British Superbike Championships - Donington Park race report.
Honda Racing UK celebrated three podium finishes at the penultimate round of the ZYN British Superbike Championships at Donington Park with Ryan Vickers as teammate Jason O’Halloran added points in all three races at Donington Park.
A second place and two thirds capped a competitive weekend for Vickers, who demonstrated his pace from the opening practice session and strengthened his fourth position in the championship standings. O’Halloran recorded finishes of 13th, tenth and 13th, with both riders now looking to end the season strongly at Brands Hatch.
Vickers set the early benchmark by topping the first free practice session, before finishing third in the combined practice classification, just 0.187 seconds from the fastest time. O’Halloran also showed encouraging speed, placing sixth overall and giving the team a positive foundation heading into qualifying.
Ryan converted that pace into a front-row start, recording a 1:26.783 lap in Q2 to secure second on the grid. Jason progressed through Q1 with the fastest time of the session, before qualifying 14th.
In the opening 20-lap race, Vickers delivered second place, taking the chequered flag just 1.260 seconds behind winner Kyle Ryde and more than three seconds clear of Bradley Ray in third. His best lap of 1:27.149 was only 0.130 seconds shy of Ryde’s fastest, underlining the Honda rider’s competitive race pace. O’Halloran completed the opening encounter in 13th, gaining one position from his starting place and banking the first points of his weekend.
The second race brought another podium for Vickers, who finished third after a closely contested 12-lap encounter. Ryan crossed the line just 1.879 seconds from victory and held off Ray by 0.113 seconds to secure his second podium appearance of the round. Jason made further progress, advancing five places from 15th on the grid to finish tenth. In a tight finish of his own, he took the chequered flag just 0.031 seconds ahead of Ilya Mikhalchik.
Vickers completed his weekend with another third place in the final race, securing a podium in every encounter and collecting 62 championship points across the round. O’Halloran added a further points finish in 13th.
The results leave Ryan fourth in the championship on 351 points, with Jason 14th on 144. For Vickers, the Donington Park podium treble continues a strong run of results through the closing stages of the season and provides further momentum heading into the finale.
Honda Racing UK now turns its attention to the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit on 16–18 October.
Ryan Vickers
I pushed hard all weekend and, I think, put in the best lap I’ve ever ridden here. The pace was really hot all weekend and the guys that finished in front of me did a great job. It’s nice to keep this front running momentum going and I’d like to say thanks to the team for doing a great job. Overall I’m really happy with my results from the weekend with a second and two thirds. We’ll keep working on the gap in terms of where we want to finish in the championship and I look forward to racing at Brands Hatch in a couple of weeks.
#22 Jason O'Halloran
I’ve always enjoyed racing at Donington Park and came into this round hoping to improve my pace here from the previous visit earlier this season. I was happy with my lap time in qualifying session one, which I finished top of. Unfortunately I had an issue with the front tyre in the first race and my pace and finishing position were impacted. My challenge for the rest of the round was with grip, which both me and the team worked hard to improve. I came away from Donington with an improvement on my best lap time of .7 seconds and a short gap in the calendar before we push at the final round in a few weeks.
