Moving through gears: Glenn Irwin in action at Oulton Park.
Credit: Double Red

Carrickfergus ace Glenn Irwin will be aiming to turn his fortunes around at Knockhill in Scotland next month following a mixed start to the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park.

The Honda Racing rider began the new season with a strong ride to sixth place in Saturday’s opening race, but Irwin finished ninth and tenth in yesterday’s final two races of the triple-header weekend, leaving him ninth in the championship after round one.

Australian Jason O’Halloran was in red-hot form as the McAMS Yamaha rider claimed a treble, beating VisionTrack Ducati’s Christian Iddon in all three races to earn a maximum haul of 75 points.

Irwin went into the weekend with the aim of finishing in the top six at a circuit he felt might not be the strongest for the Honda Fireblade.

The 31-year-old was satisfied after Saturday’s result, but Irwin was less happy yesterday after he ran off the track at the start of race three following apparent contact with another rider.

He dropped down to 19th place but fought back to finish tenth after taking ninth position in race two.

Irwin said:

“It has been a testing weekend, but we are coming away having learnt a lot.

"The third race was probably our best ride of the weekend, we made a big change to the Fireblade taking a bit of a risk, but we wanted to try something to give us an insight here when we come back at the end of the year, and potentially at other circuits.

"The Fireblade was working really well in that race, but I had a collision on lap one with another rider which set me back to 20th and it was tough from there.

"Everyone we caught we were able to pass immediately. It was a promising final race with our worst result of the weekend, but the best in terms of the development we managed to achieve with the Fireblade. Hats off to Jason with his three wins this weekend!”

Irwin is regarded as one of the main contenders for the championship this year and will now aim to bounce back at Knockhill, which hosts the second round from July 10-11.

O’Halloran, runner-up last year behind fellow Aussie Josh Brookes, edged out Iddon by 0.6s in Saturday’s race, with Tommy Bridewell taking third on the Oxford Ducati.

In race two, O’Halloran dived underneath Iddon to snatch victory on the last lap by 0.103s, with Peter Hickman taking third and a first podium for the new FHO Racing BMW team.

In yesterday’s final race, O’Halloran shadowed Iddon before making his move on the last lap and pulling out a slight gap, completing his hat-trick with half-a-second to spare. Bridewell was a close third after he was ruled out of race two when his chain came loose.

Andrew Irwin had a weekend to forget as he made his debut for Northern Ireland’s TAS Racing team on the SYNETIQ BMW. The 26-year-old crashed out of Saturday’s race and could only finish 15th in race two. Irwin then retired from the third race with machine problems.

O’Halloran leads Iddon by 15 points after round one, with Hickman 20 points back in third.

Brian McCormack from Waterford finished 20th, 21st and 18th in the three races on the Roadhouse Macau by FHO Racing BMW.

In the British Supersport Championship, Lee Johnston secured a rostrum finish in third place on his Ashcourt

Yamaha in yesterday’s feature race. The road racing star finished fourth in Saturday’s Sprint race.

Ballynahinch’s Korie McGreevy was robbed of a chance to fight for the podium when he crashed out of third place yesterday on the Mar-Train Yamaha. McGreevy took seventh overall in Saturday’s race as he made his debut for the Lisburn team.

Dublin’s Jack Kennedy took a win and runner-up finish as the double champion returned to the class on the Bournemouth Kawasaki. Eunan McGlinchey was 13th and 15th on the Gearlink Kawasaki.

Keith Farmer was ninth in the National Superstock 1000 race with Ballymoney’s Michael Dunlop 17th on a DC Racing BMW. David Allingham had been running in second place when he was hit with a 15-second penalty, dropping him to 23rd.

In the National Junior Superstock races, Eugene McManus from Randalstown was third on Saturday and fifth in race two. Simon Reid crashed in Saturday’s race but finished eighth yesterday on his Yamaha.