BSB Round 2: Race 2 – Brookes Does The Double

Josh Brookes made it two wins out of two at Oulton Park, with another brilliant ride which left the competition reeling.

Weather: Cloudy but dry. Air Temperature: 10oC / Track Temperature: 23oC

As was the case in race 1, the battle for top honours was contested by Brookes (PBM BeWiser Ducati) and Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Racing Ducati). Wiser to the threat posed by his rival this time around, Brookes took the lead on the opening lap and didn’t look back. Whilst never managing to clear off into the Cheshire countryside, he always maintained a small but controllable gap.

The double secured, and secured in style, for Brookes. With it he takes the maximum of 50 points from this weekend and moves to fifth place in the championship. The disaster which befell him at Silverstone is no consigned to the history bin. Make no mistake, his performance this weekend is a clear warning to the rest of the field who dream of being crowned BSB champion this season.

Danny Buchan (FS-3 Kawasaki) once again secured a podium finish, leading home a trio of hard chargers: Scott Redding (PBM BeWiser Ducati), Tarran MacKenzie (McAMS Yamaha) and Christian Iddon (Tyco BMW) respectively.

All four men will be delighted with their results. Buchan has proved how consistent he now is as a fully fledged superbike racer, whilst Scott Redding’s fourth place this afternoon secures him sixth place overall in the championship. A feat all the more impressive considering he’d barely ridden at Oulton Park prior to this weekend. Iddon and his team will be satisfied to have delivered a good result on what is still essentially a stock bike, whilst MacKenzie retains his early season lead at the top of the standings.

It was however a difficult afternoon for MacKenzie’s teammate, Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha). Following a very competitive outing in race 1, the Australian would have been confident of potentially making the podium. It wasn’t to be. Whatever setup changes had been made to his R1 hadn’t worked, and he found himself falling away from the sharp end of the field, eventually coming home in P7.

Rounding out the top ten were Keith Farmer (Tyco BMW), Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing) and Ryan Vickers (RAF Regular and Reserves Kawasaki). Farmer will probably feel a little hard done by, having been mugged on the final lap by O’Halloran, and had to make do with P8. Irwin and Vickers spent much of the race locked together, drag racing each other to the finish line. The margin being in Irwin’s favour by just 0.091s.

Finally, a word for Peter Hickman (Smiths Racing BMW) who was forced to start from the back of the grid after failing a tyre pressure test before the race. Not to be deterred, the TT lap record holder set about carving his way through the field. Hickman eventually finished in P11, but from starting in P29, that is a brilliant result all things considered.  

BSB Race 2 Result: Top 10

1: Josh Brookes – 28”37.183

2: Tommy Bridewell – +2.686

3: Danny Buchan – +7.035

4: Scott Redding – +9.370

5: Tarran MacKenzie – +9.614

6: Christian Iddon – +12.572

7: Jason O’Halloran – +16.142

8: Keith Farmer – +16.171

9: Andrew Irwin – +20.801

10: Ryan Vickers – +20.892