'It's been a difficult weekend' says Glenn Irwin as British Superbike rider's championship lead cut to two points at Oulton Park

The Carrickfergus man suffered a setback to his hopes of lifting the title after he was forced out of race two at the Cheshire circuit, with Irwin reporting a vibration issue with his 1000cc Fireblade.

Irwin said: “It’s been a difficult weekend and it’s just been tough. I was unlucky in (race two), I was trying to keep that consistency in and around fifth or sixth position this weekend.

“We struggled for consistent pace this weekend and as for what caused the DNF, I just came across a big vibration as I opened the throttle out of the last corner, so I didn’t fancy going into turn one as such.

“I just feel that maybe this circuit is our weakness, but I really could have done without the DNF. But we’ll keep fighting.”

He led the title race by 35 points coming into the fourth round of the series and finished a solid fifth in Saturday’s opening race behind his younger brother and team-mate Andrew.

Australian rider O’Halloran won the race on the McAMS Yamaha from Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati) and Danny Buchan (FS-3 Kawasaki) to cut Irwin’s deficit to 30 points ahead of yesterday’s two races.

However, in a dramatic championship twist, Irwin retired from race two yesterday with five laps to go and O’Halloran took full advantage, notching up his second victory of the weekend to close the gap to only five points ahead of race three.

Iddon was 0.214s behind as he took second place for Paul Bird’s Ducati team ahead of Buchan, while former champion Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati) slotted into fourth place.

Andrew Irwin was seventh behind Lee Jackson (FS-3 Kawasaki) and Taylor Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha).

BSB rookie Graeme Irwin in 18th on the Team 64 Motorsport Kawasaki.

O’Halloran finished fourth in race three, which Brookes won by 1.6s from Iddon, with Lee Jackson snatching third from O’Halloran on the sprint to the line. Irwin took the chequered flag in sixth position behind Buchan as he narrowly held on to his title lead.

Brookes is now only 10 points behind Irwin, with Iddon also in the title hunt, a further two points adrift.

Keith Farmer, who is making his comeback from injury, retired from race two on the Buildbase Suzuki. Farmer finished race three in 18th place. The Co Tyrone man earned a point after coming home in 15th in Saturday’s race.

The penultimate round of the championship takes place at Donington Park from October 2-4.

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