British Superbikes Oulton Park: Valuable points for Irwin in second as race ”woke up”

Glenn Irwin set the tone for the first British Superbikes race as the paddock returned to Oulton Park to get the Showdown underway, as his hard pass on Josh Brookes for the lead was a sign of what was to come.

• 2024 British Superbikes: Oulton Park (Showdown) - Race Results (1)
• 2024 British Superbikes: Oulton Park (Showdown) - Qualifying Results

Once ahead, the Hager Ducati rider was keen to manage his race correctly, with tyre wear a concern:

“It was a great race, a typical BSB battle at the end! The first, you know, more than two-thirds of the race was very calm, you know - Josh was in second, I could see sometimes Kyle was in second and I tried to kind of sit and just, with it being such a long race, trying to make a break from the first lap, you’ll pay the price, you know - with the tyre wear at the end. So I took it quite steady in the sector two and three and tried to be a bit of a nuisance as such”.

Kyle Ryde’s set of fastest laps saw him back in the front group and ready to fight for the win, with all the riders then sizing each other up, ready to make a move, which lead to some frantic tussling for position over the closing laps:

When Kyle came through at the end I guess the race kind of woke up and I tried to come back at him. The last lap was nearly equal of my best and you know, we weren’t so far away in some parts of the track and then there’s other areas where we were weaker, so to come back on the podium -something I haven’t done enough of this year and the first time I’ve been on the podium that hasn’t been a win.

It had been nine races since Irwin had been a rostrum visitor, denting his title hopes, that was a double at Snetterton. The first trip to Oulton Park had been a good one for Irwin, where he picked up a triple.

Second lead to picking up 22 points, as the rewards increase during the Showdown section of the season, which coupled with a DNF for Bridewell, saw Irwin able to improve his title chances:

“seven podiums now for the team and we’ve reduced the gap in the championship.

I was well aware of that when Tommy went out  it was, I think I became a little bit lethargic and because you have to score big, but 22 or 25 - I think you would take either of them today to be truthfully honest.

Irwin took the time to credit his race rivals for their performances in the exciting battle for the top positions on track, while looking ahead to Sunday’s action:

Hats off to Kyle, you know, they clearly had more than us, and Lee Bob was right there as well. He probably had the pace to be ahead of me but I tried to be as defensive as we could and, yeah, It’s a good ride - I think we’ve done a good job with what was underneath us and the Sprint race tomorrow might give me a better chance to fight for victory.