Christian Iddon scored his and the Bennetts Suzuki team's best result of the season at Silverstone and round 11 of the MCE British Superbike championship, as he finished fourth in race two today.

Despite starting from the third row of the grid for the second race, Iddon quickly made a series of overtakes to get himself into the battle at the very front of the field. After a busy opening half of the race with plenty of hard but fair passes, he settled into a rhythm midway through, sitting in a comfortable sixth place and conserving his tyres.

In the closing stages, the Bennetts Suzuki rider upped his attack, making a move on Shane Byrne on the last lap to take fourth place at the chequered flag.

The result came after a disappointing opening race saw Iddon cross the line in eighth place. After qualifying on the front row of the grid, the team made some minor changes to hopefully improve the pace further in the race. Unfortunately it didn't pay off, but more changes were made for race two to allow him to fight for the podium.

Christian Iddon:

“That was a really enjoyable race. I had some good battles with [Josh] Brookes and everyone was having a go. From about a third to halfway-in I was pushing really hard and losing time, so I was rushing into corners to try and compensate further. But I took stock of the situation a bit and knew tyre wear was going to come into it; they get a lot of hammer at this track as you spend so long driving forward on the side of the tyre. But I waited and as everyone else's went off was able to make some passes and then it was just a case of following the progress forward. I could see the podium positions. Unfortunately the result wasn't quite a podium but it's a nice result, it's our best this season, but more importantly we were in the mix all race. I really enjoyed it and the bike was even better again this weekend, so big thanks to the team; the guys put a lot of effort in. It feels like everyone's sat on the bike with me, so it feels good to get a result for them. I'm looking forward to Brands now.”



Josh Waters had enjoyed a stronger pace through free practice and qualifying and was feeling confident ahead of the races. In a similar fashion to Assen, he found himself involved in a battle on track and crossed the line in 15th place in race one, after some issues with chatter as the race went on.

For race two the team took a gamble on the set-up which unfortunately didn't pay off, and he crossed the line in 18th place.

Josh Waters:

“Unfortunately the results this weekend don't reflect the potential I thought we had on Friday and Saturday. We struggled with a bit of chatter in the first race which has cost us positions, so the team tried something quite big for race two which was a bit of a gamble. If it had paid off it would have been a great decision to try it. Sadly it didn't and it's a case of what could have been this weekend. There's one more to go at Brands so we'll have another big push there and hopefully end the season strongly."

Martin Halsall - Team Owner:

“Even though we've had our best result of the season with Christian in fourth, we're almost disappointed because we were so close to the podium and felt we could have been up there. But it's still a superb result and testament to the hard work everyone has put in this weekend.

"Race one was a bit of a disappointment after the front-row start; the team tried to make some changes to find a bit more a pace for the first race, but unfortunately it didn't have the effect we were looking for and while eighth is still a strong result in this championship, it's not what we were hoping for after the speed shown in qualifying. However, we made some more changes for race two and went back to some of the settings used in qualifying and it meant we were able to fight for the podium for the full race. Christian had the pace to run in that front group and it was a great race to be involved in with plenty of action. Christian made a great move on Byrne on the last lap but unfortunately it was only for fourth and not the podium, but it's still a great result and shows that we can mix-it at the very front."

Race One Result:

1. Josh Brookes, 2. Shane Byrne, 3. Peter Hickman, 4. John Hopkins, 5. James Ellison. 8. Christian Iddon (Bennetts Suzuki). 15. Josh Waters (Bennetts Suzuki). 

Race Two Result:

1. Josh Brookes, 2. Michael Laverty, 3. Dan Linfoot, 4. Christian Iddon (Bennetts Suzuki), 5. Shane Byrne. 18. Josh Waters (Bennetts Suzuki).