Iddon so close to podium

CHRISTIAN Iddon narrowly missed out on a repeat of his Brands Hatch heroics this weekend, where the TYCO BMW rider claimed a podium on his return to racing, following his accident at Knockhill.

Iddon was once again in line for third place, in race two, but was pipped at the post by Leon Haslam.

Iddon had struggled with tyre wear throughout free practice but in qualifying the Stockport rider claimed fourth on the grid in Superpole around the UK’s fastest track. Selecting the harder tyres, in an effort to reduce the effects of wear, meant Christian would always be on the back foot, when the entire front row were on the softer tyre.

Despite dropping a couple of places on the opening lap, Iddon clawed them back, only for the race to be neutralised under the safety car for five laps. As the race got back under way, the former Supermoto champion dropped two places once again, to sixth. But with five laps remaining he nicked fifth place back of Jason O’Halloran [Honda], and stayed there until the chequered flag.

Iddon, starting seventh, dropped a place on the opening lap of race two, but clawed his way up to fourth place in a battle with Leon Haslam. With just one lap to go Christian inherited third place, in a repeat of his outing at Brands Hatch two weeks earlier, but with Haslam breathing down his neck it was going to be nip and tuck at the line, Leon squeezing through to take third place on the last lap of the race, leaving Iddon in fourth, just 0.240secs behind the 2016 BSB championship runner-up.

Tyco BMW rider Christian Iddon made his opening foray into endurance competition recently, with a debut in the Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race in Japan. Riding for the BMW Motorrad39 team, Iddon joined teammates Daisaku Sakai and Raffaele De Rosa.

Stockport’s Iddon jumped on first – with the team completing various stints until Sakai completed the final half hour of the race, crossing the line in sixtieth place. Unfortunately, the team were ‘unclassified’ in the results, with rules stating that they must complete 75 per cent of the race winners’ laps.