Danny Buchan’s superb double victory at Cadwell Park over the Bank Holiday weekend has sparked a renewed fight for the remaining 2022 BSB Showdown places.
The Synetiq BMW rider invigorated his championship aspirations with a vast haul of 66 points from a maximum of 75 after winning both races on Monday and scoring a third place result on Sunday too.
The Essex rider considered himself out of contention ahead of the weekend after slipping back to eleventh place in the standings, but his performance - coupled to indifferent results for other riders between seventh and eleventh especially - means the bid to secure one of the eight spots has come alive again.
As it stands, only three riders - Jason O’Halloran, Bradley Ray and Rory Skinner - have booked their place with one round and three races at Snetterton to go before the start of the Showdown.
However, with up to 75 points available around the Norfolk circuit, Lee Jackson is well placed to get through for the first time in his career thanks to his 61-point buffer to Buchan, while sixth place man Tommy Bridewell went a long way to firming his place after rising from eighth to sixth with two podiums aboard the Oxford Products Ducati on Monday.
Having looked well on the way to securing his spot despite a stint out through injury, defending champion Tarran Mackenzie’s momentum was slowed at Cadwell with three lacklustre results keeping him pinned in seventh, 22 points ahead of danger man Buchan in ninth.
As such, he remains at risk, together with Kyle Ryde, who holds the eighth and final provisional spot.
A winner at Donington Park earlier this year, the Rich OMG Yamaha rider’s form has slumped in recent rounds with a haul of just eight points from the last six races seeing him slip down the order. It means he is at risk just 14 points clear of Buchan heading to Snetterton.
“It’s been very frustrating after Sunday, I really thought we could build on the lap time from race one,” Ryde said on his Monday performance. “We made a big change for race two that unfortunately didn’t work, and it sapped my confidence a bit and just brought my Yamaha R1 home.
“We went back to Sunday’s settings, but I just didn’t have the confidence to make it work for me. We’ll draw a line under this weekend and regroup for Snetterton next time out.”
Meanwhile, Buchan isn’t the only rider outside the top eight still looking to snatch a position in the dying moments with Peter Hickman and Leon Haslam also mathematically capable of getting into the Showdown, albeit 34 and 35 points behind Ryde.