Glenn Irwin expects rivals to 'respond' after clinching Silverstone race one win

'You can’t make predictions in this championship' says Glenn Irwin, as the Honda rider expects a fight back from his rivals during Sunday’s British Superbike double-header at Silverstone.

Robert Jones

16 Apr 2022

Glenn Irwin, Bradley Ray, Kyle Ryde British Superbike

After setting the first ever sub 53s British Superbike lap around the Silverstone (National) Circuit in qualifying, Irwin’s day went from good to great after leading every lap of race one.

With free practice and qualifying indicating 10 to 15 riders could be in with a chance of winning the 2022 season opener, the 24 lap race around Silverstone was anything but that, as it quickly became a three-way fight.

The front row of Irwin, Ryde and Ray all made good starts which was enough to lead them into turn one in the same order.

Movement between the podium finishers took place on two occasions as Ryde and Ray battled for P2, and although Irwin was unable to escape the Yamaha pair's grasp, an attempt at the lead never came to fruition as the Honda rider used his exceptional pace in sector one to his advantage.

Irwin was able to counter the Yamaha’s better turning ability thanks to his CBR1000RR-R’s impressive traction, therefore keeping him out of reach come the braking zones.

After suffering various off-season injuries, the 24 lap race was Irwin’s first race stint of the year, making his performance all the more impressive.

Speaking after the win, Irwin added: "Testing has been difficult; In Snetterton we had a problem that we didn’t find until after, here it was what it was - crazy wind! Yesterday we had teething problems and today it started to come good.

"I think, when you qualify that fast then surely you can take something off that in the race. Even a second off and you have a good pace which is practically what happened. 0.8, .7, .6 off that was a good pace.

"It's the first time I’ve done a race run this year because of everything that’s gone on. I had to breathe a little bit during that one."

While it was a great day for the Honda man, Irwin expects a fightback from those who had disappointing races, hence why no predictions for race two were made by the Northern Irishman.

"You can’t make predictions in this championship," continued Irwin. "I just need to make a good start, these boys (Ryde and Ray) will be here, Yamaha are always here. I expect other people to respond, some people won’t be so happy and it’s down to us to continue the good work."

Are Ryde and Ray here to stay?

Ryde and Ray are both double British Superbike race winners - Ray in 2018 and Ryde in 2020 - both with Buildbase Suzuki, however, the two Rich Energy OMG Racing riders have failed to sustain consistent performances over the last few seasons.

And although a larger sample of races is needed in order to truly determine whether both are ready to fight for the title, the change from BMW to Yamaha certainly suggests they are.

Fast all throughout pre-season, Ryde and Ray carried that form into this weekend as the pair were regularly inside the top five, while also breaking Jason O’Halloran’s race lap record on more than one occasion.

Like Ryde, Ray felt stuck behind Irwin without being able to get through: "It was a difficult race. I got an average start to be fair, slotted into third and then felt like I could maybe have a little bit better pace so I passed Kyle, but I couldn’t really do anything after that

"I sat behind Glenn for quite awhile. I made a few small mistakes at a few corners and then Kyle came back past me.

"And there I was just sort of stuck there. I couldn’t do any more than what I did today. I gave everything! But I really, really enjoyed that and I’m so happy to be back on the podium."

Key storylines to follow during Sunday’s British Superbike double-header

Looking to bounce back will be 2018 BSB champion Leon Haslam, who after qualifying in fifth, had to retire from race one because of a technical issue.

Had Haslam been without the issue then a top ten looked likely, despite losing five places on the opening lap.

Also in the bounce back category are both MCE Ducati riders. Following a strong pre-season, particularly the three-day test at Snetterton, it looked as if two-time series winner Josh Brookes was back to somewhere close to his best, while former WorldSBK champion Tom Sykes looked equally as impressive.

But both riders were non-factors during the race after finishing 12th and 13th.

After qualifying out of position, pre-weekend favourite Jason O’Halloran will be hoping to do better than fifth during races two and three.

Rory Skinner was one of the more impressive riders during race one as the FS-3 Kawasaki rider held onto the leading trio for a considerable amount of time. Tyre degradation seemed to be an issue for the Scot towards the end, which should that be addressed come tomorrow, then we could be looking at another name being added to the ‘potential race winner’s’ list.