BSB Oulton Park: Glenn Irwin seals victory in final race and claims championship lead

The BeerMonster Ducati rider led for much of the race after his brother Andrew had set the pace on the first few laps on the Honda Racing UK Fireblade.

Irwin was hounded throughout the 18-lap encounter by Leon Haslam on the ROKiT BMW, and dropped back to third after Haslam made a pass into the first corner at the beginning of lap 12.Irwin went slightly wide, allowing his team-mate Tommy Bridewell through to second.

However, the Northern Ireland rider picked off Bridewell at Lodge and set off in pursuit of Haslam, taking the lead again on the brakes into Hizzy’s on the next lap.

From there, pole man Irwin was able to keep Haslam at bay and the Carrickfergus rider held on for his second victory of the season for Paul Bird’s team by just 0.062s on the dash to the line.

OMG Yamaha’s Kyle Ryde got the better of Bridewell for third, with FHO Racing BMW’s Josh Brookes in fourth.

Irwin, who now holds a four-point advantage at the top over Brookes and Bridewell after two rounds of the championship, said: “It’s brilliant and looking at statistics, in 17 races it’s been all top-fives, so it’s amazing for Paul Bird and you can see the emotion in him already, and the passion.

“I love this team so much, it’s class. We worked hard and made some changes, and again you improve in one area and lose in the other.

“I nearly lost the front at Shell, so mid-corner maybe the front position was too high. It was washing out on me a bit at Druids and I had to adapt and suss it out.

“I made a mistake after I tried to release the brake and go around Leon at Turn 1, which was stupid,” he added.

“So Tommy went by and after the race yesterday I had some half chances and didn’t take them, and my dad always says, ‘if you’ve time to think about it, you’ve time to do it’.

“So it was quite hard on Tommy but I had to do it, and the same on Leon, and controlled it from there.”

Irwin, who finished as the title runner-up in 2022 for the Honda Racing team, finished second behind Bridewell in the opening BSB race on Monday, coming home 1.5s behind his team-mate, with Haslam third and Andrew Irwin fourth.

Honda rider Irwin finished ninth in the final race after running at the front at the start.

Michael Dunlop had a DNF on the Hawk Racing Honda in race two and did not line-up for the final race. The Ballymoney man was using the event for track time ahead of the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT.

In a controversial National Superstock 1000 race, Alastair Seeley was wiped out of the lead on the SYNETIQ BMW by Alex Olsen.

The record 27-time NW200 winner, who qualified in pole position, was unhurt in the incident.

Dan Linfoot won the race by 0.157s on the Optimum Racing Honda from Donegal’s Richard Kerr (AMD Honda).

In the British Supersport class, Lee Johnston finished sixth on his Ashcourt Racing Yamaha, with Eunan McGlinchey eighth (Val-Tech Yamaha). Michael Dunlop was 12th on his Yamaha with Adam McLean 13th (J McC Roofing Yamaha).

Dungannon’s Cameron Dawson bagged a podium in third in the National Junior Superstock race while Sam Laffins was fifth.

Donington Park hosts the third round from May 19-21.