pleased to have made it to Q2 directly for the first time, and believes the bike can be altered overnight for a better result on Sunday.

Official British Superbike Donington Park Records:

Lap record: Leon Haslam (BMW, 2023) 1m 27.523s

Donington Park in 2023:

Round 2
Superpole Qualifying: 
1: Kyle Ryde
2: Leon Haslam
3: Jason O’Halloran

Race 1 (Sprint):
1: Kyle Ryde
2: Tommy Bridewell
3: Leon Haslam

Race 2:
1: Jason O’Halloran
2: Ryan Vickers
3: Josh Brookes

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

Round 10 (showdown):
Qualifying:
1: Jason O’Halloran
2: Tommy Bridewell
3: Leon Haslam

Race 1 (sprint):
1: Ryan Vickers
2: Leon Haslam
3: Luke Mossey

Race 2: 
1: Kyle Ryde
2: Leon Haslam
3: Christian Iddon

Race 3:
1: Jason O’Halloran
2: Christian Iddon

Main Season 2024:

Qualifying:
1: Ryan Vickers
2: Kyle Ryde
3: Leon Haslam

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

Race 2 (Sprint):
1: Glenn Irwin
2: Leon Haslam
3:Tommy Bridewell

Race 3:
1:Jason O’Halloran
2: Tommy Bridewell
3: Danny Kent

Crashes, Injuries and Replacements

Luke Hedger pulled into the pits, the only other rider to join Eliiott in not going the distance.

Tom Ward is back in the seat at Rapid Honda for Franco Bourne, and was the best of the replacement riders in 21st.

IWR Honda have chosen the experienced James Westmoreland (22nd) as their next rider, replacing Richard Kerr, who was not available for this round.

NP Racing have replaced Louis Valleley, with BSB rookie Corey Tinker, who was lapped with Ryde and Bridewell passing him under a blue flag by lap seventeen.

Danny Buchan is absent at Donington. Jaimie van Sikkelerus was on track in the first practice session but was not fit to continue.

Championship Standings

A win, his fifth in seven on his 150th BSB start, saw Ryde close in again on Bridewell, this time dropping the gap from six to just three points.

Bridewell remains top on 356 points with Ryde’s Showdown 25 haul taking him to 353.

Glenn Irwin moved onto 309, but saw his gap to the #1 rider increase by two points, now 47 points behind.

Iddon and Kent are now both over 100 points away from Bridewell in fourth and fifth overall.