Iddon Scores Donington Podium But Brookes Crashes Out

Indeed, qualifying was extremely difficult for Paul Bird’s Penrith team with both riders crashing out in the early stages. Brookes slid off the VisionTrack Ducati on the opening lap before Tyneside-based Iddon ended the session in 17th after a high speed off at McLeans. However, Josh managed to get back out on track for one flying lap and did a great job to put the factory-backed Ducati Panigale V4 RR in fourth place and on the second row of the grid.

The 16-lap race an hour or so later saw the conditions worsen but both riders started well with Brookes running in fourth place at the completion of the opening lap and Iddon already having moved up to ninth. Josh was soon running in second place but a huge slide at Schwantz Curve fourth time around put him onto the grass and he was unlucky to tip off as he looked to re-join the track.

That left Iddon to fly the flag and he did so brilliantly, continually moving forward and soon putting himself into podium contention. The second half of the race saw him compete for second with Kyle Ryde and Lee Jackson and although third was the eventual outcome, he clawed back valuable points on championship leaders.

Christian Iddon: “Having crashed in qualifying and lining up in 17th on the grid, I didn’t think I’d end up on the podium so it’s a terrific result in terms of both the race and the championship. I didn’t feel like I did anything wrong in qualifying, but conditions were really tricky, and I even had a moment on the out lap before the race! It was scary following people in the race due to the number of moments they were having but the battle with Lee and Kyle took my mind off things and it’s great to have taken the podium. The team deserve massive credit as the bike took a big hit in the qualifying crash and needed a fair amount of repair work, but it ran perfectly.”

Josh Brookes: “It’s been a tough day and to crash out of second place after a good effort in qualifying is a massive downer and I’m gutted for both myself and the team. The only comfort is that I wasn’t alone, and a lot of other riders went down in the treacherous conditions. I’m just frustrated though that I saved the slide and only came off because of being on the wet grass. I can’t dwell on it though and the forecast looks a lot better for tomorrow. I’m P3 on the grid and the bike’s been working well all weekend so let’s see what we can do.”

Johnny Mowatt, Team Co-ordinator: “What a day! Having both riders crash in qualifying was far from ideal and gave the team a fair bit of work in a short space of time but they did a great job, and we were ready to go again in the race. Conditions were pretty difficult and with the amount of crashes, I thought the race may have been stopped. Unfortunately, one of those crashes was Josh which was a real shame as he was looking set for a good haul of points in second. It wasn’t to be, but Christian did a great job in staying upright so fair play to him for doing that and scoring a good podium. He took more points off the championship leaders so with both riders well placed on the grid for tomorrow’s first race, let’s hope for decent starts and more podium finishes.”

Sunday’s races are scheduled to take place at 13:00 and 16:15.

Bennetts British Superbike Championship Bike Social race one (16 laps)

1 Gino Rea (Suzuki)

2 Kyle Ryde (BMW)

3 Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati)

4 Lee Jackson (Kawasaki)

5 Jason O’Halloran (Yamaha)

6 Joe Francis (BMW)

DNF Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati)

Championship Points

1 O’Halloran 1102pts

= Mackenzie 1102

3 Bridewell 1084

4 Iddon 1076

5 Hickman 1050

6 Brookes 1042