Redding scores Donington hat-trick to move into BSB lead

Scott Redding has climbed to the summit of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship standings after completing a hat-trick of superbly judged victories at Donington Park.

Riding a confidence high after clinching a second win of the weekend earlier in the day, Redding was once again in supreme form with a cool and patient performance that proved the ex-MotoGP rider is as adept at controlling a race as he is clawing through the field.

Indeed, while Redding had been made to work hard in races one and two as bad starts put him on the back foot, a good getaway from the front row saw him snatch the hole-shot into turn one this time.

Even so, a charging Xavi Fores – who lost out on victory to Redding in the dying seconds of race two – wasted no time in getting his own back on the second lap at Redgate, before Be Wiser Ducati rider Josh Brookes followed through into second. The Australian would proceed to get in front for the first time this weekend when Fores ran wide at Coppice.

With Brookes struggling to string the pace out though, Redding began his charge on lap eight, first passing Fores before getting the better of Brookes for the lead at the end of the back straight.

From here Redding wouldn’t be headed again, helped in part by Brookes getting it wrong under braking for the Roberts chicane on lap 16 and being forced to let off the brakes and run on in avoidance of his team-mate ahead.

Pulling out a lead of more than two seconds, Redding eased off in the closing stages to complete a historic hat-trick on a landmark weekend for the former Moto2 runner-up. With a maximum 75 points to his name, Redding now moves to the top of the overall standings, with a six-point advantage back to Bridewell.

Though not quite the top silverware he looked on course for at times of the weekend, Fores was nonetheless an excellent second once again on the Honda CBR1000RR for a trio of welcome podiums, the Spaniard coming out top of an entertaining three-way tussle that went right to the chequered flag.

Indeed, erstwhile series leader Tarran Mackenzie had been right in the thick of the fight from the start but after losing out to Fores then could do nothing to stop Bridewell from snatching third at the final corner on the last lap. It means he slips to third overall, seven points off new leader Redding.

A tough weekend in contrast to his dominant efforts at Oulton Park, Brookes couldn’t quite get on the back of the podium fight after his mistake but secured solid points in fifth.

Much like race two, Christian Iddon fought hard early on for Tyco BMW but faded as the race wore on en route to sixth, though he fared better than team-mate Keith Farmer, who suffered a dramatic high-side three laps from the finish in an almost identical incident to Brookes a day earlier.

He wasn’t the only high-profile rider failing to see the chequered flag with pole sitter Hector Barbera suffering a low-side from his Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki at the Old Hairpin, while Jason O’Halloran concluded a tough weekend with his own crash.

Peter Hickman continued to rack up the points in seventh after winning out in a battle with eighth place Andrew Irwin, while Bradley Ray and Luke Stapleford secured positive top ten results for Buildbase on a weekend of struggles for the entire Suzuki contingent.

Glenn Irwin was a lacklustre 11th on a weekend that has seen the former Showdown contender comprehensively out-performed by new team-mate Barbera, though he did finish as top Kawasaki thanks to Danny Buchan only getting back to 12th after being forced to start from the back of the grid. Luke Mossey, Claudio Corti and James Ellison completed the points.