Jason O’Halloran completed his dominance of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship round at Thruxton as he completed a hat-trick of wins on Sunday’s third and final race.
Held in the wet, the McAMS Yamaha rider got the verdict from Danny Buchan (Synetiq BMW) to further extend his championship lead whilst Danny Kent brought his Buildbase Suzuki home for third and a first ever appearance on a BSB podium.
O’Halloran, with a wet front and intermediate rear, led off the line with team-mate Tarran Mackenzie initially slotting in behind him before Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW) moved ahead of both of them by the end of the lap to lead over the line as Lee Jackson (FS-3 Racing Kawasaki), Bradley Ray (Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW), and Rory Skinner on the second FS-3 machine completed the top six.
Hickman, with wets front and rear, held a half second advantage over Mackenzie after two laps with Jackson, also on full wets, now up to third at the expense of O’Halloran although the championship leader was quick to retaliate.
Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Ducati) was on the move and had come through to briefly take fifth but both VisionTrack Ducati’s of Christian Iddon and Josh Brookes were down field in 13th and 20th respectively.
By lap five, Hickman still led with Mackenzie three tenths of a second adrift but O’Halloran and Buchan, the leading riders on the wet front/intermediate rear combination, were running in third and fourth, the Australian reeling the front two back in.
It was Buchan was who fastest on track though and the full wet combination looked to have run its course; indeed, O’Halloran and Buchan moved up to second and third on lap seven although drops of rain were soon reported in sector 1.
Lap nine saw O’Halloran go back into the lead and, watching the Yamaha rider immediately edge clear, Buchan soon followed him past Hickman. Mackenzie was still in fourth but Ryan Vickers (RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki) was the fastest man on track and he was now up into fifth and closing. Kent, meanwhile, was going well in sixth.
At half race distance it was Buchan’s turn to lead and he and O’Halloran had pulled almost two seconds clear of new third place man Mackenzie. Kent was now in fourth from Hickman and Vickers. Andrew Irwin on the second Synetiq BMW was also enjoying the conditions and had taken over seventh from the Honda of brother Glenn with an improving Iddon closing in.
With part of the course continuing to see some rain fall, Kent grabbed third on lap 12 just as Bridewell pitted for a slick rear but all the time O’Halloran and Buchan were fighting for the lead with never more than a few tenths between them.
However, they had to be mindful of Kent and Vickers who were continuing to cut the deficit, Vickers setting the fastest lap again on lap 14 before Kent took that particular accolade soon after. Andrew Irwin was continuing to have a good ride and he was now in fifth.
Kent was again the fastest man on track on lap 17 and that brought the gap to leader O’Halloran to 1.9s – a repeat occurrence next time around meant the deficit was now 1.5s but with just two laps to go.
O’Halloran responded though and he edged clear to take his third win of the weekend from Buchan by 0.826s with Kent’s excellent ride rewarded with a maiden BSB podium.
Vickers made up for the disappointment of his second race crash with fourth, which matched his finish from Saturday, as Andrew and Glenn Irwin crossed the line close together in fifth and sixth respectively.
Mackenzie, Hickman, Iddon and Ray completed the top ten with Brookes recovering for 14th
