Irwin takes maiden BSB win in wild Silverstone opener
Glenn Irwin has battled through tricky conditions to clinch his maiden MCE British Superbike race victory ahead of Josh Brookes and John Hopkins, while Shane Byrne crashes on the final lap but still secures his Showdown spot.
After a heavy rain shower soaked the Silverstone circuit in between qualifying and the opening race of the triple-header Showdown decider, half of the track remained soaking wet while the rest dried out causing a headache for tyre selection and set-up options.
Glenn Irwin has battled through tricky conditions to clinch his maiden MCE British Superbike race victory ahead of Josh Brookes and John Hopkins, while Shane Byrne crashes on the final lap but still secures his Showdown spot.
After a heavy rain shower soaked the Silverstone circuit in between qualifying and the opening race of the triple-header Showdown decider, half of the track remained soaking wet while the rest dried out causing a headache for tyre selection and set-up options.
While some riders wanted the race start delayed in order to give the track time to dry out, the race went ahead as planned with Jake Dixon taking the biggest gamble to lead into turn one – as fellow Showdown contender Peter Hickman started from the pit lane in order to switch to wet tyres.
As the BSB riders tested the levels of grip and pace Brookes stormed into the lead while bringing Hopkins and Irwin with him in a breakaway that briefly included Dixon and Luke Mossey.
On lap five the BSB Showdown picture changed once more with Haslam falling at the entry to Vale while at the same time Irwin climbed past Hopkins and Brookes and into lead.
At the midway stage James Ellison saw his top six hopes effectively ended due to a technical issue with his McAMS Yamaha, but up front Irwin built a slender lead on Brookes and Hopkins. Despite his inexperience at the sharp end Irwin measured his pace to record an emotional maiden win.
It was a bittersweet final lap for the Be Wiser Ducati squad despite Irwin’s win as Byrne tumbled off from sixth place but due to results around him he holds a 50-point advantage over seventh-place Dixon meaning mathematically he will claim a BSB Showdown spot.
With Brookes clinching second place he has taken a huge step towards a top six title fighter spot, while Halsam requires just a handful of points in Sunday's two races to book his spot in the BSB Showdown.
Hickman battled back from his pitlane start to finish ninth for Smiths Racing BMW to keep hold of third place in the BSB standings.
Jason O’Halloran slips to fifth after finishing 11th for Honda but still holds a useful points gap over Mossey in sixth, who claimed fifth place in the race, and Dixon in seventh who finished fourth in the Silverstone opener.
Christian Iddon also kept in contention for Tyco BMW with sixth place ahead of Taylor Mackenzie who claimed his best BSB result in seventh for Bennetts Suzuki ahead of Jakub Smrz on the Lloyd & Jones/PR Racing BMW with Hickman ninth.
