Christian Iddon
That’s another season of racing over and done with! I’d hoped to be writing this sitting next to a big-ass champion’s trophy, sipping a glass of champagne on a sofa made of wads of bonus cash but alas, I am not. This year will be one I remember as being very bitter-sweet... starting out so well that I could seemingly do absolutely nothing wrong, to a mid-point where the polar opposite was true and literally everything I touched went bad. That is honestly how it felt as suddenly everything – both on and off the track – became so much more difficult. It seemed like I was a target for other riders to bash into, I had come down with an ailment which was making racing much harder, and I was dealing with a few things away from the paddock. Racing motorbikes is all about confidence and it doesn’t take much to knock a percentage or two off that, which is what happened. Some of it was in my control but so much of it wasn’t. That’s just life, I guess.
We had just about managed to turn the mid-season dip around and I went into the showdown part of the season feeling really good about the way I was riding once more. There was a massive deficit of points to make up as the season stand-out in the early part, Jason O’Halloran, had amassed an incredible tally of podium points… but this is racing and anything can happen. Well, come Oulton Park, and that anything did happen! I jumped on the podium in race one and Jason crashed out. It was all to play for. I then followed it up with a fourth but was punted off track in the final race by Taz Mac. I’m pretty sure I could have ended second in that race but was only able to bring her home in 11th. However, at the same time, Jason crashed out once more, giving Taz the title lead and reducing my gap from 45 to 33.
A week later we rolled into Donington, where the weather had turned considerably more wintery and we were greeted with the most slippery track I’ve ever ridden. I crashed without even completing a lap in qualifying, and that put me way down in 17th for the start of the first race. Just over an hour later I was sat on the line. The team had fixed my bent-up Ducati but I wasn’t feeling it at all. I had almost crashed earlier in that qualifying lap before doing it for real. I then nearly didn’t even make it to the start line as I lost the rear on the sighting lap. So there I sat, feeling beaten up and all the way back on row six, knowing I had no sensation from the bike in these conditions. I was pretty sure it was the moment that my championship challenge was done. However, the race began and as the pack exited turn one I think just about every rider ahead of me (which was almost everyone) had a ‘moment’ as they gingerly applied the throttle.
Immediately I knew that it wasn’t just me with zero grip and that we were all in this together – and this gave me a huge confidence boost. The laps slowly ticked away and I crept my way forward to eventually finish on the podium. It was a massive turning point for my championship challenge! I was able to back it up in race two and three, going home with a podium in all three races, and that gap was once again down, from 33 to 15, with just one round left to go. It was go time and the scene was set for the closest points gap between the top four riders in the history of BSB as we entered the final round
It’s at this point that the big trophy, the wads of cash and the litres of champagne should have happened, but it just didn’t. The last round was dominated by Taz and Tommy Bridewell. They just had something extra that weekend and no matter how hard I tried, there was something missing.
The most disappointing thing is that it was an almost carbon copy of 12 months earlier, and although we did reduce the gap to the front, it wasn’t enough. It was soul-destroying to watch them eek a gap away from me, no matter what I did. As the final race came round, the championship was already out of my grasp and I set my sights on a top three position. It was looking like it was going to happen when I was wiped out on the very last lap.
It seems to have been the story of my season but I am genuinely just thankful to have walked away from it. It was the biggest crash of my career to date, and I was so fortunate there was nothing worse than ringing my bell pretty good and a slight break in the hand.
So that’s the season wrapped up; 13 podiums, in all, rounds out my most successful season in BSB, but one I can’t help but feel was a huge missed opportunity.
I’m trying to keep positive about it and use it to build on for next year. I’m looking forward to concentrating on a few other things for a month or so. I have my wedding coming up next week so I can’t wait for that, followed by a short trip away and then, no doubt, the preparations for 2022 will soon be here.
Until next time.