Glenn Irwin fourth in opening BSB race of season at Navarra in Spain

The Carrickfergus rider qualified in the same position and put some solid points on the board as he targets a first BSB title after finishing as the championship runner-up in 2022 and 2023.

OMG Yamaha’s Ryan Vickers won the race by 1.36s from team-mate Kyle Ryde, while Danny Kent made it a clean sweep of the podium for Yamaha in third on the McAMS machine, 0.78s behind.

Irwin was over four seconds adrift of the trio as he crossed the line in fourth on the Hager PBM Ducati.

Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings BMW) and Christian Iddon (Oxford Products Ducati) finalised the top six.

Reigning champion Tommy Bridewell, who started from 15th after an issue on his Superpole qualifying lap on Saturday, was a close seventh in his first race on the Honda Racing UK Fireblade.

His team-mate Andrew Irwin was outside the points in 16th position while Dean Harrison, also riding for Honda Racing, was classified in 18th.

In the first British Supersport race, Luke Stapleford claimed the win on the Macadam Racing Triumph ahead of wildcard entry Davey Todd, who has impressed on the Powertoolmate Ducati V2 which he will ride at the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT.

Four-time champion Jack Kennedy was on the rostrum in third in his first race on the Honda Racing UK machine.

Alastair Seeley, who earned a late ride in the series on the Binch Racing Yamaha, finished seventh.

Reigning champion Ben Currie was 11th on the Oxford Products Ducati after receiving a 28-second equivalent ride-through penalty.

Currie was penalised after colliding with Eugene McManus (ROKiT Haslam Racing Ducati), who was challenging Brad Perie (Gearlink Kawasaki) for second place when the incident occurred on lap six. McManus crashed out as Currie continued.

In the British Talent Cup, Cullybackey’s Peter Willis finished seventh in Saturday’s opening race after starting at the back of the grid due to a control fuel infringement. Willis was 19th in the second race on the Microlise Cresswell Racing Honda.

Dungannon’s Jack Burrows was ruled out of the opening race with an issue on the Burrows Engineering/RK Racing but bounced back to claim 11th in Race 2 after fighting through from the last row of the grid on his debut.