British Superbikes, Brands Hatch: Andrew Irwin third after move through pack

Honda Racing UK saw both if their riders on the podium after Andrew Irwin equalled his best result of the season so far with third in the opening race at Brands Hatch.

Having been third once this season already, in the first race at Knockhill, the rider from Northern Ireland had plenty of work to do from eleventh on the grid, initially losing places after lights out:

“I got a decent start, an okay start, then I got shuffled back a little bit, I think Leon and Christian came past me. Then I sort of got settled into a rhythm and thought ‘oh, this is maybe all that I’ve got’ but I was quite consistent, I was able to keep going and didn’t look really at the pitboard until we had 10 to go.”

• 2024 British Superbikes: Brands Hatch - Race Results (1)
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Haslam had become gapped by the group ahead, while Iddon had gone on to make it a three way battle for second, with Glenn Irwin and Bridewell. All the riders were starting to struggle for grip, with the #14 pushing hard, leading to him pass the BMW and catch the group by lap 14:

“I was starting to have some moments and I thought ‘I don’t care, I’m going to keep having the moments’ and keep pushing on, and honestly, I felt okay. I felt that until the last three or four laps, then we had quite a big drop with the tyre, a second drop really, so we need to work on that for tomorrow.

I feel good, we came from eleventh to third, it’s probably the first podium I’ve had that I’ve been able to come through the field to pass, have a little bit of aggression, so it’s nice to see that starting to come back again”.

Irwin was quick to credit his team for the hard work they have put in to make the Honda work equally well for both himself, and Bridewell, who was just ahead in second.

“The team’s done a fantastic job and I think that we’re making steps forward, it shows where the Fireblade is at the minute, to have two bikes on the podium”.

Reflecting on the race itself, which was won in dominant style by Ryan Vickers, Irwin admitted that it will be difficult to make up that kind of time for Sunday’s sprint and feature race overnight:

“Ryan’s been in a different league today, so tomorrow it will be hard to find nine seconds, but we’ll keep trying”.