The paddock rolled into round ten of the BSB superbike championship with the half a point separating the BeerMonster riders causing a tense atmosphere at PBM, but left with a handful of riders in realistic contention for the 2023 title.
Ryan Vickers got his tyre gamble right as the heavens opened to take the shortened sprint race, as the Ducati’s got their tactics all wrong and finished out of the points at a wet Donington Park.
Tommy Bridwell dug in to pull a win out of a difficult weekend but Glenn Irwin’s double after a much discussed safety car backed up with a third podium visit saw him leave Oulton Park as championship leader after the first round of the British Superbikes Showdown.
Glenn Irwin continued to cut into his teammate Tommy Bridewell’s lead, but with a emotional, charged performance from the pair at the front of the sprint as the PBM team celebrated their Team Boss through their racing in the sprint race that kicked off the Showdown at Oulton Park.
Tommy Bridewell fought for his title lead, pulling out a hard earned win in race three to conclude the main part of the season, after Glenn Irwin had doubled up in race two at Cadwell Park, round eight of the British Superbike championship.
Jason O’Halloran rose to the top at a track where he holds a superb recent record, rookie Charlie Nesbitt collected his first podium and championship leader Tommy Bridewell could only manage fourteenth as day one drew to a close in Thruxton.