2023 British Superbikes Oulton Park Race Results (1)

Josh Brookes was confidently ahead as the rain returned and brought out the red flags, leaving him the winner of the shortened sprint race at Oulton Park.

The Australian launched from pole for the twelve short laps and felt initial pressure from front row starters Storm Stacey and Leon Haslam.

Pushing his FHO Racing BMW Motorrad he pulled out enough of a gap to be comfortably ahead as the rain began to spit, leading the riders at the front to put their hands in the air as they hit the rain first at Shell Oils and leading to the marshals waving the red flag just ahead of the penultimate lap.

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The podium places looked locked in but the closing stages had seen Peter Hickman closing in on Haslam and Glenn Irwin before the weather decided the round.

The #91 kept the ROKIT BMW Motorrad in second - 0.186s off the win and enjoyed some competitive laps with Irwin, with the Ducati faster in some places and the #91 in others. It is the first podium for the newly formed ROKIT team, while Irwin collected his third after dropping off the pace for a short spell earlier in the race.

Hickman made a small error after doing all the hard work alone to bridge the gap to the leaders, effectively ending his hopes of a podium. Fast in pursuit, he will start race two second as reward for his hard work form eighth on the grid.

Tommy Bridewell stages huge comeback for fifth

Behind the second FHO Racing BMW a bigger comeback was occurring. Tommy Bridewell did not enjoy the qualifying conditions and chances of a good result were slim after placing the BeerMonster Ducati down in fifteenth on the grid.

There was no instant progress with just one place gained from the start and first lap, but eleventh was in his sights by lap three.

From there on places came quickly and by lap six the #46 had reached fifth, picking up a huge ten places. His rise sees him secure pole for race two.

The red bike finished just ahead of Andy Irwin on the Honda, who then had company from Kyle Ryde(LAMI OMG Yamaha), who also needed a ride through the field to rise to seventh from sixteenth on the grid, a top ten had been his goal after qualifying.

Christian Iddon placed eighth for Oxford Products Ducati, just ahead of Storm Stacey.

Stacey and his top hat got to feature on the front row after he qualified his Starline Racing Kawasaki bike third, and he made himself known on the opening lap before fading back to ninth at the red flag, securing his first points of the season.

Lee Jackson also recovered his qualifying, where tyre choice saw him 18th on the grid to finish a solid tenth for Cheshire Mouldings Kawasaki.

Charlie Nesbitt was the best of the newer crop of riders, a distant eleventh for MasterMac Honda just ahead of Mar-Train Yamaha’s Jack Kennedy.

Luke Mossey was in close attendance to the pair in 13th for Tactix by LLoyd & Jones BMW, with the remaining points on the table going to Tom Neave for Honda in 14th and Danny Kent, who lost a lot of time in the final laps but held on to 15th for Lovell Kent Honda.

Dean Harrison got a poor start, visibly going backwards, which contributed to his 17th.

Luke Stapleford continues to double up his racing this weekend, featuring in Supersport as well as filling in for Ryan Vickers, He brought home the LAMI OMG Yamaha in 18th.

There were several retirements but only one faller - Jason O’Halloran was in top five contention when he endured a strange crash, possibly clipping the wet paint by the kerb as he flew out of contention, his spinning McAMS Yamaha taking maximum damage.

Official British Superbike Oulton Park Records:

BSB Lap Record - Oulton Park: Bradley Ray (Yamaha) 1m33.620s (2022)

2022 at Oulton Park:

Round two - pole: Kyle Ryde (2nd Josh Brookes, 3rd Rory Skinner)

Race One:

1:Bradley Ray

2:Rory Skinner

3:Kyle Ryde

Race Two:

1:Bradley Ray

2:Lee Jackson

3: Leon Haslam

Race Three:

1:Lee Jackson

2:Tommy Bridewell

3:Bradley Ray

Round nine(Showdown) - pole: Bradley Ray (2nd , 3rd Jason O’Halloran)

Race One:

1:Bradley Ray

2:Tommy Bridewell

3:Leon Haslam

Race Two:

1:Lee Jackson

2:Tommy Bridewell

3:Bradley Ray

Race Three:

1:Tommy Bridewell

2:Glenn Irwin

3:Lee Jackson

Where does that leave the championship?

With another win and eighteen points under his belt Josh Brookes remains ahead in the overall standings - now with 66 points.

Glenn Irwin and Tommy Bridewell both move on to 57 points, nine behind, with Irwin placed higher thanks to his race win.

Kyle Ryde drops to fourth with a total of 48, Liam Halsam is now close behind following his podium on 46.