Stockport racer Iddon salvages sixth in frustrating Thruxton weekend

It was a frustrating weekend for Christian Iddon, as the Stockport racer salvaged a sixth place in the latest round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, at Thruxton in Hampshire.

A solid performance in Qualifying saw the TYCO BMW rider through to Q3 of the session, but an early call due to a potential shower left Iddon tumbling down the order as the track improved. Ninth place the result, third row of the grid for race one.

A great start to race one, in front of the massive Thruxton crowd, saw Iddon well up the order, and challenging for the lead for a long period, but as his tyre wear dropped off a cliff, the former Supermoto Champion struggled to keep up the pace, dropping back and finally finishing in seventeenth place.

Starting eleventh, race two was twice interrupted, firstly for rain, and then following an accident, the resulting race to the flag turning in to an eight-lap dash. Taking the restart in eighth, Christian pushed hard from the off, running as high as fifth place overall, eventually settling for sixth as the chequered flag fell.

Christian commented;

“It was a case of just push and go as far as you can [at the restart]. It was a crazy race, there were some moves being put on people, and me putting on people that you would never normally do in a full length situation, desperation setting in from everyone. I went all out, I definitely left nothing on the table, and sixth was the end result.

“It’s been a difficult weekend for my showdown prospects, more frustrating given the fact that I genuinely believe that we could have battled out at the front.

“On a positive, I’m looking forward to Cadwell next, it’s a very different circuit, couldn’t be much different [to Thruxton] and should suit the BMW well.”

Iddon now sits ninth in the Championship standings, three places off the Showdown, with two rounds remaining to decide it’s outcome.

The British Superbike Championship now heads to Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire over the weekend of 16-18 August.