Making most of tough run
THERE were tough conditions for the opening rounds of the 2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship, as the rain and the cold made life difficult for Stockport’s Christian Iddon aboard his TYCO BMW S1000RR.
Iddon showed competitive pace around the Donington Park GP layout, claiming second spot during the second free practice session of the weekend. But a tumble during qualifying, on cold tyres, down the Leicestershire venue’s infamous Craner Curves, left the team with plenty to do to get the BMW back on track in time for the first race – the timetable had been heavily altered to bring racing forward a day, with the weather forecast showing terrible conditions likely the day after.
After the TYCO squad worked wonders to get Christian back on track, the former Supermoto champion left the grid in fifteenth, making good progress initially but coping with several big moments over the opening laps, Iddon took the chequered flag in fourteenth place.
“There was a few strange things going on with the bike that I couldn’t quite understand” explained Iddon, “I had a few big moments on the first lap, as the race went on I realised that I was struggling a lot and there was no real way around it. I had to settle really.”
Race two, the following day, Iddon took the start from fourteenth despite a fall during warm-up. A spirited ride from the former World Superbike rider saw Christian climb to sixth place, fending off Glenn Irwin [Ducati], by 0.001secs at the flag.
“I went and high-sided myself with two corners to go warm up” admitted Christian. “It wasn’t a big crash, it was probably the slowest crash I’ve ever had, but it slapped me down pretty hard, and it was quite a shock to the system. It was all ok, just a few cuts and bruises, nothing to worry about.
“Sixth is a reasonable salvage from where we started on the grid. It’s little consolation, but it’s some consolation.
“We’re leaving the first round with two points scoring finishes, a lot of work to do but that’s racing. We’ll keep on working and look forward to Brands in a couple of weeks’ time.”