Intriguing complication involved in Scott Redding's British Superbikes return

Scott Redding’s recently announced return to the British Superbike Championship to replace Glenn Irwin comes with a complication.

Redding was announced to be replacing Irwin, who was injured at the Snetterton BSB in June, for the upcoming Knockhill BSB on Tuesday (1 July) in the PBM Ducati team.

The announcement itself does not include detail of the duration of Scott Redding’s commitment to PBM, but a post on X (formerly Twitter) from the managing director of Hager, PBM’s title sponsor, indicates that Redding will be racing in BSB beyond this weekend’s (4–6 July) race in Scotland, given the extent of Irwin’s injuries and the absence of any firm return plans for the Northern Irishman.

"It will be until Glenn is fit," Bruce Davies said.

Big question surrounds Scott Redding in 2025

The complication for Redding comes from the lack of an announcement about departure from WorldSBK or from the Bonovo MGM team, which has reportedly in financial trouble since before the most recent round of this year’s World Superbike Championship in Misano.

Specifically, the WorldSBK and BSB calendar feature several clashes for the remainder of this year.

Particularly: the Brands Hatch BSB on 25–27 July, which is the next round after Knockhill, is on the same weekend as the Hungarian WorldSBK; the Donington BSB on 5–7 September has a clash with the French WorldSBK; and the BSB finale at Brands Hatch clashes with the final WorldSBK round at Jerez.

Redding’s commitment to PBM is therefore indicative of either that PBM is content with Irwin being replaced at only three of the remaining six rounds should he be unable to return this year; that PBM has options to replace Redding on the weekends he’s unavailable through his WorldSBK duties; or that Redding’s WorldSBK duties are either superseded by BSB, or about to become invalid through a withdrawal of the MGM team midway through the 2025 season.

Whatever the case, Redding’s move to BSB to replace Irwin is one which, at least for the time being, presents a few additional questions.