Andrew Irwin admits winning British Superbike title this year 'probably impossible'

The 26-year-old began the season in style with a brilliant double in the opening two races at Donington Park on the new Honda Racing Fireblade.

However, Irwin was disqualified from race three at Donington after an incident with Josh Brookes, which resulted in the Australian rider crashing out.

The unfortunate Carrick man was forced to start the first race at Snetterton from the rear of the grid after incurring penalty points for the clash, but Irwin was out of luck again as he crashed out in the early stages.

Another DNF followed in race two when Irwin was brought down after he tangled with Ryan Vickers following a pass on the RAF & Reserves Kawasaki rider.

After a review of the incident, he was docked three grid positions for the final race, which he finished in eighth place.

Irwin has dropped to sixth in the standings going into the opening race at Silverstone National, which is hosting round three of the series.

Now, the Honda rider is aiming to move on as he targets a positive weekend.

“I’m 60 points from Glenn in the standings, so to win the championship this year is probably impossible, but now for me it’s about making the best of the job and try to keep building and set ourselves up for a good end of season finish,” he said.

“The plan is to move forward and get three decent finishes and try to rebuild the season from Silverstone pretty much, and try and get back up to where we should be.”

Irwin was seventh fastest in FP1, 0.4s behind pacesetter Gino Rea (Buildbase Suzuki), who has been drafted into Stuart and Steve Hicken’s team as a replacement for the injured Keith Farmer.

Championship leader Glenn was second quickest on Friday for the Honda Racing team, 0.173s down on Rea, with McAMS Yamaha rider Jason O’Halloran slotting into third ahead of Josh Brookes, who was the leading Ducati rider on the VisionTrack Panigale.

BSB newcomer Graeme Irwin was 23rd (Team 64 Motorsport Kawasaki) on the time sheets, while Brian McCormack from Waterford was 25th on the ON-1 Roadhouse Macau BMW.

The first of three races this weekend is scheduled for 4.30pm on Saturday. Sunday’s BSB races will take place at 12.15pm and 4.30pm.

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