The new 2024 British Superbike season got underway with the first official test at Donington Park on 6th and 7th April.
Words & pics: Michael Wincott
Reigning champion Tommy Bridewell will begin his title defence with Honda after making a shock switch over the winter period. Bridewell looks to become the first rider to win consecutive titles for two different manufacturers in 2024. If Bridwell wants to retain his title, he will have to fend off fierce competition from Glenn Irwin, who missed out on the championship by half a point in 2023. Irwin will continue to ride for the reigning BSB Championship-winning team, Paul Bird Motorsport, after his strongest season to date in 2023. In 2024, the team will be more motivated than ever to win a tenth title with Irwin. Kyle Ryde, who finished third last year, will continue with OMG Yamaha Racing. Ryde, who had a strong end to 2023, will be looking to keep that form running into the new season. Lee Jackson had his strongest season to date in 2023 where he finished fourth. In 2024, he has taken on a new challenge and will ride for the MasterMac Honda team after four previous seasons riding a Kawasaki.
Leon Haslam, ‘The ‘Pocket Rocket’, enjoyed a consistent 2023 season under the ROKiT BMW Motorrad banner; he ended the season in fifth place in the championship. This year, he will be lining up on the new BMW M 1000 RR on behalf of the newly formed ROKiT Haslam Racing team.
It is all change for Australia Jason O’Halloran in 2024 who has made the switch to Kawasaki after a challenging year onboard the Mcams Yamaha, where he finished 6th in the standings. The team had an initial shakedown test at Donington Park in 2023. It will be the first year that the 26-time BSB race winner has ridden for the manufacturer.
Commenting after the shakedown test, O’Halloran said, “After five years on the Yamaha, it was perfect to be able to get out straight away and to get my first feelings on the Kawasaki as it is different to what I have been riding and also get the work with my new crew”.
Fellow Australian Josh Brookes, who finished seventh in 2023, will continue with FHO racing in 2024 onboard a BMW. Since its launch in 2021, FHO Racing has become a dominant force in the BSB Championship and on the roads.
A new team will graduate to the BSB Championship in 2024 with Australian Billy McConnell, who will ride for C&L Fairburn Properties/Look Forward Racing. McConnell returns to the Superbike class 18 years after his debut back in 2006. Since then, the Australian has combined stints in BSB, National Superstock and British Supersport where he was runner-up in 2009.
After several seasons competing in British Superstock, Tumut’s Brayden Elliott has secured a ride with DAO Racing Kawasaki on a ZX-10RR to step up to Superbike for the full 2024 British Superbike Championship season. Elliott has been dreaming of a full-time Superbike ride in the most competitive domestic championship in the world since arriving in the UK to progress his racing career in 2017.
The British Supersport class will see New Zealander Shane Richardson return for 2024. He will contest the championship with HIPPO Suzuki, which will be run by Astro JJR. The sponsorship marks their first venture into the adrenaline-fueled world of motorsports, as well as Richardson’s first major superbike sponsor. Richardson has spent the last two years off the track, making this season a real comeback. Richardson has also recently secured a job as a test rider for Triumph, creating more opportunities to be immersed in the world of motorbikes.
In the junior class of the British Superbikes for 2024, New Zealand will be represented by Tyler King (18) from Silverdale, who will take a leap and compete in the Honda Talent Cup. In 2023, King had the opportunity to race in the final two rounds of the championship at Oulton Park and Donnington Park with the Microlise Cresswell Racing team.
The 2024 Bennetts British Superbike Championship test kicked off at Donington Park on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th April. Weather conditions for the opening days of testing were dry but with unpredictable high winds. All the riders were keen to advance onto the track for the first 80-minute session of the year. Local rider Leon Haslam topped the times in the opening season. He set the fastest lap onboard his ROKiT Haslam Racing BMW Motorrad 1m:29.121s ahead of Kyle Ryde in second.
Championship favourites Kyle Ryde and Ryan Vickers locked out the leading two positions in the second session of the day, just 0.403s separated the two Yamaha riders with Ryde continuing his strong performance into the final session of the day. He toped the time sheets and improved his pace by 0.228s on his penultimate lap of the day.
Australian Jason O’Halloran finished the opening day with the eighth fastest time, just 0.799s slower than Ryde after his first full day of riding for his new manufacturer, while FHO Racings Josh Brookes was eighth fastest, a further 0.119s behind O’Halloran. Rookie Brayden Elliott had a steady start to the season on his debut for DAO Racing and ended the day with a lap time of 1.30.859s.
Ryde continued to up the pace in the fourth session of the weekend on Sunday morning ahead of his teammate Vickers despite the tricky track conditions. Vickers moved into second place in the closing stages of the session, displacing reigning champion Tommy Bridewell, who had been leading the way in the earlier stages for Honda Racing UK.
Ryde topped the penultimate session of the test as he maintained his position at the top ahead of the time sheets and ahead of Glenn Irwin.
Irwin had led the times into the closing stages, but Ryde was back on top before the chequered flag, with Vickers completing the top three.
In the last session of the weekend, the threat of rain had increased. Ryde was ready for a final attack, and on his first flying lap, he became the only rider to dip into the 1m:27s barrier to maintain his edge. Irwin had been closing the gap to Ryder during the afternoon sessions, but the Ducati rider didn’t get the chance to push for a flying lap as the rain started. He ended the opening weekend of testing in second place, just 0.523s adrift of Ryde.
Vickers held third overall at the chequered flag and consolidated a strong start to his 2024 campaign. Andrew Irwin led the Honda Racing UK charge in fourth place, just 0.063s ahead of his teammate and reigning champion Bridewell, who finished fifth after getting used to his new machine. Bridwell set a time of 1.28.530s, just 0.880s slower than championship contender Ryde, after having to adapt to the rigours of riding an inline-four Honda CBR1000RR-R after five successful seasons aboard the V4-engined Ducati Panigale R. Cheshire Mouldings Kawasaki rider O’Halloran had an equally impressive debut with his new team and finished the two-day test with the ninth-fastest time 1:28.665s.
Brookes, after testing a host of updates to his BMW machine, including changes to the chassis and engine braking strategies, finished the weekend with the thirteenth quickest time. He commented after the weekend, “The weekend started out well considering how much time we’ve had off the bikes, and it was as good as we could expect. The first thing was the changes to the engine, and that didn’t show up any real problems or issues; the BMW is still strong, and the times were competitive. The BMW is as good as it was last year, and we haven’t lost anything with the engine changes, so there are some positives to take away.”
DAO Racings Elliott finished his opening weekend onboard a superbike with the twenty-fourth quickest time, over the weekend he improved his lap times by 3.121s and ended the weekend with a time of 1.30.719s.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship Series Director Stuart Higgs commented after the test: “The lap time performances have shown that there’s a great deal of depth of competition amongst everybody. One small caveat, we did see some rogue lap times, as it was an official test, and the full track limits monitoring capability wasn’t in place,
so we will get to see more representative times when we reconvene”.
The 2024 Bennetts British Superbike Championship will officially kick off with the opening round taking place at the Circuito de Navarra in Spain on the 20th and 21st of April. Located near the famous Rioja wine region, it’s a chance for fans to enjoy BSB action at one of the country’s finest venues.
