Glenn Irwin has a 50-point buffer over ninth place in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship standings ahead of the decisive round at Snetterton this weekend (9/10/11 September) and the Honda Racing UK rider is gunning for victory to secure his place at the earliest opportunity.
Irwin holds fifth place in the standings, 11-points adrift of Lee Jackson ahead of him, knowing that a strong opening two races could confirm his place before the final race of the weekend.
Irwin had top ten finishes at Cadwell Park, but is seeking a return to the podium for the first time since Brands Hatch at a circuit where he has previously celebrated the Race of Aces victory with a strong performance.
Irwin said: “Cadwell Park was an enjoyable, Superpole was good and that was refreshing. As much as I fluffed it, it was good fun and you do your lap and you think you know where it would put you, then you watch where you end up and that was exciting. It was also the Honda team’s home round, you know with that came a lot of fans and presence and that was great too.
“The three races, I feel like I fought hard. I recovered positions that I lost in the early laps, particularly race one and two where I had to pass Taz, Tom and Kyle, Christian, so there was a lot of recovery going on with riders that are hard to pass. I always try to make clean passes at Cadwell and I was able to get through hard and fair, which was good. That was enjoyable and I didn’t fall out with any riders, which is a big tick!
“At the same time it was a little bit underwhelming as we had greater expectations going in and we had good pace in our private test but in reality our good pace was similar to that in race three, which was enough for an eighth, which was disappointing.
“I felt like I rode well and bridged a gap to do that when I was feeling low on energy resources after fighting two difficult races before that. We were still working on improving the change of direction with the Fireblade, so to have the strongest race in the last one was pleasing.
“Eighth isn’t something you would do somersaults about but it was a step closer to the group in front and that was progression and I always try to be happy with progression. All in all it wasn’t a disaster, championship points, and when you get close to the cut off you don’t want to start throwing in weekends like some of the other riders fighting for the Showdown.
“We go to Snetterton, a track where myself and the bike have won at in the past, I enjoy it there and we will crack on. It is a good margin we have at the moment, but there is always a twist and it started at Cadwell Park so fair play to Danny. I am aware they can go strong at Snetterton as well so we need to continue to score high and at the moment 26 points secures the Showdown so we want to get that done before race three if we can.
“There is so much to it that you can’t focus on single riders; I need to keep Taz, Tommy and Kyle to be the drop zone target – the ones in eighth. Leon, Hicky and Danny are all still looking to get in so to be honest there are that many I need to concentrate on beating that I might as well concentrate on trying to beat the whole grid, which is what we try anyway! It doesn’t change our plans, we just need to keep working.”