Irwin: BSB title fight between multiple riders

Glenn Irwin has predicted a number of riders will be in the Bennetts British Superbike championship title battle come the return to Brands Hatch for the final round having grabbed a pair of podiums this weekend at the Kent circuit.

The Be Wiser Ducati rider was narrowly edged out by McAMS Yamaha’s Josh Brookes in both races to take a pair of second places which helped him strengthen his place in the top six in the tussle for BSB Showdown spots.

In race two Irwin felt Brookes had stepped up his pace at areas of the circuit he had been able to attack in the opener but was content with his two rostrums having shown strong pace at the circuit which hosts the season finale.

Irwin feels despite Haslam’s commanding points lead in the regular season championship once the BSB Showdown kicks into action the title race will open up.

“It is important to be good here as we come back here in October and I fully believe we’ll be fighting to win the championship,” Irwin said. “It could come down to more than two riders this year at the final round.

“The cooler conditions should help us more as well so it is nice to know we’ll be good when we come back here.

“But we have a lot of racing to do between now and then. We’ll try to keep chipping away at Leon’s Showdown Point Points lead which we are looking at more than the championship. We need to keep working at that so we can fight when we return here.”

Irwin sits third in the BSB riders’ championship, pushing his Podium Points tally up to 12, as he aims to close the gap to Haslam who currently has 38 Podium Points from the opening six rounds.