Jason O’Halloran won an incident-packed second British Superbike Championship race at Donington Park on Sunday afternoon, the McAMS Yamaha rider getting the better of BSB podium debutante Ryan Vickers (LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha) by just over three tenths of a second.

Josh Brookes (FHO Racing BMW) was back on the rostrum in third and with the BeerMonster Ducati pairing of Tommy Bridewell and Glenn Irwin both failing to finish, the Australian reclaimed the championship lead. Saturday’s race winner Kyle Ryde also failed to finish.

Just like yesterday’s Sprint race, Ryde (LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha) got the holeshot into Redgate and he led the field round at the end of the opening lap from Leon Haslam (ROKiT BMW Motorrad), O’Halloran, Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing), Danny Kent (Lovell Kent Racing Honda) and Vickers.

Bridewell was down in eighth with team-mate Glenn Irwin faring even worse in 16^th after going wide at Redgate. Danny Buchan, meanwhile, started from pitlane on the Synetiq BMW after pulling in at the end of the warm-up lap.

Second time around and Andrew Irwin went down at the Old Hairpin, but it was Ryde who continued to lead, his advantage over Haslam 0.314s at the end of lap three. O’Halloran and Kent were both within a second of the lead with Bridewell now up to fifth. Brookes was down in tenth.

Haslam briefly got into the lead at the Foggy Esses on the fourth lap only for Ryde to immediately retaliate and there was drama shortly afterwards when Glenn Irwin went down at Redgate, his first mistake and non-finish of the season.

Bridewell moved ahead of O’Halloran at Goddards at the end of lap five to take third place and the final podium place and it again looked like it would be a repeat of Saturday’s race with Ryde, Haslam and Bridewell occupying the first three positions although O’Halloran was sticking with them in fourth.

Indeed, the front four were 1.5s clear of fifth-placed Kent starting the eighth lap, the Honda man coming under pressure from Lee Jackson (Cheshire Mouldings Kawasaki) and Vickers with Brookes a further second back in eighth. Kent succumbed to the pressure too with Jackson getting fifth at the Melbourne Hairpin and Vickers pushing him down another spot at Redgate.

Back at the front and at the end of the 10^th of 20 laps, half race distance, Ryde’s lead over Haslam was 0.254s with Bridewell a similar distance behind in third. O’Halloran was beginning to lose touch though and was now 1.2s adrift of the Ducati of Bridewell with Vickers now up to fifth and going well.

However, the 11^th lap started in dramatic fashion when Ryde went down uninjured at Redgate, handing the lead to Bridewell, and that led to the safety car being deployed for a period of two laps as the debris was cleared, bunching the pack back up. 

Buchan pulled in to retire on unlucky lap 13 but racing resumed at the start of lap 15 and Haslam was soon ahead of Bridewell, the Ducati man losing another spot to O’Halloran at the Old Hairpin. Haslam then lost the lead to O’Halloran at Coppice but fought back at the Foggy Esses with Bridewell also moving back into second. Brookes had also benefitted from the safety car and had taken over fourth, but Kent was another high-profile retiree.

Bridewell was back in the lead on lap 16 but the race had become a six-rider battle for the lead with the riders three abreast coming into the Foggy Esses. It was disaster for championship leader Bridewell though as he slowed a lap later and with two laps to go O’Halloran had a 0.220s lead over Vickers with Brookes in third as Haslam dropped back to fourth.

The Australian wasn’t to be denied and duly took his 23^rd BSB victory by 0.347s from Vickers, Brookes completing the podium in third. Haslam held on for fourth ahead of Jackson and it was Charlie Nesbitt (MasterMac by Hawk Racing Honda) who came through for sixth with Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW), Tom Neave (Honda Racing), Christian Iddon (Oxford Products Ducati) and Jack Kennedy (Mar-Train Racing Yamaha) completing the top ten.

CLICK HERE to view the latest 2023 BSB standings after 2 Rounds of 11