Imperious Irwin Takes Silverstone BSB Treble
Grid Talk Reporter 17:49 17/04/2022
Glenn Irwin has got his British Superbike campaign off to the best possible start by taking a clean sweep of all the weekend's races at Silverstone.
The Honda rider, who held off Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha duo Kyle Ryde & Bradley Ray to win race one, had cut through the pack to be in second place at around two-thirds distance of Sunday's first race, after an earlier safety car - brought out following a crash for MCE Ducati rider Tom Sykes that saw Crowe Performance BMW's Chrissy Rouse get caught up in. That however turned into the lead on lap 21 when Ray slid into the Luffield gravel trap, bringing his quest for a first BSB win in four years to an unfortunate end. From there on, Irwin was just about able to hold off Ryde in the dash to the flag, the Northern Irishman edging out the duel by 0.079 seconds. Rory Skinner brought his FS-3 Kawasaki home in third place to complete the podium, whilst teammate Lee Jackson was able to claim fourth ahead of Andrew Irwin on the lead SYNETIQ BMW. Jason O'Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) completed the top six, breaking away from Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW), Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) and Danny Buchan (SYNETIQ BMW) as Christian Iddon (Buildbase Suzuki) completed the top ten.
In the third race of the weekend, Skinner led into copse from third on the grid ahead of the Irwin brothers. Glenn Irwin then took the lead on lap 4, before his brother followed him in through into second place. The leading group was a freight train of seven riders with O'Halloran and Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha pairing of Ray and Ryde plus Bridewell and Buchan. Ray had been dicing with Andrew Irwin throughout the closing stages, but the Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha rider emerged ahead. Ray had enough pace to hold off Andrew Irwin who became the fifth different podium finisher of the opening round. Buchan was also in the mix and trying to move ahead of his SYNETIQ BMW teammate, but on the penultimate lap, he ran wide at Brooklands and lost ground. Skinner and O’Halloran seized their opportunity to move ahead and the pair held on to fourth and fifth ahead of Buchan as they crossed the line for the final time. Bridewell was seventh on the leading Ducati to hold off Lee Jackson on the second FS-3 Racing Kawasaki. Hickman and Ryde completed the top ten, as Iddon and Honda's Tom Neave just missed out on the top ten.
