BSB Oulton Park: Glenn Irwin sixth as brother Andrew crashes out
Honda Racing’s Glenn Irwin started the 2021 Bennetts British Superbike Championship with a solid ride to sixth place in race one at Oulton Park on Saturday.
However, there was disappointment for his brother Andrew, who crashed on lap four as he made his race debut for Northern Ireland’s SYNETIQ BMW team at the Cheshire circuit, fortunately without serious injury.
Australian Jason O’Halloran took victory on the McAMS Yamaha after starting from fourth place on row two of the grid.
O’Halloran, the championship runner-up in 2020, made his move towards the end of the race and managed to open a slight gap over VisionTrack Ducati’s Christian Iddon, clinching the win by 0.6s.
Pole man Tommy Bridewell finished in third on the Oxford Products Ducati as the top three were separated by 1.4s, with Peter Hickman taking a comfortable fourth on the FHO BMW after running with the leading group for much of the 14-lap race.
O’Halloran’s Yamaha team-mate Tarran Mackenzie took fifth, with Carrick man Irwin three seconds adrift in sixth. The Northern Ireland rider qualified eighth fastest to earn a third row start for the season-opener at Oulton.
Reigning champion Josh Brookes was 10th (VisionTrack Ducati), while Senior TT winner Dean Harrison secured a points-scoring finish in 14th on the Silicone Engineering Kawasaki.
Waterford man Brian McCormack came home in 20th place on the Roadhouse Macau by FHO Racing BMW.
On Sunday, race two is scheduled for 13:45 with race three of the triple-header weekend at 16:45.