Christian Iddon salvaged a hard-fought-for top-10 finish onboard his Bennetts Suzuki GSX-R1000 at Cadwell Park today after a challenging weekend at the eighth round of the MCE British Superbike Championship.

Iddon started the weekend strongly and was third fastest after Friday's second free practice session. However, in keeping with the run of bad luck that has plagued the team at recent rounds, the weekend took a turn for the worse in qualifying when a crash in Q2 robbed him of the chance to start on the front three rows.

Starting from 16th on the grid at a track that is notoriously difficult to pass at, Iddon worked hard to come through the field to finish ninth in race one.

A 12th placed grid-spot still left him with work to do in race two, but Iddon soon found himself embroiled in a battle for seventh after some impressive overtaking manoeuvres. Sadly, he saw his hard work undone when he missed a gear going into the hairpin that dropped him to the back of the group. He recovered, but could only claim 13th at the chequered flag.

Christian Iddon:

“16th to ninth wasn't too bad in race one and I felt we could have at least had seventh in the last race. I felt comfortable and had made a couple of passes, but I missed a gear and dropped right back; it's just one of those things. It's frustrating, but the whole weekend's been frustrating after the pace we had on Friday and Saturday morning. We'll keep working for Oulton Park and hopefully we'll get a little bit of luck too.”

It was a difficult weekend for Josh Waters onboard the second Bennetts Suzuki: After some difficulty finding a good base-setting for the Australian, the team made a breakthrough at the previous round at Thruxton. Sadly the unique and demanding nature of the Cadwell circuit made it difficult for the team to find a set-up that worked for Waters and he finished 17th in each of the two races.

Josh Waters:

“It was a really tough weekend and one to put behind us. We didn't get anything to click today and after the progress and the result we achieved at Thruxton it's disappointing to follow-it-up with today's results. Now we'll look ahead to Oulton, where we've been before as a team, so we have some data to work from and we'll look for an improvement there.”

Martin Halsall - Team Owner:

“It's been a bit of a weekend to forget, to be honest. We're a new team but we've been making progress over the last few rounds and we've really been able to show our potential, despite the results not reflecting that promise. Cadwell Park is a difficult track to come to and go fast at but we looked like we were on for a good weekend again with Christian, and maybe in with a shout of the podium. But that bad luck that's been following us around struck again in qualifying and put-paid to any hopes of a good result.

“On Josh's side of the garage we've struggled to get the best from him and the bike together. We made some big steps at Thruxton but we took a few backwards here at Cadwell on a circuit that is very difficult to set the bike up for. But we'll chalk this one down to experience and set our sights on a couple of good results at Oulton Park.”

Christain Iddon