2024 British Superbikes: Cadwell Park - Race Results (1)

After a challenge from pole man Jason O’Halloran on the opening lap Kyle Ryde was able to hold his lead and maintain a gap of a second and a half to take the first race win of the Bank Holiday weekend in round eight of the British Superbike championship, at Cadwell Park.

O’Halloran started from pole and was instantly swapping the position with Ryde after he gained the holeshot, with the OMG Grilla bike coming out ahead by the end of the first lap.

With the injured Australian almost a certainty to fade, the Yamaha rider was able to quickly pull out a gap which stayed around 1.5 seconds until an ease off on the final lap saw the #77 lead over the line to win by a gap of 0.791s - the first time Ryde has won at Cadwell Park.

• Update on Andrew Irwin after crash at Cadwell Park
• 2024 British Superbikes: Cadwell Park - Qualifying Results

It was the MasterMac bikes that would eventually complete the podium, with local rider Lee Jackson passing his teammate Charlie Nesbitt by lap seven, holding on and then pulling away for second, for the teams first rostrum visits of 2024, with Nesbitt third on the second Honda.

Race direction was watching the battle for fourth carefully. Before they too passed O’Halloran, Glenn Irwin and Tommy Bridewell were already at war again.

The PBM Ducati rider started higher, from fifth after moving through Q1, while Honda’s Bridewell had to cut through from twelfth, gaining a place from Danny Kent’s pre-race penalty.

Bridewell had found a way around the #2, before Irwin came from way back and deep to push past Bridewell with a hard move , forcing the #1 onto the grass. The narrow nature of the track making passing tricky played to the Northern Irish rider’s favour, and no action was taken on the lap thirteen move.

As the race came to a close, Bridewell had passed again, then ran himself onto the grass after going wide, but saved his tyre wobble and held position into the hairpin for the final time for fourth, with Irwin fifth.

O’Halloran was next to see the chequered flag, in a hard earned sixth through the pain of his injured fingers for Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki.

Josh Brookes claimed a distant seventh for FHO Racing BMW Motorrad, in a close finish between the Australian and Leon Haslam, who had to settle for eighth for ROKiT Halsam BMW.

The next duo fighting it out on track were Billy McConnell and Danny Buchan. The duo had had Storm Stacey ahead but passed him and continued to fight for tenth, with recent podium finisher from Thruxton, McConnell, taking the place for local team C&L Fairburn/Look Forward Racing, with Buchan completing the top ten for DAO Racing.

Stacey dropped to eleventh for LKQ Car Parts Kawasaki.

Peter Hickman fought into the points after just missing out on moving out of Q1 on the second FHO Racing bike in twelfth, while an already struggling Christian Iddon was 13th - picking up a two second penalty in the race for cutting the chicane, though the Oxford Products rider only did so to avoid hitting the back of the rider in front.

After receiving a three place grid penalty for his part in Andrew Irwin’s earlier fall in FP3, Danny Kent launched from 13th and never really got into the race, dropping as low as 17th in the the opening laps before refocusing on the McAMS Yamaha for 14th.

Replacement rider Tom Ward, normally found in National Superstock Championship action, also picked up places to claim the final point for Rapid Honda while covering for Franco Bourne.

Lewis Rollo was the best of the Pathway entries on the Aprilia in 18th, one place ahead of rival Alex Olsen.

Official British Superbike Cadwell Park Records:

Lap record: Bradley Ray (Yamaha, 2022) 1m 25.858s

Cadwell Park in 2023:

Round Eight
Qualifying (superpole): 
1: Ryan Vickers
2: Leon Haslam
3:  Glenn Irwin

Race 1 (Sprint):
1:  Glenn Irwin
2: Kyle Ryde
3: Ryan Vickers

Race 2:
1: Glenn Irwin
2: Kyle Ryde
3: Jason O’Halloran

Race 3:
1: Tommy Bridewell
2: Glenn Irwin
3: Leon Haslam

Crashes, Injuries and Replacements

The day ended in disaster for Ryan Vickers who began the second lap with a smoking bike. His problems began before his exhaust got bent putting his hand up with an issue, but Bradley Perie had nowhere to go behind, filling in on the Stauff Fluid Power Kawasaki, for Tom Neave.

The damage to Perie's bike saw him drop to 17th. Vickers later revealed the cause of his sudden stop was the wires burning out and stopping the relay.

The last of the three replacement riders at Cadwell Park, Richard Kerr, back in again for Rory Skinner at Cheshire Mouldings BMW, retired to the pits, along with Luke Hedger.

Andrew Irwin missed qualifying and was ruled out of race one after his avoiding action in FP3 to miss Danny Kent lead to a fall.

Fraser Rogers also withdrew after beginning the Cadwell Park meeting.

Championship Standings

Bridewell still leads the standings, moving on to a total of 260, though the gap to Ryde is cut, down from 25 points to 19 after his victory.

Christian Iddon remains third but is now on a distant 216 to Ryde’s 241 ahead in the final round before the trio of Showdown rounds. Glenn Irwin is two points further back in fourth overall on 212, while Vickers failed to add to his tally after two stong rounds with a treble at Brands Hatch and a double at Thruxton, his DNF seeing him remain on 198.