Snetterton proved to be fruitful for Christian Iddon, after recovering to sixth in the shortened, treacherous race one, the Oxford Products Ducati rider was able to claim third in the second five lap dash, the shortened race two sprint.

Race three saw him take the lead for the opening laps, something he credits his team for with an improved bike, but left him rueful he could not hold on out front after such a positive start:

“The team gave me a vastly improved bike for that last race so I finished in the same place, so I guess that’s my fault because I did feel a lot better on it and when I got the holeshot I was confident enough to try to set a pace and then when Glenn came through it just upset my rhythm a little bit and then obviously Tommy pounced as well, it took me a little bit of time to sort of regroup.

I was really struggling in one particular spot – I was awful onto the back straight – and it was costing me quite a bit of time, and then I was trying to recover it in other places, so I’m happy with the work we’ve done here”.

Although his drop from the lead was a shame, Iddon had no time to dwell as there was another battle approaching behind as Kyle Ryde and Danny Kent duked it out on track, with Ryde ahead of him at one point in the race:

“I’m a little bit disappointed to have gone backwards in the race because obviously to be at the front and then, you know, to peg back a little bit, but you know Kyle got me at one point – I had to get him back, so there was definitely plenty of fight, I was having a good go”.

Though close enough to see what was going on ahead the #21 was not close enough to get involved leaving him to view the battle out front along with the fans at the track and at home:

“I was kind of hoping at the end that I could sort of get myself a little bit closer, to actually sort of be in that battle  – it was kind of like watching it on TV really – I was just there, sort of like watching it from behind and I was almost willing them two to have a bit of a bigger gap at each other than they were doing.

So fair play to Glenn and Tommy, they just had a slight edge on me today, but I think we’ve worked really well, we’ve had a strong weekend, we got away with it yesterday big time and that could have hurt us but championship wise it’s been pretty good”.

Iddon leaves Snetterton with 156 points, still moving up to third overall and reducing his  gap to the lead slightly down from 23 to 21 points.

Christian Iddon finally got to realise his potential in the final race at Knockhill, leading for most of the race and going on to be declared the winner after a red flag to allow Leon Haslam to exit the track after a fall.

The Oxford Products Ducati rider has looked good in race one before falling with with Ryan Vickers and had the opportunity to see victory in race two as he chased down Rory Skinner before bike issues hampered his progress:

“We had a few issues in the second race today but it is what it is and we finished second, so it’s still a great result. I felt absolutely brilliant on the bike at the start of that race and I think Tommy said  something really similar – when the track was wet my bike gave me so much confidence and feeling and grip”.

Aware of Rory Skinner’s track knowledge – and pace after winning the first race – Iddon knew he needed to be quick to act in race three but was surprised at where his race winning overtake took place:

“The first opportunity that I got, which was surprisingly the hairpin because he’s been so good into the hairpin, and my bike felt good… I passed him where he was the strongest in the previous race and I felt like I had a bit more pace than him. So I got through and yeah 30 laps around here is super long so I just eked the gap out a little bit, tenth by tenth and then I could see Tommy behind.

Like all the podium finishers, Iddon had found the track conditions tricky to deal with:

“ I kind of just tried to maintain the pace and then the track really started to dry out and it got super greasy – like I was really struggling to even stay on – you know, there were a few times the rear came around”.

The #21 revealed the red flag nearly caused him to have a fall of his own as he was in the middle of taking turn one when it caught him by surprise:

“The red flags came out – it kind of caught me off guard – I actually nearly ran off track and crashed on the grass because I saw the red flag and it sort of caught me out – I was tipping into turn one…I hope Leon’s alright”.

The race win completed a turnaround of his race weekend and was a long time in the making – it is Iddon’s first BSB win since 2021 at Brands Hatch. The move also sees him make headway in the overall standings up to fourth leaving Scotland and now just 23 points behind series leader Bridewell.
 

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 he 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 capitalise 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 top once again.

‘I can’t do that in the race or I won’t move forward’

 

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 it’s part.

The McAMS rider explained that he learned a lot about how the weather would effect 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 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 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”.

‘I tried to be billy big bollocks all weekend and go with inters’

 

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 tyre choice:

“Just a nice race, you know, I was a bit apprehensive at the start of the race, because that’s the first time I’ve put wets on all weekend, I tried to be billy big bollocks all weekend and go with inters, even this morning warm-up where there was no chance, so I actually didn’t know what to expect”.

The Oxford Products Ducati rider explained his reasoning for his tyre choice, informed by what he had seen at other races at the meet:

2Yesterday when I’d put them in I’d watched the Stock 1000 race, and Alastair Seeley had come from a long way back in an eight lap race, you know all the decisions you make are always the ones you think are right”.

Race three saw visibility at a premium, with Iddon’s plan inadvertently allowing Haslam off the leash, though he gained the place back through Haslam retirement, which ended the race with a red flag:

“Straight away I found my feet and the bike felt really good straight up. Out there the new tarmac is fantastic compared to what we’ve had previously, had a few visibility issues – a bit foggy – I was quite close to Leon at one point and I thought, with the fogging… there was a lot of spray still, so the fogging compared with the water on it, it was really difficult for me to ride.

I dropped back a bit so I could get a run in and as soon as I dropped back to get a run in he bolted, he didn’t know I dropped back, he just went at exactly the same time”.

Iddon took the time to dedicate his podium finish to the family of the late Chrissy Rouse:

“Felt a bit sorry for Leon obviously, it’s a shame for him to have that mechanical, but a double podium for us -really happy, I really wanted to win that one for the Rouse family”.

‘I was not completely upset to see a wet track ahead’

 

Josh Brookes picked up a surprise podium in race three after several rounds in the doldrums after a strong start to the season evaporated. The FHO Racing rider had been hopeful of a turnaround after success at the circuit on the paddocks first visit:

“This weekend hasn’t been as productive as we anticipated. Coming in I was very optimistic as we had a podium here earlier in the year, but from the first session I’ve been on an uphill battle and it’s been tough.

The only time we sort of really made progress is when it’s been wet so to start that race in wet conditions I prefer the racing dry, I’m sure everybody does, knowing that our dry race pace has been quite disappointing , I was not completely upset to see a wet track ahead to start the race”.

The BMW rider went on to back up his fellow podium finishers on how tough the visibility was in the challenging conditions:

2Vision was quite an issue, not because of the equipment, but because of the sheer volume of water coming up from the bikes around you – even when I just had Tommy in front, I was so close to Tommy that the volume of water coming up, it just didn’t clear quick enough to get clear vision”.

Brookes was the most pragmatic about his slim title hopes ahead of the final round:

“I’m definitely no thinking about the championship position, even though mathematically there’s a slim chance it would take some sort of catastrophic situation for everyone to lose the points”.

Those ahead of him include Bridewell on 368 and back at the top of the standings, and Glenn irwin who remained on 360.5 after failing to pick up a point.

Ryde picked up a win, taking him to 333, with Leon Haslam’s two podiums moving him on to 327. Victory for O’Halloran moved him to 317.5, with Brookes seventh overall on 292. Of those still able to win only Iddon is behind on 284.

The title race is set to go all the way to the final day of BSB championship action at Brands Hatch on the 15th of October.

Ryan Vickers was out in front when the red flag ended proceedings on lap seven and a tricky oil spill in the rain meant the result was declared, bringing a first British Superbike win.

‘ I felt really comfortable in the lead, especially in these conditions’

The LAMI OMG Yamaha rider built on sporadic recent podium success over the last few rounds for an assured performance in the wet to become the sixth different winner of the season as he and Danny Kent pulled away with assured performances in the trecherous conditions – the front was the safest place in the race with the most visibility:

“It’s difficult to actually tell what the person is doing behind you … It’s always difficult to know where someone you haven’t ridden behind is going to make a move on you, but I was riding my own comfortable pace… there was one corner that was really tricky and kept catching us all out I think – from Surtees onto the back straight – but I just rode a consistent race, just want to hit every apex. 

Danny came past me on lap one and I managed to get back straight away at Surtees, then a lap later I got Tommy Bridewell so it was good I felt really comfortable in the lead, especially in these conditions where there is a lot of spray and stuff like that, get a bit of clear air, I feel a lot more comfortable when I’m on my own in the lead.”

The #7 believes that his new home at OMG Racing for the season is key to unlocking his success, with a string of strong performances in the dry leading up to his first win:

“Amazing you know, sometimes in the last few years I never thought it was going to happen again, but we stuck by it and people my corner believed in me and what I was capable of, I knew it was capable, it was stock 600 but I knew I could rider superbikes at this level, I’ve found the right team and the right package that suits me and British Superbikes we’ve put it together finally.

‘I’m over the moon!’

Vickers was joined on the podium by his main rival, Danny Kent who looked just as at ease in the wet, sitting behind and ready to pounce if the race had gone on as Vickers wobbled at hit the limits first ahead:

“It was good fun out there, very tricky, Ryan took the lead and I felt good, but in those conditions I feel it’s sometimes a bit better to let someone else run the pace. I felt really strong behind him I saw a few areas I was stronger than him but there were other areas he was stronger than me”.

Kent made the switch from Suzuki to Honda with his own Lovell Kent Racing outfit, and having gone well and Brand Hatch in 2022 on the under-performing Suzuki, was confident that is previous experience at the circuit along with his new ‘old’ machinery will make all the difference for this weekend and onwards:

“I’m over the moon! Big thank you to the LKR Honda team, I think what we’ve achieved up ‘til now is really good for a new team, but I feel like we can do this on a regular basis.

Already from FP1 I felt great on the bike really I’m riding the bike that Glenn Irwin was riding last year and he’s won round here in the dry so it’s just down to me and the team to make the most of it.

Were been strong in the dry, so yeah, I looking forward to tomorrow”.

The final podium spot went to Christian Iddon, who was the first to be alert to the oil on track, attempting to alert the marshals and bring out the red flag for the safety of all.

 ‘I couldn’t see anything at all really!’

 

The issues were threefold for the Oxford Products Ducati rider – a lack of traction, a lack of visiblity and then oil on track:

“The season so far has been pretty rough, the first three rounds we just didn’t even turn up basically. It’s cool to get a podium finally I actually felt really, really good…knew left myself a bit of work to do, got a distinctly average start but then a really good first few corners.

Good to see everyone playing fair and I was able to pick my way through, got a feeling with the bike, felt really good especially in certain places, it was kind of weird there were some corners where I felt like I had a really good rear end and get loads of traction, then the last corner was an absolute disaster for me trying to get any traction at all  -I was either slow or out of the seat!”. 

Iddon had managed to work around that when a new problem became prominent:

“I tried to work through that then had a really bad visor issue for about lap three onwards, I thought ‘I’m really in trouble’ tried to fix it by opening up some vents and just let more water in, I couldn’t see anything at all really I was just trying to stay on the black bit that’s about all I could see, I kind of got used to that and it wasn’t too bad in the end, I could understand where I was at, I was able to nibble away at the two guys in front who were running a real cool pace, the pace they were running was also pulling me away from the guys behind.

Ran over a patch of oil, nearly crashed, then I knew we were going to get a red flag situation and I think it’s the right call to not let us back out as there was a lot of track contamination”.

Behind the duo Jack Kennedy also put in his best performance to date in his first full season with Mar-Train Yamaha converting a best qualifying of fourth to the same position in the race.

 

The championship was pretty much unchanged, with half points awarded but most of the main players lower down the finishing order.

That meant Tommy Bridwell managed to extend his lead by a small margin, from 25 points advantage to 26.5 over BeerMonster Ducati Team-mate Glenn Irwin with the pair finishing seventh and tenth respectively.

Kyle Ryde holds third despite a 15th place finish, with Josh Brookes plummeting from second on the grid to 13th on the race still fourth overall, two points behind the #77.

Leon Haslam, who was shown the ‘meatball’ flag for dropping the oil and smoke from the rear of his bike is fifth and only half a point behind the Australian on 169 after placing sixth in the sprint.

Christian Iddon stayed upright and focused to take pole position in a crash filled qualifying for round eight of the championship at a wet Snetterton.

With the few laps completed before the red flag scrapped and the session re-set it was Christian Iddon who had the confidence to push hardest in the treacherous conditions st Snetterton and claim only his second ever BSB pole.

The slippery track saw a slew of riders end their session in the gravel but the Buildbase Suzuki rider got to grips with the track early and remained top as the clock hit zero to claim the top slot on the grid with a best lap of 2m 06.645s.

 

British Superbikes Snetterton – Qualifying           Pos Rider Nat Team Time 1 Christian Iddon GBR Buildbase Suzuki 2m 06.645s 2 Kyle Ryde GBR RICH Energy OMG Racing Yamaha +0.164s 3 Tommy Bridewell GBR Oxford Products Racing Ducati +0.277s 4 Glenn Irwin GBR Honda Racing UK +0.918s 5 Bradley Ray GBR RICH Energy OMG Racing Yamaha +1.112s 6 Tarran Mackenzie GBR McAMS Yamaha +1.900s 7 Takumi Takahashi JAP Honda Racing UK +5.361s 8 Tom Sykes GBR MCE Ducati +5.368s 9 Peter Hickman GBR FHO Racing BMW +5.398s 10 Rory Skinner GBR FS-3 Racing Kawasaki +5.751s 11 Andrew Irwin GBR SYNETIQ BMW Motorrad +6.423s 12 Josh Brookes AUS MCE Ducati +6.814s 13 Lee Jackson GBR FS-3 Racing Kawasaki +6.970s 14 Chrissy Rouse GBR Crowe Performance BMW +7.676s 15 Danny Buchan GBR SYNETIQ BMW Motorrad +7.714s 16 Dean Harrison GBR DAO Racing Kawasaki +7.979s 17 Luke Mossey GBR IForce Lloyd & Jones BMW No Time Set 18 Danny Kent GBR Buildbase Suzuki No Time Set     Q1     Pos Rider Nat Team Time 19 Jason O’Halloran AUS McAMS Yamaha 2m 01.732s 20 Liam Delves GBR Rapid CDH Racing Kawasaki 2m 01.788s 21 Leon Haslam GBR Visiontrack Kawasaki 2m 01.916s 22 Josh Owens GBR Rapid CDH Racing Kawasaki 2m 04.061s 23 Ryo Mizuno JAP Honda Racing UK 2m 06.542s 24 Storm Stacey GBR Team LKQ Euro Parts Kawasaki 2m 07.871s 25 Ryan Vickers GBR FHO Racing BMW with Attis Sports 3 laps 26 Tom Neave GBR Honda Racing UK No Time Set 27 Leon Jeacock GBR Specsavers Suzuki No Tme Set

Kyle Ryde is the man to beat for many riders this weekend – he holds the final Showdown slot -and was straight out after the delay, chased around the track by Iddon and Tommy Bridewell.

Building all the time, the Rich Energy OMG Yamaha rider secured second as he improved to within 0.164s of Iddon’s time on his final run after enjoying purple sectors in the first two portions of the track.

Third went to Tommy Bridewell after a tentative but solid session, only shuffled back a place after Ryde’s last run for Oxford Products Ducati.

Glenn Irwin made some late improvments to secure fourth as the top Honda on the grid, ahead of championship leader Bradley Ray, who was fifth after a late fall from his Rich Energy OMG Yamaha as the rain became heavier.

 

Defending Champion Tarran Mackenzie got off to a strong start, initially holding a podium position but found himself sixth on the McAMS Yamaha after the riders who made the most of the limited window for finding improvements bettered their times.

Takumi Takahashi topped the wet warm-up session in the morning illustrating he had skills to continue his upward trajectory in the wet – like Iddon he had come through Q1 (with the second best time behind the #21) so used his time on track which had allowed him to familiarise himself with the conditions to move on to seventh on the grid for Honda Racing.

MCE Ducati’s Tom Sykes and Rory Skinner (Cheshire Holdings FS-3 Kawasaki) had pushed the limits early on as they chased Iddon’s lap time. Sykes’ charge saw him lead briefly with Skinner moving up to third before they both fell in quick succession at the start of their next lap. With no chance to improve further those times slipped to eighth and tenth best respectively, with Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW) between the duo in ninth.

There were also falls for Lee Jackson (Cheshire Moulding FS-3 Kawasaki), who has a chance to be the next rider to grab a showdown place, sitting fourth overall, who starts 13th, Andrew Irwin (Synetiq BMW Motorrad) who is slightly further ahead on the grid in eleventh, and Chrissy Rouse (Crowe Performance BMW, 14th).

Danny Buchan, who got himself well and truly back into contention with a double win at Cadwell Park, could only manage 15th on the grid for Synetiq BMW Motorrad.

Red flag delay after Kent crash

 

Danny Kent initially brought out the red flag in Q2 with the clock on eight minutes remaining, his tyre wet with oil smoking out the Norfolk course as he fell from the Buildbase Suzuki. The bike may have been a little worse for wear cosmetically and with a blown engine, but the former Moto3 champion walked back to his garage unharmed. A delay for a clean up operation to remove the oil from the track occurred before qualifying got back underway> Kent was unable to restart, so placed 18th .

No Q2 for O’Halloran and Haslam

 

O’Halloran needed to progress through Q1 after a technical issue kept him off track in practice. Electrical issues continued into the morning for the Australian, but qualifying instead saw the conditions get the better of him.

The first rider to go out on wet tyres after rain arrived right at the start of the session, The McAMS rider was pushed out towards the end of the session only to force his way back into the progression places with his final lap.

It was not enough – with conditions improving and all riders now on the best tyre for the job, the Yamaha man was forced down to seventh after being bettered by both Dean Harrison and Danny Kent.

It was a similar story for Leon Haslam. Riding high and topping the timesheets with the weather at it’s worst, the VisionTrack Kawasaki rider, who still has a mathematical chance of making the Showdown, found his time shuffled back to ninth in the session – so will line up 21st on the grid.

What else happened in Q1?

 

The sketchy conditions saw the bikes rotating very slowly in the hunt for the best lap, as staying upright was a priority.

Despite this there were crashes for both Tom Neave and Leon Jeacock, who finished Q1 without a time to their names.

Local rider Ryan Vickers had a session to forget, the timing of his last exit from the pits seeing him become one of the first people to take the chequered flag, leaving him no opportunity to improve nad down in 25th on the grid in the first race.

Snetterton Statistics:

BSB Snetterton Lap Record – 2017 Shane Byrne (Ducati) 1m 47.143s

2021 at Snetterton

Qualifying:

1: Glenn Irwin

2: Jason O’Halloran

3: Tarran Mackenzie

Race One (sprint): Tarran Mackenzie

Race Two: Jason O’Halloran

Race Three: Tarran Mackenzie

Round Six Results (Thruxton)

Qualifying (superpole format):

1: Bradley Ray

2: Rory Skinner

3: Lee Jackson

Race One (sprint): Bradley Ray

Race Two: Danny Buchan

Race Three: Danny Buchan