September 11, 2021

Iddon Clinches Silverstone Podium With Brookes Fourth

The VisionTrack Ducati pairing of Christian Iddon and Josh Brookes got the eighth round of the 2021 BennettsBritish Superbike Championship underway in fine style at Silverstone today as they took second and fourth place finishes in a dramatic opening race at the Northamptonshire venue.

The duo had a mixed start to their respective weekends during the free practice sessions, a time on Saturday morning seeing defending champion Brookes go second quickest with a time of 53.440s on the factory-supported VisionTrack Ducati Panigale V4 RR but Iddon was down in 16th albeit only half a second further back, an illustration of the close times around the 1.64-mile National circuit.

 

However, when it came to the Superpicks Qualifying session this afternoon, Bedfordshire-based Brookes wasn’t able to go any quicker and had to settle for seventh whilst Iddon improved by four tenths of a second to jump up to tenth for Paul Bird’s Penrith-based team.

 

That put them on the third and fourth rows respectively for the 24-lap race later in the day with Iddon moving up to eighth on the opening lap but Brookes dropping back to 11th. By lap seven, the duo had made good strides forward with Tyneside-based Iddon up to sixth and Brookes now eighth, but it was extremely close with less than two seconds covering the leading nine riders.

Positions were changing frequently and going into the penultimate lap, Christian was lying in fourth and Josh seventh but just as it looked like this was where they’d finish, race leaders Tarran Mackenzie and Jason O’Halloran dramatically crashed out and as the following group tried to avoid them, a shuffling of the pack inevitably occurred.

 

Indeed, Christian found himself in second and Josh in fourth and with the red flag coming out shortly afterwards, this was where they finished. It also meant vital Podium Points for Iddon and vital championship points for Brookes who is now just six points off a Showdown position with two races to go before the top eight is finalised after tomorrow’s second race.

 

Christian Iddon: “I’m really happy to be back on the podium as I’ve been off the pace recently and had a few tough rounds so it’s nice to get this feeling again. Even at the start of this weekend, I was only average, but we made some improvements during qualifying, and I kept moving forward the whole race. Gino Rea looked to have that bit more on the Suzuki, but I was confident I could get by Glenn Irwin although the crash changed everything, and we ended up second. I’m really strong in some parts of the track but weak in others so if we can get off the corners better, I think we’ll be in a really good position for tomorrow’s races.”

 

Josh Brookes: “The wheel spin and lack of grip I’ve been encountering continues but I’ve almost learnt to live with itnow although it does make the races hard work. We only have a small window where the bike works and just the slightest movement out of that window leads to big mistakes which is why I’m up and down a bit during the races. I’m not known for making mistakes or for getting bad starts but that’s what’s happening although as the race goes on, the other riders come back to me. I can see them spinning up in the second half of the race but because I’ve had that from the start, I’m able to make up ground in the latter stages. It’s not ideal and it’s still frustrating but I’ll take the positives and the fourth place.”

 

Johnny Mowatt, Team Coordinator: “We’ll take the results however they come at present and although Tarran and Jason were unlucky to not finish, it gave us our best combined results in a long time. Christian was running with the leading bunch, and we felt he had a podium in him anyway and Josh battled hard to be rewarded with yet another fourth place to give himself a real chance of securing a spot in the Showdown tomorrow. We’ll look to make some improvements overnight as both riders felt they were lacking a little so hopefully we can get some more podiums tomorrow.”

 

Sunday’s races are scheduled to get underway at 13:30 and 16:30 respectively.

 

Bennetts British Superbike Championship race one (23 laps)

1 Glenn Irwin (Honda)

2 Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati)

3 Tommy Bridewell (Ducati)

4 Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati)

5 Bradley Ray (BMW)

6 Gino Rea (Suzuki)

 

Championship standings

1 O’Halloran 399pts

2 Mackenzie 293

3 Bridewell 277

4 Iddon 259

5 Hickman 224

6 Irwin 186

9 Brookes 154

 

Images courtesy of Double Red: Josh Brookes (25) and Christian Iddon (21)

HAGER PBM DUCATI SET TO TURN UP THE HEAT AT SNETTERTON

By pbmracing • June 19, 2025
Who's ready for Snetterton? Go behind-the-scenes with Hager PBM Ducati Co-Team Owner Frank Bird as the team prepares for the third round of the 2025 Bennetts British Superbike Championship.

PODIUMS, POINTS AND PRIZES FOR HAGER PBM DUCATI

May 18, 2025
THE Hager PBM Ducati team heads home from Donington Park fired up for the rest of the 2025 Bennetts British Superbike season after rider Glenn Irwin clinched a second and a third in today’s two races. Irwin narrowly missed out on what could have been two wins at the iconic Derbyshire track – but he and the team leave feeling excited about the rest of the year after a strong performance. It had been a tougher start to the weekend as the team struggled with a few niggling issues, but after topping Friday’s timesheets, Irwin clocked the third quickest time in Qualifying to line up on the front row for Saturday’s race. Moving into second position at Turn One, he settled into a good rhythm and as he found himself in a three-way battle, took the lead on Lap Eight. However, a few issues struck in closing laps which left him unable to hold off his rivals and he slipped back to fourth. Determined to make amends on Sunday, Irwin once again started from third on the grid. Getting a good start, he was up to second by the end of Lap Two and quickly began reeling in leader Bradley Ray. A move for the front at the Fogarty Esses on the fourth lap didn’t pay off but he wasn’t giving up, quickly closing back in on his rival. On Lap Eight, he tried again to dive down the inside at the same spot but wasn’t able to make it, running down the slip road and slipping back to fourth. He fought hard in the remaining four laps to catch the bike ahead, making the move into the chicane on the final lap to secure third place. It was another front row start for the final race and he held third place into Turn One, settling into position for the opening laps. By Lap Eight he was challenging Rory Skinner for third and as the race reached the halfway point on Lap 10, he made the move into Turn One and moved into second position. More than two seconds adrift of leader Ray, Irwin put his head down and pushed hard, quickly reducing the gap and with three laps to go was just 0.296 behind. Once again, he tried a move at the Fogarty Esses but wasn’t able to make it work and despite pushing on, wasn’t able to pass. He crossed the line just 0.396secs behind his rival and picked up another strong haul of points. He also set a new lap record, with a 1min 28.832s on the penultimate lap. Glenn Irwin: “We’ve had a fourth, a third and a second so we’re going in the right direction. Race one was really, really tough. We had a limiting factor with the bike on Friday and Saturday which wasn’t rectified until Sunday morning, and it was a good chunk better today. “I think the Sprint race was one that we could’ve won but we made a mistake. I think in the last race we played the right game, we were patient and again we could perhaps have won. I made a similar mistake at the same corner and it left us a lot of work to do with two laps to go. “Setting a new lap record on Lap 19 was good and we may have lost a couple of points but at this stage of the year, two points here or there is nothing and I’m quite happy either way. “Hats off to the team because they worked very hard this weekend and they gave me something that was missing and it’s so much better now. We now have a bit of a break, I’ll head to the TT for 10 days and chill out but keep training hard, working harder and trust that the wins will come.” Frank Bird Jnr, Team Co-owner: “It’s been a very positive weekend, very consistent, which is obviously a good sign. We got there with the bike setup, I think we’ve found what we were missing at Oulton Park. “It’s still only the second round so everyone is still getting into it, learning the bike, learning the new tyre but thank you to all the boys, they’ve been mega all weekend and have really worked hard. “Glenn rode his heart out in all three races and we are definitely in the mix…now we will just keep going and look forward to the rest of the season.” The championship now takes a break until mid June, when the pack will resume duties at Snetterton.
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