Nice weekend of racing with a change at the top of the championship, and a return to form for the reigning champion. BSB remains a two horse race between O'Halloran and Ray, but there is plenty of drama in the midpack as a half dozen riders are all jockeying to make top 8 to participate in the Showdown, which starts at Oulton Park in late September.
Race 1 Results
Race 2 Results
Race 3 Results
Bradley Ray lost the championship lead to Jason O'Halloran, as Ray was only able to muster fourth place in all races, but there were big happenings elsewhere in the championship standings.
Highlights
Tarran Mackenzie - scored a double with wins in Race 2 and Race 3, on his way to a 70 point weekend. He is now 8th in the standings, and basically a shoo-in for the Showdown, if he can avoid injury.
Tommy Bridewell - has his best weekend with 43 points, and two podiums. He is now in 7th place, but most importantly he's 46 points clear of Peter Hickman who sits 9th.
Leon Haslam - has had a back and forth season, bouncing from BSB to WSBK, while also working on his ride for Kawasaki at the Suzuka 8 Hours. He scored 29 points at Brands, which is more than he scored at Knockhill and Donnington combined. Haslam is only in 12th place, but if he keeps scoring 30 points a round, he might sneak into the Showdown.
Glenn Irwin - only scored 22 points at Brands, but he notched his first podium since his triple win at Silverstone, and, technically, 22 points is his 3rd best weekend result. Could have been a lot better without the pointless DNF on Lap 1 of Race 1 at Druids, but he still managed to put 65 points between himself in 6th and Hickman in 9th.
Lowlights
Lee Jackson - had his worst weekend of the '22 season. He scored just 13 points, and lacked front running pace on all laps for the entire 3-race weekend. Barring an apocalyptic event, he's in the showdown, but he's lost touch with O'Halloran and Ray, and he's only 13 points ahead of Skinner.
Peter Hickman - has endured two consecutive nightmares. The pace and consistency that helped him stay in the showdown hunt has eluded him. I'm guessing the distraction of the TT and his WSBK moonlighting is messing with his BSB season. He needs to right the ship. In his defense, 17 points was top BMW finisher, but that ain't saying much.
Danny Buchan - scored 4 points at Brands on the heels of his season's best 33 points at Knockhill. As quickly as Danny showed up in the Showdown chase, he basically eliminated himself, and lost the BMW lead to Hickman.
Josh Brookes - was in 8th entering the weekend, but scored just 10 points with 2DNFs. He has also statistically eliminated himself from the showdown.
Overall
This was a cruel weekend for most of the riders who were on the Showdown bubble. Mackenzie scored 70 points, which basically means he'll be taking one of the sports. Tommy Bridewell scored 43 which basically puts him in. Glenn Irwin, after dangling his spot in front of the field, scored a podium in Race 3. A lot of talented riders will need help now.
