Leon Haslam held off the challenge of Jason O’Halloran to complete the double at Oulton Park and take the lead of the British Superbike Championship heading into the summer break.
O’Halloran looked strong throughout the race but was unable to fight back against Haslam once he had lost the lead. Haslam and O’Halloran were joined on the podium by Jake Dixon, who completed his own podium double.
Shane Byrne crossed the line in fourth after finding some pace late on in proceedings, with teammate Glenn Irwin ending the race in fifth spot.
Josh Brookes ended the weekend on a positive note by taking sixth away from Bradley Ray on the final lap. Ray struggled in the closing stages and only managed to beat Danny Buchan to the line 0.050s. Richard Cooper and Tommy Bridewell completed the top 10.
Luke Mossey’s miserable weekend continued as he was forced to retire with a mechanical problem, whilst Gino Rea and Tarran Mackenzie crashed out of the race.
Dixon made a great start and took the lead as the field went into turn one, just ahead of Ray who had launched off the grid from fourth. After a quiet start, O’Halloran made his move on Irwin for fourth at Hizzy’s.
By the end of the second lap we had a leading group of four riders, consisting of Dixon, Ray, Haslam and O’Halloran. The Honda Racing man, O’Halloran, set the quickest lap of the race that lap and took third spot away from Haslam at the start of lap three.
By the end of the lap O’Halloran had moved up into second after getting the better of Ray at Lodge. Further down the field, Mossey pulled into the pits and retired from the race, possibly due to damage caused from his crash in race one.
Rea’s race came to an end on lap four, with the OMG Racing Suzuki rider crashing out of the race at Hizzy’s. On the track, Haslam moved past Ray to take third place.
O’Halloran continued to have good pace and the Australian took the lead going into turn one on lap five. Behind him, the leading four had become a leading six, with the Be Wiser Ducati duo of Irwin and Byrne closing in.
Irwin wasted little time and made a move on Ray, going down the inside at turn one, with Byrne following him through moments later. Ahead of them, Haslam made his move on Dixon for second spot.
There was another incident at Lodge on lap nine, with Tarran Mackenzie losing control of his McAMS Yamaha and crashing out of 13th.
Back at the front Haslam was beginning to close down O’Halloran for the lead, just like he did with Dixon in the opening race. He would make his move going into the final corner on lap 12.
Behind them, Byrne managed to get by Irwin for fourth. The reigning champion looked to have found an extra gear heading into the closing stages but he was unable to catch Dixon and had to settle for fourth.
Ahead of them, O’Halloran was doing everything he could to unsettle Haslam. On the final lap, the 30-year-old took a look down the inside at Hizzy’s and again at the foot of Clay Hill, but he was unable to put a move on the leader.
Haslam crossed the line to take an eighth win from the last 10 races at Oulton Park. The Kawasaki rider heads into the six-week summer break with a 14-point championship lead over Ray, with Byrne a further three points back in third.
