BSB: Irwin Extends Championship Lead with Win at Snetterton

Glenn Irwin extended his lead in the BSB championship with his first win of the season at Snetterton.

Positions were swapping and changing throughout the 16-lap race, but once Irwin hit the front, he did not look back and finished more than a second ahead of Tommy Bridewell and Christian Iddon.

Irwin leaves Snetterton with a total championship points haul of 118 and heads the table standings by 23 points from Bridewell with Iddon a further nine points behind in third.

Christian Iddon (Vision Track Ducati) took the holeshot into Riches from pole, leading from his teammate Josh Brookes and Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing), while Lee Jackson (Massingberd-Mundy Kawasaki) dropped positions from the front row.

The two PBM machines were all over each other on the opening two laps, but Iddon prevailed and stayed in front while further back, Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing) overtook Kyle Ryde (Buildbase Suzuki) around the outside at Coram to move into fourth at the end of Lap 2. Things swiftly got even tougher for Ryde who also fell behind Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing) on Lap 3 and subsequently had to surrender to Jackson down Senna Straight.

Brookes went for the lead on Lap 4 and dived down Iddon’s inside at Williams, but he failed to make the move stick and ran them both wide. Bridewell pounced at the opportunity and lunged past them, the three Ducatis side-by-side, and took the lead from Brookes and Iddon, the Irwin brothers now right on their tails.

Numerous punches were exchanged in an eight-rider leading group over the following laps and Iddon eventually claimed the lead with a manoeuvre on Bridewell on Lap 9. The Oxford Ducati rider looked unsettled and Glenn Irwin also swiftly moved past him into second, followed by Brookes at Williams a lap later. Tarran MacKenzie (McAms Yamaha) had meanwhile claimed Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing) at Agostini for sixth and was running closely behind Jackson.

On Lap 10 Glenn Irwin executed what would be the race-winning overtake. He lunged down Iddon going into Agostini and made the move stick to hit the front for the first time in the race. The Honda rider immediately started to stretch out an advantage, aided by the Vision Track Ducatis engaging in a battle that cost them crucial time.

The fight for the podium positions was on and Jackson punched his way past Bridewell at Murrays on Lap 13, only to lose the position again a lap later. Bridewell looked like a man on a mission and dived down Brookes’ inside at Murrays to move up into a podium spot. Brookes was defeated and fell into the clutches of Jackson and MacKenzie who both had not given up on a rostrum finish.

Unimpressed by the battles behind him though, Irwin took the chequered flag for his first win of the season and extended his championship points haul to 118. Drama was unfolding in the fight for second as Bridewell had closed right in on Iddon. In a hard but clean manoeuvre, he sweeped around the Vision Track Ducati’s outside at Coram and block passed Iddon at Murrays to cross the line in runner-up spot. The result sees Bridewell remain second in the table standings, 23 points behind Irwin, while Iddon moves up into third spot.

Jackson got everything out of his Kawasaki on Senna Straight to pip Brookes for fourth and MacKenzie came home closely behind them in sixth. Jason O’Halloran (McAms Yamaha) finished seventh ahead of Andrew Irwin who dropped positions in the late stages of the race. Bradley Ray (Synetiq BMW Motorrad) was ninth from Ryde, who struggled with a mechanical issue but still managed a top 10 finish.

Outside the top 10 Danny Buchan (Massingberd-Mundy Kawasaki) took his first points of the weekend in 11^th ahead of Luke Mossey (Rich Energy OMG Racing) and Gino Rea (Buildbase Suzuki). Joe Francis (Lloyds & Jones Bowker Motorrad) was 14^th and Hector Barbera (Rich Energy OMG Racing) took the last point on offer in 15^th.