Glenn Irwin scores his first double British Superbike podium at Brands Hatch
Malcolm Offline
Administrator
*******

Posts: 20,579
Threads: 18,390
Joined: Oct 2005
Reputation: 0
#1
Glenn Irwin scores his first double British Superbike podium at Brands Hatch
[Image: GenIrwinBrandsGP2.jpg]

Glenn Irwin (Be Wiser Ducati) started Race 2 from the front row of the grid in 2nd. As the lights went out he got a good start but was unable to pass pole-sitter Josh Brookes (McAMS Yamaha).

Brookes, Glenn and Leon Haslam (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) broke away at the front but as the race progressed to its final stage it was clear the win would come down to Brookes or Glenn as Haslam dropped back. Glenn kept Brookes honest the entire race and although he was close to making a move on the final lap, the Be Wiser Ducati rider had to settle for his second 2nd place of the weekend, this time a mere 0.09s behind the winner.

Andrew started 11th on the grid where a better start saw him running inside the top ten again. As the race wore on, he slipped down as he lost some power due to a technical issue, but he still brought the bike home to a creditable 12th place to maintain his 18th place in the standings.

Tommy Bridewell (Moto Rapido Ducati) had a much-improved starting position of 15th for Race 2 after his lap times during his opening race for the team. Bridewell rode a really strong race, chipping away and making lots of passes to move up through the field and crossing the line in 7th, representing Moto Rapido’s best finish of the season to date.

Glenn now sits 3rd in the championship, but more importantly his two 2nd place finishes see him build upon his podium credits ahead of the end-of-season Showdown.

Glenn Irwin (Be Wiser Ducati #2) - 2nd

“The second race was a fair bit faster and it was important for me to have a bigger gap to the riders behind me. I had a bit of an issue early on when I hit a false neutral and Josh was stronger than me in some areas whilst I was stronger than him in others. I really tried hard as seen in the lap times and whilst you always want to win, I’m pleased to get my first double BSB podium today. Full credit to Josh and to my team, so roll on the next round.”

Andrew Irwin (Be Wiser Ducati #18) – 12th

“The weekend’s been quite positive, like all the weekends have been. On Friday we made progress, Saturday we made progress, going into Q3. Race 1 was good, 9th was ok but I wanted to be close. I got a really bad start, dropped back and came through and got 9th at the finish line. It wasn’t that I kind of ended up there, I fought my way back from 14th or 15th on the first lap. In the 2nd race I actually got a good start and we had really good rhythm. I just tensed up. It has kind of been happening. It didn’t happen in the 2nd race at Knockhill, just the 1st race. So, I need to learn to relax. It’s 20 laps, it’s not an easy race. But you have to relax otherwise you’re only going to go backwards. So, I had 3 or 4 bad laps and then I found my rhythm again towards then end and I nearly got 11th and the line but not quite. It’s another track I know on a superbike and we come here at the end of the year and it’ll be a track I have experience of so I’m really looking forward to that. It’s been another positive weekend and a big thank you to the PBM Be Wiser Ducati team for all their help.”

Tommy Bridewell (Moto Rapido Ducati #46) – 7th

“To be honest, I came into the weekend, sat there before FP1, nervous, shaking, thinking how’s it going to go? Rolled out and had a smile on my face straight away with the bike. The bike has been phenomenal, and I’ve really enjoyed it. We obviously missed FP2 which we could have done with for sure because we made a change for Race 2 then which that we potentially could have found a bit earlier. Honestly, I don’t really know what to say. Ok, we’re 7th but I do feel like I’ve almost won the race, because we’ve come from dead last to up to 12th and then from 15th on the grid straight up to 7th, lapping really strong lap times the whole race. The bike didn’t miss a beat the whole race. Credit to the team and credit to everyone involved. Everyone around me. Stefano Carraci has made a big effort to come and see me this weekend, who’s a big name in Ducati and means a lot to me. So, credit to all the Moto Rapido guys and to Ducati for giving me the chance. Perfect.”

[Image: GenIrwinBrandsGP.jpg]

Glenn Irwin narrowly misses out on his first victory of the season after starting on pole at Brands Hatch - Race 1.

Glenn Irwin lined up on the front of the grid at Brands Hatch for Race 1 after his first ever qualifying pole for the Be Wiser Ducati team. But as the lights went out it was Josh Brookes (McAMS Yamaha) who got the holeshot to take the lead. Glenn held onto 2nd for most of the race. He was momentarily passed by Christian Iddon (Tyco BMW Motorrad) but was unable to get the better of Brookes and had to settle for a 2nd place finish, crossing the line just 0.227s behind the race winner.

Glenn’s brother and Be Wiser Ducati teammate Andrew Irwin lined up in 8th but lost several places at the race start. In just his 3rd round with his new team, Andrew was able to fight his way back into his Top 10 target and finish 9th.

Moto Rapido Ducati’s new rider Tommy Bridewell began his race from the back row of the grid after crashing out early in qualifying yesterday. Starting from 26th, Bridewell gained 4 places alone on his opening lap and continued to progress through the field in his very first race onboard the Pangale R, finishing in an impressive 12th place.

Glenn lines up for Race 2 on the front row again in 2nd, Andrew starts from 11th and Bridewell 16th.

Glenn Irwin (Be Wiser Ducati #2) – 2nd

"It was a bit of a game out there. Josh was obviously sitting back and not going as fast as he could and I there was no point in me going as fast as I could either. So, I sat back with him and Christian came by me and I knew I had to get back past Christian. I got back on Josh and then the pace got faster and we started to get into a nice rhythm. A little bit of smoke out of his bike with about 4 laps to go. I’ve seen that with guys road racing before and that kind of distracted me a bit. Leon was behind me I was waving coming down to Hawthorn as I thought he was leaking oil and had a little bit of a slide. But we managed to put our head back down and get right back on him. We were so close to doing it, moving to the last left but I think we have plenty left and we won’t change anything. We can step up in Race 2 but fair play to Josh. He didn’t make a mistake. That was a nice race to ride, I enjoyed the ride and a big thanks to my team."

Tommy Bridewell (Moto Rapido Ducati #46) – 12th

"The job’s always going to be hard from last. It’s never easy. But, qualifying, not only because of the position, it was a bit of a blow for the confidence in a small way because I’m still learning the bike and then I made a stupid mistake. So, I was still rebuilding my confidence. We just got a little issue with the front permanently on the bottom. I’ve been blown away all weekend with how amazing the bike is. I thought, right I need to get a 20-lap race under my belt, build a good load of experience and now I understand more. Once we fix the front forks I think we’ll take another big leap forward. Stirling job from the team, all smiles."


[Image: bewiserducatiheader.jpg]

[Image: MotoRapidologo.jpg]
22-07-2018, 10:51 PM
Website Find Reply




Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)