Recapping all the Saturday BSB action from Knockhill

2024 Bennetts British Superbike Championship
Round Four – Knockhill
Saturday

British Superbike Race One

Tommy Bridewell delivered a Knockhill masterclass in the opening Bennetts British Superbike Championship race of the weekend to become the fifth different race winner of the season. The reigning champion celebrated his first victory with Honda Racing UK whilst Rory Skinner and Andrew Irwin completed the podium to make it ten different riders who have now scored top three finishes in 2024.

Bridewell launched the Honda Fireblade from the Omologato Pole Position to instantly take the lead on the opening lap ahead of Jason O’Halloran and brothers Andrew and Glenn Irwin. The defending champion, though, set a run of fast laps, which was enough to break the chasing pack as the track continued to dry after earlier heavy rainfall.

The battle for second, though, was intense. O’Halloran was holding off the pressure from the Irwin brothers, Christian Iddon, who had gotten involved in the fight, and Skinner as he bid for home-round success.

Andrew Irwin took advantage of his brother going wide at the hairpin, and that was enough for him to forge ahead. Skinner was also moving up the order in his comeback race, and by lap ten, the Cheshire Mouldings BMW Motorrad rider was up to fifth.

Andrew Irwin had his first podium finish of the season in his sights, and he fired himself into second by lap 13 ahead of O’Halloran, who would eventually claim a fifth-place finish for Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki.

The scrap for second was between the Irwin brothers and Skinner, and the trio was not giving each other an inch. However, it was heartbreak for Glenn Irwin as he was denied the chance to take the fight for the podium to the finish when the Hager PBM Ducati started smoking; he was shown the black and orange flag and later retired from the race.

Irwin had continued to circulate though before returning to pitlane and he was sanctioned for his conduct. He was penalised with four penalty points, taking his accumulative penalty points total to six, which means Irwin will start race two tomorrow from the back of the grid.

Skinner had perfected the move down the inside into the Hairpin and he pulled the same move on Andrew Irwin on lap 16 and he was then able to hold off his Honda Racing UK rival to claim second place in front of his home crowd.

Kyle Ryde bounced back from his big crash in Qualifying to claim a hard-earned fourth place for the OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing team as his teammate Ryan Vickers and Christian Iddon both crashed out together on lap 17.

Josh Brookes scored his best result of the season so far in sixth place on the lone FHO Racing BMW Motorrad as Peter Hickman retired with a technical problem, whilst Danny Kent finished in seventh for McAMS Racing Yamaha to finish ahead of the MasterMac Honda pairing of Lee Jackson and Charlie Nesbitt.

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Tommy Bridewell – P1

“Yeah, it’s been a rollercoaster so far at Knockhill this weekend. More so because of the weather in all honesty.  We’ve been limited with time in the dry to be able to do too much with the bike, but ultimately we’ve not needed to do too much because bike’s worked so well straight out the crate here; wet and dry. And I’ve just felt comfortable on the bike. Qualifying was crucial for me because I knew we needed to be as high up as possible, so to put it on Pole Position was a massive massive tick and and half of the work done. I then also then knew that going into that race it was crucial really for me to get there the lead straight away into turn one.  It’s also my first Superbike win at Knockhill and just another testament of the bike.  Really-really happy for Honda. Really happy for this new Fireblade and for the whole project that we’re doing. It’s amazing. Yeah, just looking forward to the future.”

Andrew Irwin – P3

“This weekend for sure has not been easy with the weather, but we’ve always been quite fast; no matter what the weather’s been. So that’s always important.  Friday we made good progress. I went straight through to Q2 and in the wet and dry I was in and around the top 10, but I knew if we made a few changes for the dry, we’d be competitive. I qualified 6th, which is good, because you want to be on the front two rows to have a chance of being on the podium or to win the race.  Then in the race, I started 6th, I got to 3rd, dropped back to 4th, and then went back to 2nd, then back to 3rd, but I felt good. The team’s done a fantastic job. The bike was absolutely fantastic, and lots of credit to everyone at Honda, they’ve done a really good job with what we have. I’m really happy with that and I’m absolutely excited to be back on the podium again.  Thank you to absolutely everyone at Honda and everyone back at Honda UK. Neil Fletcher, Havier Beltran, my crew chief Spider, my mechanics. Everybody.”

British Superbike Race One Results

British Superbike Championship Points

British Superbike Qualifying Results

British Supersport / GP2 Sprint Race

Jack Kennedy emerged the victor after a race-long battle with Luke Stapleford in Saturday’s Sprint race at Knockhill.

After a dominant start to the weekend, topping free practice and qualifying on pole, the multiple champ celebrated the win at the end of the 18-lap dash.

Stapleford was quickest off the line and led for most of the first lap, but Kennedy was ahead before the pair crossed the line to start the second. From there, the pair battled together for the remainder of the race.

Stapleford got back ahead briefly, but Kennedy was soon back through into the lead, and although Stapleford kept him honest throughout, he was unable to keep the pace and had to settle for second.

Alastair Seeley took third, as Eugene McManus crossed the line fourth after a very late battle with GP2 runner Owen Jenner.

Jenner had to make do with fifth and being the first GP2 rider home by a nose over defending Supersport champ Ben Currie. The Australian recorded the fastest lap of the race as he worked his way through the pack from 27th on the grid.

Jack Kennedy – P1

“We’ve had a very positive round here. We’ve been quickest in the wet with all the rain yesterday and then straight into a dry qualifying with no previous data for this track. So the team made very good calculated decisions on the settings for the qualifying and we managed to qualify on pole position which was our first one of the year which is a great boost for me and the team.

“I just tried to stay focused, to stay consistent and I managed to put enough of a gap in that I had a comfortable lead on the last lap to bring home our first win, which is absolutely amazing. This just proves how hard all the lads are working to be working and for nothing to miss a beat is credit to the team, so a massive thanks to Honda and we look forward to tomorrow.”

British Supersport / GP2 Sprint Race Results

British Supersport Championship Points

GP2 Points

HEL Cup Points

Pirelli National Superstock Race One

Scott Swann celebrated his maiden Superstock win at Knockhill after beating season dominator Davey Todd by more than a second.

Swann led from the opening lap and quickly edged himself a lead at the front, extending it further across the 18-lap race to eventually win by 1.473 seconds.

Todd was second, more than two-seconds clear of Joe Talbot, as Ash Beech took fourth and David Allingham fifth.

Pirelli National Superstock Race One Results

Pirelli National Sportbike Race One

Richard Cooper was back on the top step of the podium after beating Harrison Dessoy in a delayed race at Knockhill.

Cooper had been leading when the race was stopped due to a huge downpour and delayed by almost two hours.

However, at the restart, he picked up where he left off and swept to a dominant win, beating Dessoy by more than eight seconds.

Ash Barnes finished third, with Edoardo Colombi fourth and Aaron Silvester fifth.

Pirelli National Sportbike Race One Results

Tracker Kawasaki British Superteen Race One

Carl Harris swept to his second series win in a wet race at Knockhill, as he beat Lewis Smart by 1.070secs.

Harris charged straight to the front as the lights changed and, despite a bit of early position swapping with Smart, found a way back to the front around half distance and held it to the line.

Australia’s Brodie Gawith was third, with his ROKiT Rookies team-mate and countryman Henry Snell fourth. Less than two-seconds covered the top four at the end of the shortened ten-lap contest.

With fourth place Brodie Gawith moved into the lead of the SuperTeen Championship.

SuperTeen competitors will line up for two 16-lap bouts on Sunday.

Tracker Kawasaki British Superteen Race One Results

1.    Carl Harris (Team SBR Kawasaki)
2.    Lewis Smart (Smart Racing) +1.070s
3.    Brodie Gawith (ROKiT Rookies) +1.223s
4.    Henry Snell (ROKiT Rookies) +1.701s
5.    Ted Wilkinson (The Fire Place Racing) +3.416s