British Superbikes: Josh Brookes was back on top in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, winning the opening race at Oulton Park following a decisive last lap move on Leon Haslam to become the ninth different race winner of the season, as Showdown drama hit the penultimate round.
The race started but was red flagged on the opening lap when the rain shower hit, the riders returned to pitlane and then after a slight delay the race was restarted and declared dry after the conditions changed again. Both Brookes and Haslam opted for the intermediate tyre choice and it proved to be the winning combination, as the DAO Racing Honda and Moto Rapido Ducati Racing teams’ gamble paid off.
At the start, the riders with the wet combination tyre choice led the pack, with Storm Stacey leading Fraser Rogers off the front row before Bradley Ray moved into second. Rogers then grabbed the lead at Lodge, but Kyle Ryde was moving forward too, moving ahead of closest rival Ray at Old Hall two laps later.
Haslam was carving his way through the order for the Moto Rapido Ducati Racing team; and by lap six, he had grabbed the lead at Hizzys to push Rogers and Stacey down the order with Ryde in fourth place ahead of Brookes.
By lap eight, Brookes had moved into second and was closing down Haslam who had bridged a slight advantage over the chasing pack. The DAO Racing Honda rider was stalking Haslam ahead of him, and then was looking to make his move over the final three laps.
The Australian executed his move at Brittens on the final lap and despite Haslam looking to fight back, Brookes had the edge to take the chequered flag to take victory for the first time since 2023.
Ryde had delivered a decisive race, to claim the final podium position and extend his lead to 43-points in the standings, with Rogers and Stacey securing strong top five positions and Tommy Bridewell completing the top six.
Max Cook held sixth place on the leading AJN Steelstock Kawasaki with Billy McConnell back in the top ten, snatching the position from Ray in the closing stages. The Raceways Yamaha rider will be ready to fight back tomorrow, whilst Omologato pole-sitter Charlie Nesbitt was tenth for MasterMac Honda.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Oulton Park, Race 1 result:
- Josh Brookes (DAO Racing Honda)
- Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Ducati Racing) +0.358s
- Kyle Ryde (Nitrous Competitions Racing Yamaha) +20.385s
- Fraser Rogers (TAG Honda) +22.877s
- Storm Stacey (Bathams AJN Racing BMW) +22.941s
- Tommy Bridewell (Honda Racing UK) +23.493s
- Max Cook (AJN Steelstock Kawasaki) +25.848s
- Billy McConnell (C&L Fairburn Properties /Look Forward Racing Honda) +33.464s
- Bradley Ray (Raceways Yamaha) +36.611s
- Charlie Nesbitt (MasterMac Honda) +38.978s
Bennetts British Superbike Championship standings:
- Kyle Ryde (Nitrous Competitions Racing Yamaha) 411
- Bradley Ray (Raceways Yamaha) 368
- Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Ducati Racing) 302
- Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings Ducati) 268
- Tommy Bridewell (Honda Racing UK) 250
- Christian Iddon (AJN Steelstock Kawasaki) 240
- Danny Kent (McAMS Racing Yamaha) 217
- Scott Redding (Hager PBM Ducati) 207.5
- Max Cook (AJN Steelstock Kawasaki) 194
- Josh Brookes (DAO Racing Honda) 182
JOSH BROOKES
DAO RACING HONDA
“It felt like Leon [Haslam] was more confident in the damper conditions, so I was just trying to use him as a gauge and as the track started to dry out more I could feel my tyre was starting to head up more on the dry areas of the track.
“It looked like Leon wasn’t able to pull away as much when it got to those conditions and I started to catch him and then it started to sprinkle with rain and he gapped me again, so it was clear again that the cooler and damper conditions was favouring his bike. Then fortunately the rain went away finally and the last few laps the track was drying, and I felt like I had a package that was working better on those tyres.
“Our pace was so evenly matched, that I knew a regular pass wasn’t going to be enough to make Leon just accept second, so I thought I needed to make a pass in an unconventional place just to catch him off guard and gain a couple of tenths so he couldn’t immediately attack back in the next turn.
“In the last sector I just took a lot of risks to make sure he couldn’t attack back and obviously fighting hard to get this result. t’s not a conventional way to win a race but I don’t care, I didn’t know if I’d ever get another one of these again on my recent results, so it’s just nice to be back up here again.”
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