New approach has brought the best out of British Superbike title pacesetter Glenn Irwin

The Carrickfergus man holds a healthy advantage of 35 points at the top of the standings at the midway point of the season, with Oulton Park in Cheshire hosting round four of the revised six-round series this weekend.

Irwin joined his younger brother Andrew in the Honda Racing team to ride the brand-new CBR1000RR-R Fireblade and the 30-year-old has quickly gelled with the machine, putting together a string of consistent performances to take control of the title race.

After a lacklustre year by his standards in 2019, notwithstanding a fourth consecutive Superbike success at the North West 200 road races, Irwin has silenced his critics after a blistering start to the truncated campaign.

With four runner-up finishes, a victory at Snetterton and three fourth-place results in the most recent round at Silverstone, the Ulster rider has found a strategy that is working to perfection.

“There’s no need for me to change my approach and if anything, it’s about honing my approach even more: we stay calm, we stay focused and there’s no point in talking about winning this, that or the other,” Irwin told the News Letter.

“I haven’t said that all year and it has worked. It’s ingrained into me now and the person who talked about what they were going to do before, is not me now.

“This isn’t an act and if it was, you wouldn’t be able to sustain it and your results wouldn’t match it. I am who I am now and I’m not the young lad that was probably happier to run his mouth off in the past.

“I’m much more settled in my life and methodical about how I go about everything now, not just racing, so I won’t change that approach because I enjoy it on a day-to-day basis.”

The new Honda Fireblade remains in the infancy of its development but already, the machine has proven a highly competitive package at each of the three circuits that have hosted a BSB round so far this year.

For Irwin, the potential of Honda’s new Superbike is something that excites him for the future.

“The bike really excites me – the life cycle of this bike excites me,” he said.

“At the moment it’s been pretty basic stuff in terms of what we have done to it to be truthfully honest. There’s been so few changes from the road bike, although Andrew had some more chassis components on than me at the weekend and he has given those the thumbs-up, so I will try those at Oulton Park and we have some small things in the pipeline.

“But to be leading the championship after three rounds on an all-new bike – and a bike that hasn’t visited all of these circuits before – it’s a credit to the Fireblade and it’s also a credit to the team, how they work, and how they have worked with me.

“As the team manager often said as well, they have maybe guided me to do some things differently but I have changed too and sometimes I just need to give myself a little pat on the back for that.”

Irwin has the luxury of a 35-point cushion over nearest rivals Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati) and Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Ducati), but he says his current position has not given him any extra sense of satisfaction just because some people had written off his chances before the season even started.

“To be leading the championship is obviously really satisfying but if people have written me off before, that doesn’t make it any more satisfying for me because I don’t pay any attention to those people.

“I think I was writing myself off enough with the personal problems I had for so many years, so if people were writing me off on the back of my season in 2019, I paid no attention to it,” Irwin said.

“It was my rookie year in 2016, but 2017 and 2018 were decent seasons for me and so was 2015 in Supersport: when I look back I’ve had more good years than bad years. Last year was a difficult year on track as such but there were still glimmers of faith, particularly at the end of the season on the Tyco bike.

“I still am very thankful to Philip [Neill] because that kind of re-ignited me a little bit and perhaps it has opened up the opportunity for where I am now.”

Last year, the Ducati was unstoppable at Oulton Park and Irwin is under no illusions of the task he faces this weekend to close the deficit.

Both Australian rider Brookes and England’s Bridewell are tied for second place in the championship, but Irwin senses that 2015 champion Brookes could emerge as his biggest threat to a dream title triumph.

“We talk about Josh and he’s the one who has been champion before. He’s got the most experience and he’s in the championship-winning team, so I’d expect him to be strong,” Irwin said.

“But Tommy is also really strong at Oulton Park and the Ducati was very strong there last year.

“Like Silverstone, we can predict who is going to be strong and for sure Ducati will be there at Oulton. Again, I just have to try and get some really solid practice sessions under me and hopefully we can try and bring something to them.

“If we can fight with them it’s a huge step forward, because no one could live with the Ducati at Oulton Park last year. I can’t say I’m going to go and win there even though our bike will be good, I’m in good form, but I know how far ahead they were of everyone else last year.

“If we can just reduce that gap and live with them, then that will be a huge progression and then anything else is a bonus,” he added.

“At Silverstone, we did our job throughout the weekend, reading our pit boards and keeping an eye on where our rivals were at during the races, and we just brought it home as such.

“I think that was an important weekend and hopefully weekends like that will be the ones that count.

“When you look back at Jonathan Rea’s season last year, that was the case for him and maybe it’s quite similar for me.”

Race one takes place on Saturday at 4.15pm. Sunday’s BSB races are scheduled for 1.15pm and 4.40pm.

* A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Irish and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than five articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. To subscribe, click here.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Thank you,

Alistair Bushe

Editor