Jason O’Halloran celebrated a first win for Team Green as the Australian took a hard fought victory in an incredible four-way Donington Park dogfight with reigning Champion Tommy Bridewell, Danny Kent and Glenn Irwin.
The battle went down to the wire and over the final two laps, the leading four riders traded positions 14 times in an intense dice for the final victory of the weekend.
At the start of the race, Bridewell had got the jump on his rivals to lead the pack into Redgate for the first time ahead of Kent, Irwin and Haslam. The Hager PBM Ducati rider was instantly on the attack though and moved into second with a move at the Fogarty Esses.
O’Halloran was on a charge as he bid to make amends for his DNF earlier in the day and he was up to third by the fifth lap, trailing Bridewell and Irwin with Kent ready to try and move ahead of his Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki rival.
The leading four had broken away from the chasing pack and Irwin made another move at the Fogarty Esses to take the lead from Bridewell, whilst two laps later, O’Halloran pushed him back to third with a move at the Melbourne Loop.
Bridewell then regained the lead as O’Halloran moved into second as the pack shuffled again on lap seven but Irwin fought back and reclaimed second place at the Fogarty Esses again. A lap later and another move at the same place but him back into the lead.
Bridewell then had O’Halloran to fight off and the Australian made a decisive move at the Old Hairpin to forge ahead. Irwin was trying to make a break, but O’Halloran was hungry for his first podium with Kawasaki and as he pushed to try to make a move, Bridewell stormed back ahead of him.
It came down to a final two-lap tussle and at the start of the penultimate lap, Bridewell was leading from O’Halloran, Irwin and Kent. Irwin moved into second at Redgate but O’Halloran retaliated to reclaim the position.
O’Halloran then took the lead from Bridewell at the Old Hairpin as Kent made his move on Irwin at the same place. The reigning champion retook the lead at Starkeys, but O’Halloran was back ahead at Schwantz.
O’Halloran was then able to hold the advantage on the final lap, but behind there were seven changes of position as the scrap for the final podium places went down to the final drag to the line. Bridewell held on to second with Kent outdragging Irwin to the finish line.
Kyle Ryde claimed fifth on the lone OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing R1 as Ryan Vickers was sidelined after his crash in race two, ahead of Leon Haslam, Andrew Irwin and Lee Jackson. Christian Iddon and Max Cook completed the top ten.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Donington Park, Race 3 result:
Bennetts British Superbike Championship standings:
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