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.
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.
Kyle Ryde got his Donington race weekend off to a perfect start after converting pole to a sprint race win on Saturday in the third round of the championship.
British Superbikes returned to Oulton Park to get the Showdown stage of the competition under way and Ray made early gains in the title standings after taking the first win on offer.
Despite choosing a full-time return to BSB over WorldSBK for the 2022 season, Leon Haslam could yet race in the world championship as talks continue over possible wildcard appearances.
A ‘small step forward’ during Sunday’s San Juan WorldSBK races was not enough for Alvaro Bautista to replicate recent podium finishes; ‘Today we tried to improve our feeling with respect to yesterday because I’ve been struggling all weekend here to be honest’.
After clinching back-to-back World Superbike podiums in Catalunya and Jerez, Alvaro Bautista says a similar result at Portimao ‘would be fantastic’. Leon Haslam hopes to have ‘a good weekend at a circuit I’ve done well in the past’.
After claiming a first podium of the 2021 WorldSBK season last time in Barcelona, Alvaro Bautista aims to ‘have the same feeling’ at this weekend’s second consecutive home round in Jerez.
Leon Haslam unable to continue the improved form of Donington Park at WorldSBK Assen, as ‘front of the bike and power delivery’ issues hinder the Brit’s potential.
Leon Haslam hopes to use ‘great memories’ at Assen in both WorldSBK and BSB to his advantage this weekend; ‘it’s always been one of my favourites, I think the Honda will go well there.”
Former Honda WorldSBK rider and now Team Manager, Leon Camier, says ‘we’re finding the direction’, but that time is needed in order to make its current Fireblade a winner.
Leon Haslam secures Team HRC’ best WorldSBK result of 2021 to date with P4 in the Superpole race; ‘we were in the mix for the podium in both yesterday’s race 1 and the Superpole race, which was definitely a positive.”
Round three of the WorldSBK championship at Misano was a particularly difficult one for Team HRC rider Leon Haslam, as he endures his lowest points scoring round of the season to date; ‘It’s a little strange as I’ve felt very positive during all the tests we have done.”
Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam endure a difficult opening WorldSBK round at MotorLand Aragon; tyre choices, electronic issues for Bautista and power delivery problems for Haslam, results in only 16 points scored between the two from the weekend.