Honda Racing UK’s Andrew Irwin won’t allow himself to get “carried away” at this weekend’s eighth round of the British Superbike Championship after ending his podium drought at Cadwell Park.

The Carrickfergus man finished on the podium three times at Honda’s home venue two weeks ago, where team-mate Tommy Bridewell sealed his first victory of the season.

Irwin twice finished third and ended the Bank Holiday meeting on a high with a runner-up result behind reigning champion Kyle Ryde in the final race.

It was the 30-year-old’s first top-three finishes in almost a year, but Irwin is staying grounded as he bids to carry his momentum into this weekend’s races.

placeholder image — Andrew Irwin claimed three podium finishes at Cadwell Park for the Honda Racing UK team. (Photo by Double Red)

“I never get too carried away or too excited, but I think we can build from the way that we’ve been working over the last four or five rounds,” Irwin said.

“We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves, but just continue taking steps at Donington from where we were at Cadwell.

“Last time we were at Donington was my first race weekend after injuring my shoulder, and honestly we had a decent weekend even then.

“I feel like the bike’s made a step since then, and for sure I’ve made several steps, and we tested there recently where we understood some different ways of working at Donington which will help us.

“Fingers crossed, when we roll out on Friday, we can hit the ground running and have a positive weekend from the beginning.”

Donington Park is the final round of the regular season before the title-deciding Showdown phase of the championship, with the first of the three key rounds taking place at Assen in the Netherlands from September 19-21.