Iddon’s top-six brace at Park
TYCO BMW rider Christian Iddon scored a brace of top six finishes as the Bennetts British Superbike Championship visited Leicestershire’s Donington Park in the penultimate round of 2019.
Stockport rider Iddon improved throughout Free Practice and made it through to the, now customary, Q3 in Qualifying, finally laying his hands on fifth place for the start of Race One.
Another great start from the former World Superbike rider saw him climb to third place on the opening lap, and despite pressure from behind held his own in the final podium position until four laps from the end, when a broken foot peg left him lucky finish, let alone hang on to sixth place as the chequered flag flew.
Yet another good start saw Christian challenge for the lead on the opening lap of Race Two, but pressure from elsewhere left him briefly down in seventh after a short Safety Car period, but the former Supermoto Champion fought back to claim fifth at the flag.
“Qualifying was good, got through to Q3 again, probably didn’t make the most of my Q3 time, but it was a second row start, and our Q3 percentage remains very high, which is good, it shows we’ve got speed.
“Race One was nice, I didn’t feel overly comfortable in a few places on the track, but I had the pace which was really good.
“I made a couple of errors in the middle of the Race which allowed [Josh] Brookes to get right up on my tail, but I managed to stabilise myself, got my head back in to a rhythm, and extended the gap back out a bit. Then with four [laps] to go I snapped a foot peg off. I did contemplate pulling out as it was dangerous but I managed to work out where to put my foot.
“Race Two, after a good Race One was a little disappointing. We made a small alteration to the bike and I felt better in places. I got a great start, but made a mistake at the end of the first lap, which let [Scott] Redding and [Tommy] Bridewell get me.
“I battled with all that I had. I had the same pace that I had in Race One, but the other guys stepped it up two or three tenths of a second, it was a frustrating Race, I’m happy with that position at the end, just left feeling a bit flat after such a positive Race One, believing we could have podiums.
“Just one round left now, we went well at Brands Hatch earlier this season, so hopefully we can go back there and finish on a high”
Stockport’s Ben Luxton stole the limelight, in the support BSB support categories, with a slick lightsto-flag victory in the Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship race at Donington Park. The JR Performance Racing rider claimed pole position by six-tenths of a second and wasted no time stretching out a lead as the red lights went out.
A brief Safety Car period interrupted his charge to the flag, and Luxton recovered his lead as the race restarted. Eventually finishing almost three seconds clear as the chequered flag fell on his first victory of 2019.
Luxton said: “It was a perfect weekend at Donington Park. After a great Qualifying session we managed to convert it into the race win on Sunday afternoon.
“A massive thank you to JR Performance and DLR Transport for making it possible, and all that’s involved.”
The Bennetts British Superbike Championship culminates the 2019 season at Brands in a fortnights time [18-20 October].