NI’s Glenn Irwin secures third in BSB championship
Northern Ireland racer Glenn Irwin has secured third in his British Superbike championship campaign.
The 28-year-old Carrickfergus man was disappointed not to be able to put in a stronger performance on Sunday, after taking his first win of the season on Saturday.
Damp and dismal conditions made for tough going at Brands Hatch and the Be Wiser Ducati rider had to fight his way back into seventh in the first race of the day.
Irwin then ended up having to retire from the final race.
But he still clinched third in the championship standings, behind champion Leon Haslam and second-placed Jake Dixon.
“After yesterday’s race win, it’s disappointing to end my term with PBM and Be Wiser Ducati with only a seventh place finish to show for my efforts,” Glenn Irwin said.
“The positive is that the race win on Saturday gave me enough of a buffer to clinch third place overall, something which I’m over the moon with.
“Retiring from my final race with PBM was a real shame, but a massive thank you to them for everything they’ve done for me over the last three years.”
Teammate and younger brother Andrew Irwin was challenging for a podium position in the first race of the day, but ended up crashing out on lap two.
The 24-year-old also crashed out of the final race, but still finished in 17th overall, despite only contesting two-thirds of the season.
“We had good pace in the wet today and in the first race I felt comfortable and confident that I could have stood on the podium,” he said.
“But unfortunately I made a small mistake and crashed out.
“Conditions for the second race were worse and from having an awesome bike in race one, I had very little grip at all and the crash in race two came out of nowhere.”
Andrew Irwin added: “It’s not how I wanted to end my time with PBM and Be Wiser Ducati, but I’m very grateful for the opportunity and I can’t thank them enough.”