Day 2 of the British Superbikes at Knockhill Racing Circuit saw intense action in both qualifying and Race 1. The weather in Scotland was still to play its part.
Q1 saw Kyle Ryde (OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing) set the pace with a lap time of 47.574 seconds. Fraser Rogers (TAG Honda) and Christian Iddon (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) completed the top three to move into Q2.
In Q2, Tommy Bridewell (Honda Racing UK) secured pole position with a blistering lap of 47.408 seconds. Jason O’Halloran (Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki) and Josh Brookes (FHO Racing BMW Motorrad) joined him on the front row, with the top 15 riders covered by just 0.721 seconds, promising a closely fought race.
Tommy Bridewell converted his pole position into a dominant win, leading from start to finish. Local hero Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings BMW Motorrad) finished a well-earned second fighting his way through from 8th on the grid. Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing UK) completed the podium, 2.572 and 4.290 seconds behind the winner, respectively.
Kyle Ryde, who topped Q1, finished fourth after starting tenth, while Jason O’Halloran and Josh Brookes, the other front-row starters, came home fifth and sixth.
The race was not without incident, as Ryan Vickers (OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing) took out Christian Iddon with an overly ambitious move at turn 3 in the latter stages. Both riders failed to finish but were ok.
Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW Motorrad) and Max Cook (Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki) were also non-finishers due to mechanical issues.
In the end, 20 riders crossed the finish line, with Franco Bourne (Honda – Rapid Honda) rounding out the points-paying positions in 15th.
The stage is now set for an exciting Sunday race day, with riders looking to bounce back from misfortune or build on their strong results from Race 1. The championship battle is sure to intensify as the season progresses.
