Irwin:‘Effectively scoring one point would have been enough!’

Glenn Irwin came did everything right on the final day of the season.

The BeerMonster Ducati rider won both races, collecting his ninth and tenth wins of the season, and Brought home a pair of team 1-2’s each time giving the team a ninth title, but it was not enough with Bridewell behind both times . Irwin lost the title by a stinging half a point.

Initially Irwin flowed with the warm end of season mood as was genuinely happy with his overall performance, pinpointing where his title hopes first felt real:

“The season’s been great, I think it all started with the win in race three at Silverstone, my first for the Ducati at that track.From that moment we knew we had a bike that had the step forward from last year. A little bit of a lull in the middle of the season after my good form at Knockhill, Snetterton and Brands weren’t my two best rounds”.

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Kyle Ryde wasn’t the only person receiving good advice from other riders either - The Yamaha man has had former champion Tommy Hill by his side for much of the season to lend his experience, but Irwin had some advice of his own when it came to improving his performance on the Ducati:  

“Some kind information, from, it was actually Eugene Laverty, who explained the technique to help make this bike work and we adapted that, kind of race three here in the middle of the year, we went to Thruxton and I felt like the pendulum swung.I felt like I was maybe the dominant rider in that period of the championship”.

Then possibly the biggest turning point of the season reared it’s head again - the Ducati disaster that was Donington Park. The #2 was okay with the actual crashes that lead to the DNF, having made peace with that being a part of racing, but the mechanical from the falls in the third race was playing on his mind, understandable given the BSB title was won by the smallest ever margin by his teammate and rival:

“ Obviously we went to Donington Park and you know it was a disaster weekend to score zero points, the crash was what it was, it’s been well talked about I’m sure everyone’s seen there’s an abundance of respect between all the guys and myself and Tommy included.

I think what’s frustrating was the race three at Donington - the knock-on effect of the crash - effectively scoring one point would have been enough!”

Despite the what-ifs Irwin had a lot of time for Bridewell winning the title, and all the animosity between them visibly washed away as they embraced after the race. Irwin said he thought that their dynamic played a big part in how exciting this year’s championship has been:

“Its been incredible an incredible fight with Tommy, it got heated but it’s top level sport.

Both big characters, probably great for the series, both shoot from the hip, both say things we shouldn’t say, both probably regret it after but I’ve a ton of respect for him, a ton of respect for every guy on that grid.

 I said Tommy was the toughest team mate I ever had and I stand by it, we were both fighting for a championship together and me and Shakey (Byrne) never had that. Grateful to have what I had with Shakey and all that learning but to go like we’ve done to experience a championship that’s come down to half a point, you know what, If you won it happy days, your names in history, a few more quid in the bank but to be honest I gave it everything and I don’t even know if I won it how much happier I’d be than now because you can’t do more than give it everything”.

Finally the man from Carrickfergus, looked in from the outside and took a moment to look on why Bridewell's win was so important, for him and the racing community:

“We know the Bridewell story , and I’m a bike fan too, and hats off to him, they deserve it with everything they’ve been through with Ollie”.