Iddon ups his Oulton game
Christian takes plaudits in the PBM team after pushing rival all the way
It was hard not to feel sorry for Christian Iddon by the time the final race of the weekend came to an end. Twice in one day the PBM Ducati rider saw victory snatched away on the final lap by Jason O’Halloran after leading the majority of proceedings. In fact, Iddon led 42 laps out of a possible 50 at Oulton Park.
Still, it was a huge reminder of just how far Iddon has come since joining the most successful team in the BSB paddock. He proved plenty of people wrong last year as he finally got his first BSB victory and put in a strong title challenge. Far from resting on his laurels though, Iddon has enjoyed a really positive pre-season now that the pressure of being a PBM rider has lessoned simply through experience. “I suppose it’s good to be disappointed with three seconds,” Iddon told MCN after the final race. “Over the winter we’ve done a lot of really good work and I think that showed. I know the results are no different to what I got here last year, but I feel the way that we did it and with how competitive I was, it was a little bit different.
“It was a credit to a lot of hard work in the testing programme that I feel better on my bike. It’s easier to ride towards the end of the race and we’re still competitive and doing similar lap-times as I’m doing at the beginning of the race.”
Sixty points from the opening round also poses the question: could the pendulum swing towards Iddon within Paul Bird’s team this season? It’s very early in the season but Josh Brookes endured a tough weekend at Oulton Park and couldn’t match the leaders’ pace. Time will tell, you can never discount Brookes, but Iddon is already starting to build something rather special this season.
It’s interesting that it’s O’Halloran and Iddon leading the charge in BSB as their stories almost intertwine. Both have been written off in previous years due to disappointing results, injuries, bad luck, and a lack of victories. They say that experience is key in BSB and Iddon and O’Halloran are now both adding weight to that mantra.
‘Iddon led for 42 laps out of a possible 50’