Saturday round-up from BSB season opener at Navarra

2024 Bennetts British Superbike Championship
Round One – Navarra

Danny Kent and the McAMS Racing Yamaha Team claimed their first ever Bennetts British Superbike Championship Omologato Pole Position at Circuito de Navarra this afternoon, holding off the charging OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing pairing of Ryan Vickers and Kyle Ryde by just 0.039s.

Josh Brookes was the first rider to attack the one-lap shootout and the FHO Racing BMW Motorrad rider set the initial benchmark. Next to set a time was MasterMac Honda’s Charlie Nesbitt who then hit the top of the times, before Cheshire Mouldings BMW Motorrad’s Rory Skinner claimed the top spot.

Skinner stayed at the top of the times as Max Cook, Lee Jackson, and Peter Hickman completed their laps, with the second FHO Racing BMW Motorrad rider holding second place after his lap.

Fraser Rogers qualified for Omologato Superpole for the first time but the TAG Honda rider suffered a technical problem and was forced to forfeit his lap. That left Oxford Products Racing Ducati’s Christian Iddon to go next and a moment lost him valuable time and he will start tenth on the grid tomorrow for race one.

Next to set a time was Jason O’Halloran and the Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki rider was unable to topple Skinner from the times, he starts alongside Iddon.

Glenn Irwin was next to exit the pitlane and the Hager PBM Ducati rider upped the pace to move to the top of the times, which was where he stayed initially as Leon Haslam crashed his ROKiT Haslam Racing BMW Motorrad machine on his flying lap to start 14th.

Reigning champion Tommy Bridewell was next, the Honda Racing UK team working against the clock to get him out for his lap after a technical issue in the earlier second Free Practice session. However, he was forced out of contention with another issue, which prompted a short red flag on Omologato Superpole. He will start from 15th on the grid for the opening race of his title defence.

Tommy Bridewell

“Look it’s unfortunate to have a technical like that, but I know we have some strong race pace. We’ve done our homework and found where the passing places are and we’ve come from down on the grid before. I still back myself in the fight so we go again tomorrow. There are two races and two opportunities to go out there and get a result. We win and lose together as a team and as a team we will come out fighting.”

The final three riders then had their chance and Kent was the first to push for a lap on the McAMS Racing Yamaha. He moved straight to the top of the times and despite the OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing pairing getting close, the 2015 Moto3 World champion claimed a first Omologato Pole Position.

British Superbike Superpole

British Superbike Qualifying

British Supersport / GP2

Luke Stapleford will lead the grid into the opening Quattro Group British Supersport race of the year after beating reigning champ Ben Currie to the top spot.

Aboard the Macadam Triumph Racing, Stapleford took early charge in the session to hit the top of the timings and made it stick with his best lap of 1min 39.237s.

Oxford Products Ducati Racing’s Currie had looked to be struggling a little as he tried to find a good time but he picked up the pace on his final lap to jump up to second, relegating Gearlink Kawasaki’s Brad Perie to third.

Behind Perie, returning multiple champ Jack Kennedy managed to secure fourth with his best time on his penultimate lap, as Eugene McManus rounded out the top five aboard the ROKiT Haslam Racing Ducati – just ahead of his team-mate and brother James.

In GP2, Jack Nixon kept control of proceedings, clocking the 17th best lap overall to lead the class, as his Kramer Racing team-mate Owen Jenner was second ahead of Owen Mellor.

British Supersport / GP2 Qualifying

Talent Cup Race One

Julian Correa won a drag to the finish line by a mere 0.046secs over Lucas Brown at the end of a tense first race of the year, as three of their rivals clashed on track.

From pole, Correa led into the opening lap but it soon became a dramatic scrap with Brown, Amanuel Brinton, Filip Surowiak and Mason Foster all challenging at the front.

The lead swapped several times but things heated-up further on lap 10 of 14, as the fight for the lead escalated and Brinton clattered into Surowiak while Foster, who was just behind, had nowhere to go and also crashed out in the melee.

This left Brown and Correa to fight for the win, and despite Brown getting ahead on the final lap, Correa was able to out drag him to the line to take victory. Ryan Frost took the final podium spot with Clayton Edmunds fourth and Harley McCabe fifth.

Talent Cup Race One

Talent Cup Qualifying

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