2025 British Superbikes: Donington Park - Race Results (1)

The first race of the British Superbike visit to Donington park went to Bradley Ray, as he took advantage of the riders around him getting caught in battle to pull away over the closing laps.

Starting from pole, Ray got a strong start but was quickly passed by Kyle Ryde and Glenn Irwin.

The Raceways Yamaha rider was happy to sit in behind and save tyre with a few laps in close formation.

By lap seven Irwin was ready to make his move and lead from lap eight, until he ran wide in the Melbourne Loop, with both riders behind going through before the Ducati rider fought back for second.

Ray saw an opportunity to do what Irwin had failed to do when ahead and pushed hard to open a gap, which was helped by the bikes behind tussling for position instead of giving chase.

The #28 crossed the line 1.744s ahead for his second win of the season.

• 2025 British Superbikes: Donington Park- Qualifying Results
• 2025 British Superbikes: Donington Park - Practice Results

Local rider Ryde was not able to capitalise fully on his many laps around Donington, but was not going to let the chance of a first podium of the season slip past, setting the new record race lap in the closing stages, and surviving late contact from the rapidly approaching Josh Brookes to finish second for OMG Nitrous Competition Yamaha.

Honda rider Brookes had started ninth, and was soon up to seventh. After the lead three broke, the Australian spent much of his race in behind Leon Haslam. Moving ahead at the end of lap eleven, Brookes found podium potential in his DAO Racing bike, and after an unwise lunge at Ryde saw him hit the back wheel he was able to re-group and pass Irwin for third - his first rostrum visit since 2023 and a first ever podium finish for the DAO Racing outfit.

That left Irwin fourth for PBM Hagar Ducati.

Rory Skinner too found a way around Haslam and pulled away for fifth for Cheshire Mouldings Ducati and had Irwin in his sights -but not enough laps to catch up, with the Moto Rapido Ducati rider next to see the chequered flag almost two seconds later to pick up sixth.

Christian Iddon was the top Kawasaki finisher in seventh for AJN Steelstock, clear of the battle for eighth.

That was lead over the line by Andrew Irwin for Honda UK, Holding off a spirited charge by top rookie John McPhee - the MasterMac Honda rider only got two laps under his belt on Friday after a fall, and just missed out on moving up from Q1, starting the race in 16th for his charge forward.

Danny Kent, a double faller on Friday, qualified tenth and only progressed forward to ninth before he ran wide at the final turn onto the grass, recovering to finish on the back of the group in tenth for McAMS Yamaha.

Billy McConnell was briefly ahead of Kent on his way to eleventh for C&L Fairburn Properties/Look Forward Racing, with a comfortable gap between himself and twelfth placed Scott Swann. The rookie was lucky to avoid the first lap crash which took out Peter Hickman and Storm Stacey.

The remaining points went to Fraser Rogers in 13th for TAG Honda, Lee Jackson in 14th on the second DAO Racing bike and Luke Hedger in 15th for Whitecliffe CDH Racing Honda.

Only three other riders finished the race - Richard Kerr, Jaimie van Sikkelerus and Blaze Baker.

Official British Superbike Donington Park Records:

New lap record Bradley Ray (Yamaha, 2025) 1m 26.907s

New race lap record: Kyle Ryde (Yamaha, 2025) 1m 27.323s

Old Race lap record: Glenn Irwin (Ducati, 2024) 1m 27.345s
Superpole lap record: Jason O’Halloran (Yamaha,2023) 1m 27.196s

Donington Park in 2024:

Race 3:

Qualifying: 1 Rogers (2 Bridewell, 3 McConnell)

Race 1: 1 Ryde (2 Bridewell, 3 Haslam)
Race 2(Sprint): 1 G Irwin (2 Haslam, 3 Bridewell)
Race 3: 1 O’Halloran (2 Bridewell, 3 Kent)

Race 10 (Showdown):

Qualifying: 1 Ryde (2 Kent, 3 Brookes)
Race 1: 1 Ryde (2 Bridewell, 3 G Irwin)
Race 2 (Sprint): 1 G irwin (2 Bridewell, 3 Ryde)
Race 3: 1 Ryde (2 Kent, 3 Vickers)

Crashes, Injuries and Replacements

Hickman clipped the side of Stacey insuring they did not see the end of lap one.

 Max Cook was positive he was going to do better than he did in race one at Oulton Park, where he crashed out early. There was no fall but the Kawasaki rider was taken out of action by a technical issue on the opening lap instead.

Charlie Nesbitt had a small off and picked up his bike, but later retired.

Not alone in bringing the bike back to the garage, Davey Todd also retired from the race early.

Tommy Bridewell quickly undid all his hard work to qualify the Honda in a decent place, achieving a late fifth after moving through Q1. pushing hard the former champion saw the rear let go at Coppice on lap five.

Tom Sykes made a return to the paddock to replace the injured Lewis Rollo at  Sencat In Competition by Swann Racing Aprilia. Sykes won twice at Donington in 2022, taking victory in both race two and the sprint but helping improve the Aprilia after their move away from the pathway class was tough - qualifying 25th after being off the pace, the former World Superbike champion went on to be a distance behind at the back of the race before he too retired.

After his earlier accident in Q1 after a bike issue, Jamie Davis  did not line up for race one.

Championship Standings

The title race arrived as an early, close, three way tie between Ray, Irwin and Haslam, with Ray and Haslam having picked up a race win each at Oulton Park, while Irwin raced through the pack twice for a pair of second place finishes.

A win sees Ray move into a clear lead, on 50 points, six clear of Irwin on 44 in second. The top three is completed by Haslam with 42 points, with a podium seeing Ryde close in on 39.

Third moves Brookes into the top five with 24 points.

There is just one point between the top rookie with Swann seeing his recovery ride take him to 10, but McPhee finishing ahead moves his total onto 9.