British Superbike - Silverstone: Glenn Irwin expects rivals to 'respond'

'You can’t make predictions in this championship' says Glenn Irwin, as the Honda rider expects a fight back from his rivals during Sunday’s British Superbike double-header at Silverstone.
Glenn Irwin, Bradley Ray, Kyle Ryde British Superbike
Glenn Irwin, Bradley Ray, Kyle Ryde British Superbike

After setting the first ever sub 53s British Superbike lap around the Silverstone (Nationa♔l) Circuit in qualifying, Irwin’s day went from good to great after leading every lap of race one. 

With free practice and qualifying indicating 10 to 15 riders could be in with a chance of winning the 2022 season o꧃pener, the 24 lap race around Silverstone was anything but that, as it quickly became a three-way fight. 

The front row of Irwin, Ryde and Ray all m🐭ade good starts which was enough to lead them into turn one in the same order.

Movement between the podium finishers took place on two occasions as Ryde and Rayꦏ battled for P2, and although Irwin was unable to escape the Yamaha pair's grasp, an attempt at the lead never came to fruition as the Honda ride𒅌r used his exceptional pace in sector one to his advantage. 

Irwin w🎃as able to counter the Ya﷽maha’s better turning ability thanks to his CBR1000RR-R’s impressive traction, therefore keeping him out of reach come the braking zones. 

After suffering various off-season𝓰 injuries, the 24 lap race was Irwin’s first 🐭race stint of the year, making his performance all the more impressive. 

Speaking after the win, Irwin added: "Testing has been difficult; In Snetterton w🍷e had a problem that we didn’t find until after🍨, here it was what it was - crazy wind! Yesterday we had teething problems and today it started to come good. 

"I think, when you qualify that fast then surely you can take something off ܫthat in the race. Even a second off and you have a good pace which is practically what happened. 0.8, .7, .6 off that was a good pace. 

"It's the first time I’ve done a race run this year because of everything that’s gone on. I had to breathe a little bit during t♔hat one."

While it was a great day for the Honda man, Irwin expects a fightback from those who had disappointing races, hence why no predictions for ra༺ce two were made by the Northern Irishman.  

"You can’t make predictions in this championship," continued Irwin. "I just need to make a good sta🦹rt, these boys (Ryde and Ray) will be here, Yamaha are always here. I expect other people to respond, some people won’t be s🐼o happy and it’s down to us to continue the good work."

Are Ryde and Ray here to stay? 

Ryde and Ray are both double British Superbike race winners - Ray in 2018 and Ryde in 2020 - both with Buildbase Suzuki, however, the two Rich Energy OMG Racing riders have failed to sustain consistent performances over the last few sea🔥sons. 

Kyle Ryde Yamaha British Superbike
Kyle Ryde Yamaha British Superbike

And although a larger sample of races is need💫ed in order to truly determine whether both are ready to fight for the title, the chan🐭ge from BMW to Yamaha certainly suggests they are. 

Fast a🐻ll throughout pre-season, Ryde and Ray carried that form into this weekend as the pair were regularly inside the top five, while also breaking Jason O’Hallor🍰an’s race lap record on more than one occasion. 

Like Ryde, Ray felt stuck behind Irwin without being able to get through: "It was a difficult race. I got an average start to be fair, slotted into third and then felt like I could maybe have a little bit betജter pace so I passed Kyle, but I couldn’t really do anything after that 

"I sat behind Gle🌜nn for quite awhile. I made a few small mistakes at a few corners and the♛n Kyle came back past me. 

"And there I was just sort of stuck there. I couldn’t do🌠 any more than what I did today. I gave everything! But I really, really enjoyed that and I’m so happy to be bꦏack on the podium."

Key storylines to follow during Sunday’s British Superbike double-header

Looking to bounce back will be 2018 BSB champion Leon Haslam, who after quali🍌fying in fifth, had to retire from race🔯 one because of a technical issue. 

Had Haslam been without the issue then a top ten looked likel🔥y, despite losing five places on the opening lap. 

Leon Haslam BSB Kawasaki Silverstone
Leon Haslam BSB Kawasaki Silverstone

Also in the bounce back category are both MCE Ducati riders. Following a strong pre-season, particularly the three-day test at Snetterton, it looked as if two-time series winner Josh Brookes was back to somewhere close to his best, while✃ former WorldSBK champion Tom Sykes looked equally as impressive. 

But both༺ riders were ܫnon-factors during the race after finishing 12th and 13th. 

After qualifying out of position, pre-weekend favourite Jason O’Hallora♌n wඣill be hoping to do better than fifth during races two and three. 

Rory Skinner was one of the more impressive riders during race one as the FS-3 Kawasaki rider held onto the leading trio for a considerable amount of time. Tyre degradation seemed to be an🐈 issue for the Scot towards the end, which should that be addressed come tomorrow, then we could be looking at another name being added to the ‘potential race winner’s’ list.

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