2024 British Superbikes: Donington Park (Showdown) - Race Results (2)

It was a four way battle all the way to the very last lap as a determined Glenn Irwin hit the front at the right moment and defended hard to keep his title hopes afloat with Maximum points collected in the sprint at Donington as the Showdown continued.

Irwin was down in fourth on the grid on the Hager Ducati, but wasted n o time in moving forward, hard but always fair as he made every move count.

Lap seven saw him ahead at Goddards but the PBM rider was struggling to pull his bike in tight around the Melbourne loop, so after initially pulling out a gap - where he set a new BSB lap record of Donington Park in the race - once back in touch both Tommy Bridewell and Kyle Ryde had spells leading the race.

Irwin was back in control by the end of the penultimate lap and ran the most defensive line possible, leaving his rivals no chance to pass to pick up his eighth win of the season, more than any other BSB rider.

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

Behind polesitter and early leader Tommy Bridewell was on the edge trying to find a way around - a late near crash on the penultimate lap at Craner Curves showed how hard he was pushing. The reigning champion finished just 0.241s behind on the Honda as the chequered flag waved.

Picking up where he left off Ryde topped the morning warm- up session. From second on the grid the OMG Grilla Yamaha rider could immediately see that he was not going to have clear track as was they way in race one. The #77 was able to fight back to lead after filling all positions between one and four over the short twelve laps, leading on lap eleven , before being passed by Bridewell and then Irwin at the end of the lap, which left him to fight for third.

Fourth went to a spirited performance from Danny Kent. Though he did not hit the front, the McAMS Yamaha rider held his own amongst the title challengers to finish at the back of the group.

Charlie Nesbitt finished fifth on the MasterMac Honda, with his won gap back to sixth placed finisher Andrew Irwin on the second Honda.

The battle for seventh went to the line, with Lee Jackson  battling to the front of the group on track on the second MasterMac Honda, while also benefiting from Ryan Vickers being handed a late time penalty for a shortcut on lap eight.

That left Oxford Products Ducati rider  Christian Iddon a close eighth, just before Max Cook, who was right behind in ninth for Completely Motorbikes, as the top Kawasaki.

Josh Brookes completed the top ten for FHO Racing BMW soon after, with Vickers pushed back to eleventh, splitting Brookes form fellow Australian Jason O’Halloran who was twelfth on the second Completely Motorbikes entry.

Peter Hickman took a lonely 13th while the final points went to the battle for 14th between Storm Stacey, who finished just ahead of Rory Skinner - this time keeping Billy McConnell out of the scoring positions on track after his disqualification in race one.

An early spill for Lewis Rollo, which took Bradley Perie (21st) into the gravel with him left the door open for James Westmoreland to be the top Pathway rider in the sprint - finishing 19th, the IWR Honda rider was also the best of the replacements in for this round after a late exit for Tom Ward with a bike issue.

Official British Superbike Donington Park Records:

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

New Lap Record: Glenn Irwin (Ducati, in race 2, 2024)1m 27.345s

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

Corey Tinker was again the last rider to finish on his debut weekend at NP Racing, replacing Louis Valleley.

Leon Haslam was the only other rider not to finish, retiring from the top ten with a mechanical on lap eight.

Danny Buchan is absent at Donington through injury. Jaimie van Sikkelerus took part in the first practice session but then withdrew.

Championship Standings

It remains tight at the top, but Bridewell finishing ahead of Ryde allowed him to extend his slender lead, from three points to five with 28 races of the season complete on a total of 378 to Ryde’s 373.

Irwin remains third on 334, but just three points closer to Bridewell after a big effort to win, with his gap to the lead score now at 44 points.

Danny Kent was fourth in the race and is fourth in the championship standings on 268, a distant 110 away from the top total.