British Superbike Gets Underway
T
he 2023 Bennetts British Su-
perbike Championship kicked
off at Silverstone, April 8-9, with
an exciting start to the season as
three different race winners, rep
-
resenting three different teams
and manufacturers, celebrated a
race victory.
Reigning Champions LAMI
OMG Racing Yamaha had the
edge in Saturday's Bennetts
BikeSocial Sprint race, with Kyle
Ryde, but Sunday they narrowly
missed out on the podium in
race two with a fourth place and
ended the weekend with seventh
in race three.
The second race of the
weekend marked the triumphant
return of Josh Brookes to his
winning ways as the double
champion claimed his first vic
-
tory in two seasons, delivering a
determined ride on his first race
weekend with the FHO Racing
BMW Motorrad Team.
Brookes held off the BeerMon
-
ster Ducati teammates led by
Tommy Bridewell by just 0.094
seconds when the race was red
flagged with three laps remain
-
ing after Danny Buchan crashed
out, claiming his 55th win in the
championship. Glenn Irwin com
-
pleted the podium after fighting
his way through the pack.
O'Halloran held onto fifth after
holding off Leon Haslam with
reigning Quattro Group British
Supersport Champion Jack Ken
-
nedy in seventh place. Danny
Kent had another solid perfor-
mance in eighth place ahead of
Andrew Irwin and Lee Jackson,
who fought his way through to
10th after starting 16th on the
grid.
Glenn Irwin then became the
third different race winner of the
opening round in a hard-fought
final race three of the weekend,
as he held off tough opposition
to end the weekend on top for
PBM on the BeerMonster Ducati.
Jason O'Halloran, Brookes and
Kent had all been at the front of
the pack before Irwin captured
the advantage on lap 18. He was
defending hard from Brookes
who had regained second place
with three laps to go, while Bride
-
well had also moved up the order
and fought his way into third.
O'Halloran, meanwhile, re-
gained fourth place on the final
lap, as he got ahead of Kent
with Haslam again in the leading
battle to finish race three in sixth
place.
CN
SATURDAY
Sprint Race 1
1. Kyle Ryde (Yam)
2. Tommy Bridewell (Duc)
3. Josh Brookes (BMW)
SUNDAY
Race 2
1. Josh Brookes (BMW)
2. Tommy Bridewell (Duc)
3. Glenn Irwin (Duc)
Race 3
1. Glenn Irwin (Duc)
2. Josh Brookes (BMW)
3. Tommy Bridewell (Duc)
WIND
IN THE
P54
The 2023 BSB Championship
got underway with three
different winners in the three-
race format (sprint and two
main races).
PHOTO: BSB
