Recapping the BSB Sunday action from Knockhill – SBK/SS/STK/Teens

2024 Bennetts British Superbike Championship
Round Four – Knockhill
Sunday

British Superbike Race Two

Rory Skinner gave the Scottish home crowd something to celebrate by claiming his first Bennetts British Superbike Championship race win for the Cheshire Mouldings BMW Motorrad team, winning by 4.895s ahead of an intense battle for the top three with Christian Iddon and Tommy Bridewell separated by just 0.014s at the chequered flag.

At the start, Bridewell hit the front of the pack into turn one for the first time ahead of Skinner, Andrew Irwin and Danny Kent. However, Irwin crashed out on the opening lap, ending his hopes of a double podium prematurely.

Skinner captured the lead at the Hairpin and then he continued to try and break his rivals but behind Bridewell, Iddon and Kent were pushing for the podium, as Jason O’Halloran crashed out as he tried to carve his way up the order.

Skinner had started to edge out an advantage, but Kent was the fastest rider on the circuit, and he soon moved ahead of Bridewell as the pair became embroiled in the fight for third. The McAMS Racing Yamaha rider was then closing on Iddon, who had run wide at the Hairpin, but Kent crashed at the Hairpin.

It gave Skinner the edge he needed over the final four laps to take his first-ever Bennetts British Superbike Championship race win. Behind him, Iddon had a shifting issue over the final laps, which caused him to run wide at the Hairpin multiple times. Bridewell had closed on the run to the finish, but the Oxford Products Racing Ducati rider held him off by just 0.014s.

Storm Stacey scored his best result with the Team LKQ Euro Car Parts Kawasaki in fourth place, with Charlie Nesbitt and Fraser Rogers embroiled in a race-long battle, finishing in fifth and sixth, respectively, taking their best results of the season so far.

Billy McConnell had the best result for the C&L Fairburn Properties/Look Forward Racing Honda team in seventh ahead of Glenn Irwin, who finished eighth after coming from 27th on the grid on the Hager PBM Ducati.

Lee Jackson and Max Cook completed the top ten; meanwhile, Leon Haslam and Peter Hickman were both forced to retire from the race due to technical problems.

British Superbike Race Two Results

British Superbike Race Three

Christian Iddon became the seventh different race winner in the 2024 Bennetts British Superbike Championship, scoring his first victory of the season with Oxford Products Racing Ducati, the sixth different race-winning team.

At the start, McAMS Racing Yamaha’s Danny Kent initially took the lead into turn one for the first time, but Rory Skinner was on the attack, and he moved ahead for the Cheshire Mouldings BMW Motorrad with a pass at turn three.

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On the opening lap, Iddon was holding third position, but by lap two, he had moved into the lead with a decisive pass at the Hairpin on Skinner, as Kent dropped to fifth.

Bridewell continued to show his pace as he moved up the order. By lap four, he was in second place, with his sights set on Iddon ahead of him.

The order at the front shuffled several times, with Billy McConnell also in the mix for the C&L Fairburn Properties/Look Forward Racing Honda team, as the Australian climbed to third behind Iddon and Bridewell by lap six.

Iddon held the lead despite the pressure from the reigning champion, and he would hold off the challenge until the race was red-flagged when Leon Haslam had a heavy crash on lap 22. The ROKiT BMW Motorrad Team rider was left battered and bruised following the crash.

Skinner and Kent had been duelling for the final podium position; Kent took his opportunity at turn three on lap 20, and he was able to hold off the home hero to return to the podium for McAMS Racing Yamaha and make amends for his crash in today’s second race.

Skinner sealed a strong comeback weekend with a fourth-place finish, his best weekend in his Bennetts BSB career, while McConnell scored the C&L Fairburn Properties/Look Forward Racing Honda team their best-ever result in fifth place.

Fraser Rogers held off Danny Buchan in the closing stages to finish his weekend on a high, with Charlie Nesbitt also scoring his best points haul of the season for MasterMac Honda.

Hager PBM Ducati’s Glenn Irwin relinquished his lead in the standings to Bridewell with a ninth-place finish.

Lee Jackson completed the top ten for MasterMac Honda ahead of Josh Brookes.

British Superbike Race Three Results

Rider Quotes

Rory Skinner

“At the beginning I knew I needed to get to the front and we had been strong on the BMW in the wet and I thought I could control the pace and know what is fast around here in those conditions. I am very happy that I could get to the front and get a bit of a gap. I did make some mistakes at the start but I built the pace and got into a rhythm and not do anything silly.

“Over the last few laps I kept looking at my pit board and I kept thinking is this right, but I got into a flow state and I was really chilled out! I wasn’t too stressed which was nice as I usually put a lot of pressure on myself here.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet, but I had been strong in all conditions this weekend and it is nice to finally get one in the bag and now we want to keep the momentum going.”

Christian Iddon

“I felt absolutely brilliant on the bike at the start of the race as I had so much confidence and feeling in the wet. I was surprised that I was so keen to get by Rory as I know he had a great pace too. I got through and 30 laps here is super long so I tried to get a gap tenth by tenth.

“I tried to maintain the pace and as the track started to dry it became more difficult and I had a few moments. I was really worried as I knew I was losing time from my best lap time on my dash, but I knew from my pit board I still had a bit of a gap.

“I was trying to manage it and then the red flags came out and it caught me of guard but big credit to the team as we had an incredibly hard start to the weekend and we have all worked hard to come away with a second and a first today.”

Tommy Bridewell

“Honestly I couldn’t be happier to come away from this weekend with a first, a third and a second. We came into this weekend 22 points down, so yeah, I’m over the moon. Absolutely delighted. 

“The final race was cut a bit short and the bike was working good, but the conditions were changing lap by lap, it was drying out quite a lot, so it was tough. A really tough race. I just tried to ride clean and maintain the gap to the lead, but also maintain the gap that I had from the chasing pack.

“Credit to the CBR1000RR Fireblade SP. It’s really working well now and I feel really good and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.”

Glenn Irwin

“Conditions have been tough this weekend but we all worked hard across the three days and after a good Friday, we were in the fight for a podium position in the first race. Unfortunately, we encountered a small technical problem, and I didn’t see the black flag, which put us on the back foot for Sunday’s first race. All things considered, coming from 27th to eighth was a decent result, but although it gave me a better grid position for the final race, ninth was the best I could do. It means we’ve given up the title lead but we’re still in second and in a good position.”

Andrew Irwin

“This weekend, honestly, you can look at negatives, or you can look at positives.  In the dry I qualified in sixth. The first race yesterday I was third. It probably took me a little bit to get going, but still we fought back. We went back to fourth, the back to second and finished third. It was a good start this morning in Race 2. I was third when I crashed, but it was only in the fifth or sixth corner and I had quite a big crash. The at the start of Race 3 I got going okay and I think I was running ninth, eighth or ninth. We had a bit of a problem which stopped us from progressing.  We have to look at the positives. I came from a big crash this morning and didn’t let it affect me. I think we were going forward in that race but that’s the way it goes, the team have done a great job, thank you to them for rebuilding the bike and I look forward to a week off before we go testing next week.  I feel like I’m riding in a much better way and I just have to be patient and let it come.”

Dean Harrison

“Honestly, I’ve had a really frustrating weekend all in all. The frustrating thing is the lads are good, the bike’s good. I’ve been poorly, basically. This sounds like a poor excuse, but I felt off all weekend, and I’ve just not got my head into any of it, really. So, I look quite a bit lost, because the potential of the bike obviously speaks for itself. So I’m going to put this one down to experience and start again next time.”

British Superbike Championship Points

British Supersport / GP2 Feature Race

Jack Kennedy celebrated a double win at Knockhill after a race-long battle with reigning champion Ben Currie.

The Honda Racing UK rider went toe-to-toe with his rival through the 22-lap Feature race as the rain continued to fall in Scotland.

From pole, Currie got a quick getaway to lead lap one but Kennedy slotted in right behind him, hitting the front on the third lap, only for Currie to steal it back moments later.

The swapping of positions continued until Kennedy finally found a way past towards the end of the race, eventually crossing the line 1.643secs clear of Currie.

Jack Kennedy

“I don’t think we could have had a better weekend than we’ve had here at Knock Hill for Round four of the British Supersport championship and we nearly topped every session.  We got our first pole of the year and we’ve come away with two wins in dry and wet conditions. The team have been faultless. The Honda  CBR600RR has been amazing at this Knockhill Circuit. We changed our strategy a little bit from what I normally do here on a 600 and it really paid off to ride a little bit more like the guys at the front are riding to make life hard for them like they make life hard for me and it really paid off. I didn’t think the strategy would work on the on the 600 in line four but it has worked really well, so credit to the team for giving me this set up. 

“The bike’s been faultless and I keep stating how many days the lads have been working for nearly two months straight, no days off and there was no beat missed anywhere so I can’t thank my team enough. Everybody knows this is a team sport. Although it’s an individual rider out there, without the tools and the team and the atmosphere and everything behind you, you are not going to get the results, so I have to give this weekend to the team because I will always ride to the best of my ability, but if I haven’t got the tools and the team, it’s not going to happen. So again credit to the team big thanks to all my lads Scott, Tom, Ryan and Matt for everything. Thanks to them.”

Third went to Luke Stapleford, who finished 4.413secs clear of Alastair Seeley as Owen Jenner rounded out the top five, taking the GP2 class win, as Keo Walker took second.

In the Cup class, Adon Davie took yet another win, with Ben Tolliday second and Adam Brown third.

British Supersport / GP2 Feature Race Results

British Supersport Championship Points

GP2 Championship Points

Supersport Cup Championship Points

Pirelli National Superstock Race

Davey Todd picked up another win at a wet Knockhill as his two biggest challengers crashed out.

Saturday’s winner, Scott Swann, had led early on before dropping back and then crashed as Todd and Joe Talbot went into battle for the win.

On the final lap as the pair hit backmarkers, Talbot tangled with Joe Howard and the pair crashed out, handing points leader Todd the victory.

Simon Reid was second, ahead of Matt Trulove as David Allingham was fourth with Ben Luxton fifth.

Pirelli National Superstock Race Results

Pirelli National Superstock Points

Pirelli National Sportbike Race Two

Richard Cooper made it two in a row at Knockhill as he beat championship rival Edoardo Colombi by more than seven seconds.

In a wet race, Cooper made best of his pole position to power straight into the lead, as Colombi kept close behind and made a few attempts to pass in the opening laps.

But the Italian was unable to match Cooper and eventually settled for a safe second, which he seemed delighted with, as Aaron Silvester took third, Ash Barnes fourth and Lennon Docherty was fifth.

Pirelli National Sportbike Race Two Results

Pirelli National Sportbike Points

Tracker Kawasaki British Superteen Race Two

Carl Harris won his second Tracker Kawasaki British Superteen race of the weekend by an impressive 14.502secs over Troy Jeffrey.

The polesitter dropped to third at the start as Australians Henry Snell and Brodie Gawith passed him into turn one but quickly regrouped, passing Gawith on lap three and then Snell on lap four to take the lead.

From there, he was never challenged, and as Snell crashed out, Troy Jeffrey took second, with Lewis Smart third, Gawith fourth and James Cook fifth.

Tracker Kawasaki British Superteen Race Two Results

Tracker Kawasaki British Superteen Race Three

Kalvin Kelly denied Carl Harris of a hat-trick of wins in the third and final race of the weekend as he took the win by 0.221secs.

Harris had hit the front on the second lap in this evening’s 16-lap scrap, and had pulled out a sizeable lead on the drying track, looking on course for his third victory of the weekend.

But behind, Kelly was on a charge, fighting his way through from fifth to move into second place with six laps to go and then quickly closed in.

On the final lap, Harris went a touch wide and Kelly capitalised, pushing hard and outdragging him to the line.

Troy Jeffrey was third, with Lewis Smart fourth.

Brodie Gawith took fifth and slipped to third in the championship standings.

Countryman Henry Snell again took no points which saw him slip to ninth place on the points table.

Tracker Kawasaki British Superteen Race Three Results

Tracker Kawasaki British Superteen Points