Iddon confident about new season

North motor sport with ZOE BURN

BLAYDON racer Christian Iddon is feeling confident about the season ahead after topping the timesheets in a weather-hit Bennetts British Superbike Championship test last week.

The Visiontrack Ducati rider made the most of the tough conditions during a three-day test at Snetterton to edge ahead after three difficult days at the Norfolk track.

The second official test of the year kicked-off on Tuesday, but as cold weather and rain hit, hardly any riders at all ventured out on the opening day.

Sunshine greeted the paddock on Wednesday morning and, almost straight away, Iddon was on the pace aboard Paul Bird’s factory-supported Ducati Panigale V4R.

The 36-year-old from Stockport – who has made Tyneside his home in recent years – clocked the fastest time on Wednesday morning and then waited until the final moments of the second session of the day to post his best lap, putting him 0.166secs up on fellow Ducati rider Tommy Bridewell.

The rain returned ahead of the third session so teams opted to end the day early and prepare for the final day on Thursday.

But once again the weather threw in its hand and the day ended early, leaving Iddon with the quickest time of the test.

“It was very good to top the only two sessions that really happened, so from that point of view it was a real confidence booster,” he said. “Not only that, I felt we were strong and the bike was good, even though we couldn’t really get our teeth into things and we didn’t get to try a lot of what we had planned.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t do more laps, but it wasn’t just the wet weather – the track was just too cold and it wouldn’t have made sense to go out when we had nothing to gain.

“We will take what we learned into the next test at Oulton in a couple of weeks and the one after at Donington as we build towards the season ahead.”

With team-mate and reigning champion Josh Brookes sitting out of the test after a minor operation on his hand a few days earlier, Iddon was the only one of the Penrith team’s riders to set a time.

John Mowatt, team coordinator added: “We made the most of the limited track time we had and couldn’t do any more than Christian topping both dry sessions.”

North Yorkshire BSB riders Dan Linfoot and Joey Thompson ended the test 18th and 26th respectively, with Thompson still learning more about the Superbike as he prepares for his first season in the leading championship.

Burnopfield’s Chrissy Rouse, Durham’s Jake Hopper and Easington’s Charlie Farrer were also out in action at the test and also suffered lack of track time due to the weather.