Irwin Takes Emotional Victory For BeerMonster Ducati At Oulton Park
Glenn Irwin gave the BeerMonster Ducati team an emotional, fairytale victory in round nine of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park this afternoon when he won the first race of the weekend which was the first outing for the PBM team since the passing of team owner Paul Bird.
Irwin was locked in battle with teammate Tommy Bridewell for the entire 12 laps around the Cheshire track, but it was the Ulsterman who came out on top when Bridewell ran on at the chicane on the final lap. It was Glenn’s seventh win of the season and saw him cut the gap in the championship standings to just 7.5 points behind Bridewell who salvaged fourth at the flag.
Both riders enjoyed strong practice sessions, particularly Irwin who topped the leaderboard ahead of qualifying, but it was Bridewell who claimed pole position for the afternoon’s BikeSocial Sprint race, just 0.006s ahead of Irwin, which emphasised how closely matched they were around the 2.692-mile circuit.
With cloudy but dry conditions prevailing for the race, the duo duly lined up on the front row with Carrickfergus rider Irwin taking the holeshot as Bridewell, from Devizes, slotted into second. The duo soon opened a one-second gap over the rest of the field although as the race entered its final third, Lee Jackson and Leon Haslam had reeled them back in.
Irwin’s lead over Bridewell was never more than a tenth of a second and the victory was set to be between them and Jackson going into the final lap. Bridewell nosed ahead for the first time at the Avenue only for Irwin to retake the lead immediately and when Tommy got into Hizzy’s too hot, he had to run straight on allowing Irwin to come home for the win. Bridewell’s mistake saw him drop back to fourth at the chequered flag and in doing so, relinquished seven points of his lead to his teammate.
- Earlier in the day, the BSB paddock community gathered to pay their respects to Paul Bird with an emotional tribute on the grid which included the PBM team, friends, and family members as well as a number of significant machines from the long and successful history of the Lake-District-based team over the past 30 years. The bikes will remain on display during the pit walk at Oulton Park tomorrow morning. The team would like to thank everyone for their support
Glenn Irwin: “It’s so nice to lead the race from start to finish, or at least most of it and the plan worked. The bike is so good this weekend, especially on the brakes, and I made the perfect start, managing the race from there on in. Tommy’s so strong around here at Oulton so to force him into a mistake on the final lap and come out on top shows how strong I rode, but I’m humble about the victory as we get on so well and it’s tough fighting your teammate for the title. At the same time, we’re professional riders who want the same thing so you must take whatever advantage you can get. We still have two more races to go but I’m feeling confident and that one’s for the Birdman.”
Tommy Bridewell: “I didn’t make the best of starts from pole, so rode a patient first lap but, unfortunately, I’ve been struggling to stop the bike for a couple of rounds now and the same problem occurred today. The bike’s not giving the support I need under braking and that, in turn, is reducing stability and causing the rear wheel to lift off the ground. I’m OK when riding on my own as I can roll into the corner but in a group it’s difficult and if I hadn’t picked the bike up, I’d have taken both Glenn and me out. It’s a disappointing start but whilst you can’t win the title this weekend, you can lose it, so we’ll use tomorrow’s warm-up to get to the bottom of the problem and come out fighting in Sunday’s races.”
Johnny Mowatt, Team Owner: “Right from the get-go on Friday, the boys have been really, really strong and they worked hard on their race pace, which paid dividends. The one lap pace in qualifying was phenomenal too and fair play to them both for lapping so fast. It was fitting to start our first race without the boss 1-2 on the grid and I’m sure he was looking down super proud of what the boys were achieving. Both made great starts and pulled a gap on the rest of the field, and it all came down to a last lap battle which could have had a very different outcome. Tommy just got into Hizzy’s too hot but was wise enough to pick the bike up to avoid Glenn who went on to take a great win and that one’s definitely for the boss.”
Bennetts British Superbike Championship – BikeSocial Sprint race (12 laps)
1 Glenn Irwin (BeerMonster Ducati)
2 Lee Jackson (Kawasaki)
3 Leon Haslam (BMW)
4 Tommy Bridewell (BeerMonster Ducati)
5 Josh Brookes (BMW)
6 Kyle Ryde (Yamaha)
Championship Standings
1 Bridewell 321pts
2 Irwin 313.5
3 Ryde 266
4 O’Halloran 258.5
5 Haslam 247
6 Jackson 238.5
Pictures courtesy of Double Red: Glenn Irwin (2) and Tommy Bridewell (46) at Oulton Park and the BSB paddock community tribute to Paul Bird.
