British Superbike victory at Donington 'felt like winning heavyweight boxing match' says Glenn Irwin
Glenn Irwin said his victory in the second British Superbike race at Donington Park felt like ‘winning a heavyweight boxing match’ after the Ulster rider came out on top in a three-way battle with title contenders Tommy Bridewell and Kyle Ryde.
Irwin shattered the lap record with a time of 1m 27.345s on his third lap on the Hager PBM Ducati and repelled attacks from Honda Racing UK’s Bridewell and Ryde on the OMG Grilla Yamaha to clinch his eighth success of the season.
The 34-year-old remains third in the standings with one race left at the penultimate round on Sunday, 44 points behind reigning champion Bridewell and 39 behind Ryde.
“Yesterday I felt good and I lost a bit of time at the beginning of the race, and this one was a different mindset,” said Irwin, who was third in Saturday’s opening race behind Ryde and Bridewell.
“Kyle kept passing me early on and I was thinking I can take us to the front if you want to stay with me, but obviously I can’t really tell him that when we’re out there, but that’s what I was thinking.
“I saw 1’27.3 on my dash and thought maybe the lap time was broke because sometimes the rear wheel speed changes the lap speed a bit, but we obliterated the lap record there.
“It’s tough on the Ducati right now with the grip, but Donington have done an amazing job resurfacing it and it just gives us something that we’ve lost with the change in regs this year.
“When we bring the best version of ourselves – me and the team included – we can achieve great things.
“It was so sweet because Kyle and Tommy are two of the best competitors on the grid right now and I think us three are in a great moment, and to fight tooth and nail like that and come out on top, you feel like you’ve won a heavyweight boxing match.
“It was very enjoyable and thanks to the team.”
The third race on Sunday is scheduled for 16:30 BST ahead of the BSB Showdown title decider at Brands Hatch from October 11-13.