O’Halloran leads the charge to Donington Park as the fight for the top eight ready to rage
The Bennetts British Superbike Championship hits Donington Park this weekend (August 13/14/15); marking the halfway point of the Main Season as the battle to feature in the top eight of the standings intensifies ahead of the end of season Showdown.
Jason O’Halloran is the rider on form ahead of round five; the McAMS Yamaha took a triple win last time out at Thruxton, adding to his tally of victories to lead the standings ahead of VisionTrack Ducati’s Christian Iddon.
Four different riders have won races so far in 2021, including Iddon, Tarran Mackenzie and Danny Buchan, and they currently hold the top four positions in the standings.
However a further five riders have celebrated podium finishes, including rookie Rory Skinner and Danny Kent, who accomplished their first top three finish in Bennetts BSB at Knockhill and Thruxton respectively.
Last year’s race-winner, Tommy Bridewell holds fifth position ahead of this weekend’s three races, but only by a slender two points from Peter Hickman on the FHO Racing BMW. The FS-3 Racing Kawasaki pairing of Rory Skinner and Lee Jackson currently lock out the final two places in the top eight ahead of this weekend’s action.
Just outside the top eight ahead of Donington Park is Bradley Ray, but only by two points, whilst Honda Racing’s Glenn Irwin is just seven points adrift, as he returns to the circuit where the team claimed a double victory last year, and he scored a trio of second place finishes.
Ryan Vickers had his strongest weekend in the championship at Thruxton, the RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki rider was edging closer to securing his first podium finish. He holds a 16-point advantage over defending champion Josh Brookes, who will be fully focused on getting his title defence back on track after a disappointing start to the season.
Whilst the battle for the Championship continues to hot up, this weekend also marks the start of the Milwaukee Summer Grand Slam, as the riders will battle it out for a chance to win a £50,000 prize across the six races at the next two rounds.
The ultimate prize of £50,000 will be awarded if a rider can deliver an unstoppable performance across the Donington Park National (August 13/14/15) and Cadwell Park (August 20/21/22) events to win all six races. The last rider to succeed with six consecutive race wins was Brookes onboard the Milwaukee Yamaha back in 2015.
If a rider can win five of the six races, then they will claim a £25,000 prize, which was most recently achieved by Leon Haslam in his title-winning 2018 campaign. The final chance to win will be if a rider can be victorious in four of the six races, with a £10,000 prize. Most recently, Scott Redding celebrated four in a row during his 2019 title-winning season.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship standings:
Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) 232
Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati) 190
Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) 173
Danny Buchan (SYNETIQ BMW) 162
Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) 110
Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW) 108
Rory Skinner (FS-3 Racing Kawasaki) 93
Lee Jackson (FS-3 Racing Kawasaki) 88
For more information on the Bennetts British Superbike Championship visit www.britishsuperbike.com
Jason O’Halloran – McAMS Yamaha
Championship leader
“I am feeling really good on the McAMS Yamaha; obviously coming off the back of three wins at Thruxton gives me a huge amount of confidence going forwards.
“Heading to Donington Park, it is a track that I love racing at, we were on the podium there last year, and even more importantly we had a really good pre-season test there, so I expect another strong weekend.
“I think it will be even more competitive this weekend as Thruxton was a little bit of a different circuit, and I think there are quite a few of us who go well at Donington Park, so I think we are set for some great racing.
“I think for sure when someone starts winning a bit everyone starts to think they need to beat that person. That brings a little bit of pressure, but it is wanted pressure as that is where we want to be! It’s a good thing and it’s a privilege as we have worked hard to be in this position.
“We will just keep focused on our own work and not get too carried away. There is a long way to go yet and we have only had four rounds, but to have seven wins and nine podiums is an amazing achievement so we want to keep that going.”
