Evergreen Jason O’Halloran scores his maiden win for Kawasaki
Jason O’Halloran has scored his first British Superbike Championship race victory with the Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki team, striking in the final event at Donington Park on the weekend. It was a thrilling four-way battle with reigning champ Tommy Bridewell (Honda Racing UK), Danny Kent (McAMS Racing Yamaha) and Glenn Irwin (Hager PBM Ducati).
O’Halloran surged to the lead at the beginning of the penultimate lap, leaving the trio to squabble amongst themselves for the podium.
Will O’Halloran be spraying the champagne again at Knockhill?
Earlier, Irwin had taken the second race ahead of Leon Haslam (ROKiT Haslam Racing BMW) and Bridewell, while victory in the sprint race for Kyle Ryde (OMG GRILLA Racing Team Yamaha) made it three different winners for the weekend. The week before, Glenn Irwin had scored an untouchable treble at Oulton Park while the Aussies toiled away, the worst outcome being a heavy crash for Billy McConnell in qualifying.
Josh Brookes finished inside the top 10 in all three races at Donington and, despite crashing out with a braking issue in Race 3, the FHO Racing BMW rider was upbeat.
Josh Brookes sits just outside the top 10 on points
In Supersport Ben Currie (Oxford Racing Products Ducati) had to settle for a 3-4 result, but that was good enough to see him overtake Jack Kennedy for the lead in the championship. Currie picked up the feature one week earlier at his team’s home round at Oulton Park, saying the circuit is notoriously difficult to stay in rhythm for a long period.
Former teammates Glenn Irwin and Tommy Bridewell battle it out
With no BMW F 900 R Cup at Donington, AMCN’s Paul Young finished third in his heat at Oulton Park but had the main race cancelled after a six-rider crash at the start of the warm-up lap. Meanwhile Brodie Gawith has made a stunning start to his BSB Superteen campaign, battling in the front group to finish second in race two at Donington after a fifth in Race 1. Gawith now sits six points from the championship lead while compatriot and ROKiT Rookies teammate Henry Snell rallied for sixth in race two after falling ill. In the Pirelli Sportbike class Jayden Martin posted a solid 7-8 result to sit eighth in the championship.
The series continues with round four at Knockhill on 14-16 June.
WORDS: MATT O’CONNELL
RESULTS AFTER 3 OF 12 ROUNDS
SBK
1 G Irwin Duc 115
2 D Kent Yam 102
3 K Ryde Yam 95
7 J O’Halloran Kaw 70
11 J Brookes BMW 43
18 B McConnell Hon 10
– B Elliott Kaw 0
SSP
1 B Currie Duc 115
BMW F 900 R CUP
7 P Young BMW 24
SUPERTEEN
2 B Gawith Kaw 52
9 H Snell Kaw 26
SPORTBIKE
8 Jayden Martin Tri 28