Oxford Products Racing Ducati are gearing up for their home round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Thruxton this weekend (August 11/12/13) and after a double podium last time out, Christian Iddon has high hopes of success at Thruxton.
The team are based at their Winchester-based Ducati dealership and arrive at their home round off the back of a double podium finish at Brands Hatch, as Iddon heads to Thruxton with confidence high as he targets his first win of the season.
Iddon said: “It was obviously mega happy to take the first podiums of the season at Brands Hatch I did think they would have come sooner in the season than round six though! The first wet race we had this year and the bike felt really good actually – really, really good! In that race and the bike felt so good that I was just biding my time, as it is so easy to make a mistake. The race didn’t go full distance but I would like to think that I had a good shot at winning it but it didn’t so it is kind of irrelevant but I took the first podium which was mega and a good reward for the whole team and their hard work.
“The first race gave me pole position for the second race and to be honest, for the last three rounds I have almost had the pace to run at the front, but I have just not got away with them. My rhythm has been pretty much the same as the guys at the front, but I have just not been there to make an impact.
“Finally, I had the chance to make an impact and we did just that. The first dry race wasn’t amazing, when Bridewell came passed me I didn’t have an answer for him and all I could do was defend from the guys behind. But we made some changes for the final race and that made a massive difference on how I felt and I led, I wanted to lead, until Tommy came through and I know that was a big telling factor as I knew what he had in the earlier race.
“He got in front but didn’t really have anything extra so I was really excited and thought I could win it but ended up in more of a battle than I anticipated and ended up losing places then with three laps to go, I lost the front at Paddock and lost a load of time and ended up in fourth. So funnily enough, my best dry race was the my worst result of the weekend!
“That was a massive confidence boost and we have been working away bit by bit and improving bit by bit, we were so far off and the start of the year as I didn’t have the feeling with the bike and now I do and it really does. We only have to fine tune and at Brands Hatch, we only had to make a few tweaks so I can work on my riding and I am finding a flow.
“Thruxton is a kind of a track, which is just like its own with nothing else like it anywhere in the world. It is the Oxford Products Racing Ducati team’s home round, so obviously they want to do well and I am feeling confident coming off the back of the last round, so we are going to continue to work hard and hopefully push towards the front.
“This is pretty much the start of our season now as I feel like at the first three rounds we didn’t even turn up! Since Knockhill we have really got going and now we are really hitting our stride, so let’s keep that momentum going to move forward.”