Kyle Ryde showed that after winning in a variety of ways over the last few rounds, that he was capable of soaking up pressure as he kept title rival Tommy Brid✅ewell behind to win the first race of the second Showdown meeting at round ten of th𒁏e British Superbike championship at Donington Park.

Starting from pole, the only min♑or blot on the OMG 🐼Grilla Yamaha rides race was a poor start, but all was recovered by turn one, leading the whole distance from there, for his seventh BSB win of the season as he reduces the gap in the championship standings.

Danny Kent initially held second but got too close to his♕ fellow Yamaha rider, forcing him to run on at the Esses🔯 to rejoin the race on the first lap.

That saw Tommy Bridewell up to second, a position he held for the rem♏ainder, piling pressure on Ryde ahead, setting the fastest lap, and earning pole for the sprint tomorrow in the process.

Within touching distance for eighteen of the twenty laps, only over the closing stages did the reigning champion prioritise staying upright as he struggled to 🎀keep in touch, finishing 2.071s behind.

• 2024 British 🍎Superbikes: Donington Park (Showdown) - Qualifying Results
• 2024 Bri🍎tish Superbikes: Doningto꧃n Park - Friday Practice Results

Glenn Irwin fought his way up to the group that had his brother in and was soon past his sibling. Behind, Andrew Irwin sometimes lꦓooked to be piling on the pressure, but did not take an opportunity to pass the Ducati back, allowing the PBM rider to finish third, while he brought home the second Honda in fourth, both over eight seconds behind Ryde as the re💖st of the field found the pace of the #77 around his home track hard to match.

Kent dropped to twelfth but staged a ಌhuge comeback on his McAMꦛS Yamaha, climbing back up to fifth by the chequered flag.

Recovery for Nesbitt after chain incident

Kent was not the only rider with places to make back up. An early retirement for Brayden Elliott occ💙urred when his chain came away from his DAO Racing Kawasaki.

The missing chain was on the track - and was sent flying when the bikes c🉐ame back aroundܫ for the next lap, hitting Charlie Nesbitt on the knee while in fourth.

That caused the MasterMac Ho⛄nda rider to drop back into the pack with the pain. Nesbitt 🐻fought back for his best finish at Donington in the dry to date, taking sixth.

Ryꦉan Vickers continued to struggle, picking up seventh on the seconꦅd OMG Yamaha.

Eighth went to Lee Jackson on the second MasterMac bike, just ho🌼lding off Josh Brookes in ninth after he faded back from third, holding on and causing a train behind for as long as possible for FHO Racing.

Christian Iddon complet🅰ed the top ten f꧅or Oxford Products Ducati just over a second later.

Leon Haslam was ninth when he was informed by race direction that he had a long lap penalty for cutting the course on lap four, dropping t💯he ROKiT Haslam BMW bike to eleventh, where he stayed.

Max Cook fought with his teammate Jason O’Halloran to be the top Kawasaki on the Completely Motorbikes maꦡchines, with Cook taking twelfth, eventually with three seconds over the Australian.

The remaining points went to Billy McConnell in 14th for C&L Fairburn/Look Forward ไRacing in 14th and Peter Hickman for FHO Racingꦜ in 15th.

Rory Skinner missed qualifying after a technical issue saw him stop in the Esses section of the circuit in FP3 ri🌱ght before Q1. The Cheshire Mouldings BMW rider was allowed to join up on the b🌱ack of the grid, in 25th. The Scottish rider made it to an impressive 16th, just missing out on the points but only just over three seconds behind Hickman.

After the race Billy McConnell was disqualified from the results for a gearbox infringement, handing 15th to S𓂃kinner.

Lewis Rollo was the top Pathway bike once again and although he faded back to 20th in the race, the Aprilia rider was still pleased to have ma🎉de it to Q2 directly for the first time, and believes the bike can be altered overnight for a better result on Sunday.

Official British Superbike Donington Park Records:

Lap record: Leon Haslam (BMW, 2023) 1m 27.523s

Donington Park in 2023:

Round 2
Superpole Qualifying: 
1: Kyle Ryde
2: Leon Haslam
3: Jason O’Halloran

Race 1 (Sprint):
1: Kyle Ryde
2: Tommy Bridewell
3: Leon Haslam

Race 2:
1: Jason O’Halloran
2: Ryan Vickers
3: Josh Brookes

Race 3:
1: Kyle Ryde
2: Tommy Bridewell
3: Glenn Irwin

Round 10 (showdown):
Qualifying:
1: Jason O’Halloran
2: Tommy Bridewell
3: Leon Haslam

Race 1 (sprint):
1: Ryan Vickers
2: Leon Haslam
3: Luke Mossey

Race 2: 
1: Kyle Ryde
2: Leon Haslam
3: Christian Iddon

Race 3:
1: Jason O’Halloran
2: Christian Iddon

Main Season 2024:

Qualifying:
1: Ryan Vickers
2: Kyle Ryde
3: Leon Haslam

Race 1:
1:Kyle Ryde
2:Tommy Bridewell
3: Glenn Irwin

Race 2 (Sprint):
1: Glenn Irwin
2: Leon Haslam
3:Tommy Bridewell

Race 3:
1:Jason O’Halloran
2: Tommy Bridewell
3: Danny Kent

Crashes, Injuries and Replacements

Luke Hedger pulled into the pits, t✃he only other ri🌊der to join Eliiott in not going the distance.

Tom Ward is back in the seat at Rapid Honda for Franco Bourne, and was the best♋ of the replacement riders in 21st.

IWR Honda hav♕e c🌟hosen the experienced James Westmoreland (22nd) as their next rider, replacing Richard Kerr, who was not available for this round.

NP Racing have replaced Louis 🥀Valleley, with BSB ro🎶okie Corey Tinker, who was lapped with Ryde and Bridewell passing him under a blue flag by lap seventeen.

Danny Buchan is abs♋ent at Donington. Jaimie van Sikkelerus was on track in the first practice s🐼ession but was not fit to continue.

Championship Standings

A win, his fifth in seven on his 150th BSB start, saw Ryde close ⛦in again on Bridewell, this time dropping the gap from six to just three points.

Bridewell remains top on 356 points with Ryde’s Showdown 25 haul𒀰 taking him to 353🙈.

Gle🐎nn Irwin moved onto 309, but saw his gap to the #1 rider increa💫se by two points, now 47 points behind.

Iddon and Kent are now bo🧜th over 100 points away from Bridewell in fourth and fifth overall.