IRWIN CLAIMS SHOCK LAST LAUGH AHEAD OF BROOKES

GLENN IRWIN and Josh Brookes shared Bennetts British Superbike Championship wins at Silverstone yesterday after a weekend of shock results across the board.

Brookes (above) – who was all but written off last year – was on the pace all weekend, picking up yesterday’s opening win ahead of BeerMonster Ducati team-mates Tommy Bridewell and Irwin.

But in the final race of the day, it was Northern Ireland’s Irwin

(right) who was spraying the winners Champagne after beating FHO Racing’s Brookes by just 0.120secs – at a track he was not expecting to go well at.

“I don’t think anyone thought the Ducati could win here but the bike was fantastic,” said Irwin last night. “We could be strong in some areas where tyre wear wasn’t an issue and I just refused to give up.

“I said this morning that I wanted to play an Oscarwinning role today and not a support role and I had a feeling after warm-up that we could do it.”

Following Brookes’ earlier win, it looked like the Aussie was on for another when yesterday’s second race roared into action as he hit the front on the opening lap.

But in a hard-fought 30-lap scrap, Brookes dropped back as Lovell Kent Racing’s Danny Kent moved ahead on lap 12. Behind, Irwin was storming through after a bad start, passing Kent for the lead on lap 17.

Brookes also found a way past Kent with three laps to go and despite a last lap charge, was unable to find a way past his rival and had to settle for second.

Behind, Bridewell was also in the fight and managed to squeeze a pass on Kent on the penultimate lap to cross the line third.

“In the first race we came from 13th to third which was amazing so to go on and win the last one is fantastic,” added Irwin.