Exasperated Glenn Irwin 'miles away' with Nitrous Competitions Ducati which 'feels like a 600' after British Superbike opener at Oulton Park

The Carrickfergus man was left on the back foot after crashing in pre-qualifying on Saturday and suffering a further spill in Qualifying 1 on Sunday.

Irwin started the opening race from almost last spot on the grid in 24th position and finished the race in 12th, earning a few points for his efforts.

His team-mate and reigning champion Kyle Ryde won the race by over five seconds from Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Ducati), who held off Bradley Ray (McAMS Yamaha) by a tenth of a second to seal the runner-up spot.

However, on the opposite side of the Nitrous Competitions Racing garage, Ulsterman Irwin said his V4R “felt like a 600” and added that there seemed to be “something fundamentally wrong”.

Irwin told TNT Sports: “I think the real Glenn Irwin is completely here, I felt so good in my riding but yesterday we had umpteen problems, from two clutches seizing, gear levers falling off, petrol tank spraying on me; that’s not even it all, there’s more, a lot more.

“That today, I’d been complaining about the clutch and I just took off from the grid and the front wheel’s three foot in the air, the clutch is grabbing, there’s massive vibration in the rear of the bike and it is so slow.

“I cannot tell you… gears, I’m in fifth gear on the start straight and I’m still in fifth gear in turn 1 and I’m triple hitting the lever to go back two gears; I’m using the wrong gear into Cascades because when I go up to fifth, I can’t get back two.

“We have a massive problem in our bike, it’s nobody’s fault, the real Glenn Irwin is here 100 per cent and people say, ‘good ride from the back of the grid’. But we’ve come from the back of the grid [before] and we are capable of so much more.

“I thought about pulling in and ‘let’s get the guys some information’. This is not a ‘Ducati’, I feel like I’m on a 600. We changed three teeth on the back sprocket more and you wouldn’t even know you changed the gearing,” he added.

“We are miles away and I can assure you the real Glenn Irwin is here and that might sound strong, and I’m not pointing the buck at the team, but this bike… there’s fundamental problems or something, we haven’t pinpointed it but there is something badly wrong.”

Storm Stacey finished fourth on the Bathams AJN Racing Ducati ahead of Scott Redding (PBM Ducati) and Max Cook (AJN Steelstock bimota).

Andrew Irwin was 17th on the MET fonaCAB Racing Ducati while BSB rookie Rhys Irwin was 19th. His MasterMac Honda team-mate Eugene McManus did not finish the race, while Richard Kerr was 21st on the SM Racing Honda.

Teenager Jack Burrows clinched his maiden British championship win in the opening Moto4 British Cup race on the Burrows Engineering/RK Racing Honda.

The Dungannon rider finished as the runner-up in the second race by only 0.259s behind Ryan Frost.

In the Supersport class, Luke Stapleford won the first race of the season on the Scars Racing Ducati from Jack Kennedy (Honda Racing).

Today’s BSB races are scheduled for 1pm and 4:15pm.