Following a four month delay due to COVID-19, Stockport superbike rider Christian Iddon claimed eleventh on the grid for the opening race of the 2020 British Superbike season at Donington Park in Leicestershire.
Less than one second separated the top twelve riders in Iddon’s first race, held behind closed doors, since signing for the the Visiontrack Ducati team at the close of the 2019 season and riding a factory-supported Ducati Panagale V4 R.
Speaking to Visiontrack Ducati, Christian (pictured) said;
It’s been a big learning curve for me this weekend. Race one felt good and I was happy enough but in today’s opening race, I really struggled, especially in the last third of the race. The final race was better, and I was able to maintain a good pace. I was closing in on the leaders, but I made a minor mistake which let a couple of others past. From then onwards, I fell away and couldn’t manage a final push for the podium.
“Two fourths and an eighth isn’t what I want but we can work with those results. It’s three finishes, loads of data and no crashes so there’s room for improvement and my feeling with the bike is brilliant until the late stages of the race, so we just need to work on that and we’ll be stronger.
“It’s really sad to not have spectators yet. Miss you all but hope everyone is enjoying the show from home.”
Elsewhere, Stockport rider Ben Luxton (above, centre) converted Pole Position in to victory in the Pirelli National Superstock 600, aboard his JR Performance Kawasaki, at Donington. He said:
After strange times during COVID 19 not knowing if we would get a race season at all. Round one couldn’t have gone any better for me and the JR Performance Kawasaki team, we qualified on Pole and then converted to a race win, perfect weekend. Massive thank you to JR performance and my personal sponsors.”
Photography by Mike Petch, M Photographic