British Superbikes, Donington Park: Irwin - combined “We could be Toprak!”

Glenn Irwin could not match the pace of Kyle Ryde and Tommy Bridewell out front but did what he could to keep the last embers of his title hopes intact at Donington Park for BSB’s return to the circuit.

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

The Hager Ducati rider was sixth on the grid and knew forward moves were needed to stay in touch in the championship. Josh Brookes and Charlie Nesbitt ahead proved formidable objects, with their strengths on the BMW and Honda respectively making them stronger on different parts of the track:

“I made a really good jump off the line, which was important. In turn one I was very nearly in fourth, as such , I think very nearly in third if I’m right, third or fourth and Charlie rode around me at the top of Craner and from then you could see that Kyle and Tommy had more pace than Josh and Charlie. I felt like I had more pace than Josh and Charlie, but in different areas, really, really difficult to make a pass.”

The pace of the frontrunners meant that by the time Irwin had hit the front of that group on the PBM machine, the front pair were already too far away to catch:

“After a few laps the bike started to come to me and we managed to get into third, and at that point  obviously fighting for anything above third was going to take, you know, a bit of a minor miracle, or something out of my control”.

The second group also included his brother Andrew, teammate to Tommy Bridewell, who at times seemed to be going hard on his sibling and at other showing him a lot of respect, easing Glenn into staying ahead. The #2 addressed this, with the line of thought that it appeared that way as they both know each other well and their strengths and weaknesses:

“When you ride with your little brother, plus zero every lap, and knowing each other very well - I know where him and the Honda are very strong in the first half of the track and me and the Ducati are probably very strong from the entry to the chicane to turn one as such, so it was a bit of a race of two, or lap of two halves. With the battle with Andrew - on the slowdown lap he said to me ‘if we combine together and I do the first half of the lap and you do the second half I think we could be Toprak - and I tend to agree with him!”

Irwin took the time to praise race winner Kyle Ryde, who gave a Donington masterclass on his home circuit, but still held on to his hopes of a title chance for now:

“Fair play to Kyle, I said to the guys I’ve seen him in free practice too and he looked incredibly good on the motorbike, you know - we’re fighting for this championship too, we need a little bit of good fortune - good things happen to good people, he’s on the crest of the wave and if I don’t win I’d like nothing more than to see him win, but at the same time, motorbike racing and anything can happen!”