Collarbone injury hampers bike challenge
TYCO BMW rider Christian Iddon rounded out the 2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship season with a fifth and fourth place at Brands Hatch, in Kent.
Iddon, from Stockport, ran well throughout free practice for the 2018 finale, but a crash in qualifying, further damaging a broken collarbone suffered at Silverstone five weeks ago, left him on the back foot, down in eighteenth place on the grid and in far from peak physical condition.
Race one of the weekend’s triple header of encounters took place on Saturday, but within four laps of the start, the bike developed a technical problem forcing Christian to retire. Starting 12th in race two on Sunday in miserable wet conditions, Iddon had climbed to ninth after just one lap and by lap four the former Supermoto Champion was up to fifth. Well in the hunt, Christian briefly ran as high as third, but as the dust settled a sensor issue and vision problems in the poor conditions meant he would cross the line fifth, a great result given the circumstances, on the tough 2.4-mile Grand Prix circuit.
Not content with fifth, however, Iddon went one better in race three, the final round of 2018, claiming fourth spot in worsening conditions. A race long battle with 2018 BSB Champion Leon Haslam saw Christian get the better of the Kawasaki rider, claiming fourth place at the flag.
Speaking to TYCO BMW, Christian said; “The last round of BSB has been a difficult weekend in terms of weather conditions but I had a great feeling with the bike all weekend.
“We made steady progress throughout the sessions to improve set-up and tyre-wear so I was feeling pretty confident and we were achieving good lap times.
“Thank you to the whole Tyco BMW team and associated sponsors and partners for all their hard work and dedication this year.”