Glenn Irwin celebrated an emotional podium victory in the opening ZYN British Superbike Championship race at Knockhill this afternoon 365 days to the day after his season-shattering crash at Snetterton, that left him with pelvic injuries.
Glenn Irwin had last stood on the podium at Donington Park, 398 days ago, before a Free Practice crash at Snetterton left him sidelined with one of the worst injuries of his career and then fighting back to the front to be in podium contention.
The podium today at Knockhill marks his first with the Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing team, with a fourth pace at Oulton Park his previous best result this year. However, following a final tussle with Ryan Vickers for the final podium place, a delighted Irwin was back on the podium.
Glenn Irwin said: “It has become more real now, as last year was a tough moment and the toughest injury I have ever had. I have had multiple injury crashes, so many injuries, but this one was brutal. A massive thank you to the whole team and also to my previous team.
“I felt strong at Donington Park, but we had to come from eighth in the race and to share the comeback podium with Kyle and Scott for the first time is a great feeling and makes me proud and gives me more motivation as I want to fight with them and get stuck in.
“This one is for the entire team and particularly the technical staff, Ryan and Chris found something I was doing wrong and I said to them, I can’t do that, I have been doing that for eight years that I do on the bike. They changed something to help me, I changed something and I felt good. It is awesome to be back.
“I think the emotion was a combination of things; I have had a lot of success and we are all here to fight and you want it so much. I was crying when I crossed the line, and I have never done that before in BSB. It meant so much today.”