P1racenews AI automatic summary:
British Superbikes: Dramatic Donington Park showdown opens up title race
“The Ducati’s concentrating on each other allowed their rivals back in on the action and a mix of fortunes for all of those still in with even a slight hope at taking the British Superbike 2023 crown, coupled with extra points hauls next time out at Brands Hatch, means there is now all to play for. With three different winners over the Donington meeting, Ryan Vickers in the Sprint, Kyle Ryde in race two, and Jason O’Halloran finishing Sunday with a win, plenty of riders have added to their tally, while the Ducati’s failed to pick up a point in race one or two, with Irwin straight out of the final by turn one with a mechanical in race three and Tommy Bridewell failing to capitalize in ninth. Leon Haslam had looked set to make the biggest gains – a consistent performance at a track he knows better than anyone saw him pick up two seconds. On the way to his third, his bike spewed out smoke, leading to a red flag – and the chance for even more riders to bag a few points and keep their title hopes alive. Race two held all the explosive drama, but race three made all the difference in the overall standings, with the gaps narrowing and a new leader, with Bridewell on top once again. It was Jason O’Halloran back on the top step, a long wait for success for the Australian who was top in qualifying before the rain played its part. The McAMS rider explained that he learned a lot about how the weather would affect the race on the warm-up lap, with little sighting to be done in the spray: ‘Really tricky race, first time really in the rain conditions on the new surface, which was incredibly grippy compared to what it was before. On the warm-up lap, I dropped back to 10th/12th and I had so much spray I thought ‘I can’t do that in the race or I won’t move forward’. So got myself to the front, felt really comfortable. Didn’t push crazily on the first few laps but seemed the gap was growing. Got it out to plus six at one point, thought maybe I ought to slow it down a little bit, I’m getting a massive gap here and see if they come back to me’. From the front and clear of the effect of the standing water, the #22 was able to manage his lead and keep Halsam at bay: ‘Leon started closing back down and got back down to about three seconds and then I started to maintain it and pulled it back out to four and a half, and was happy to keep it around that four-second mark’. Though only sixth overall, O’Halloran now sits just 50.5 points behind Bridewell, with it hard to entertain the outside hope of picking up the BSB 2023 title with the increase in points for a podium finish at the final round: ‘With 35 for a win on the table it’s still possible so we’ll keep fighting in all the races. Like always try and do the best job we can over the weekend and see where we end up at the end’. Christian Iddon worked hard in both Sunday races to be the last man in with a shout of becoming champion. His double podium – a third in race two followed by second in the third and final outing at Donington sees him stay mathematically in touch after being willing to try a different tire choice: ‘Just a nice race, you know, I was a bit apprehensive at the start of the race because that’s the first time.”
Source: Crash
