Andrew Irwin has 𝓀been thrown out of the💝 results for the third British Superbike Championship race at Donington Park after being judged at fault for an incident that eliminated Josh Brookes.

Irwin was chasing a third BSB win on a hugely successful 2020 opening weekend aboard the new Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade, but while fighting over thir🍃d position with Brookes the pair made contact at the top of Craner Curves.

Caused by Irwin cutting up the inside at the first right-hander, a light touch ꦛsent Brookes down in a f𝐆ast crash and out of the race, though the Australian escaped unharmed.

With Irwin going on to finish second behind Tommy Bridewell, stewards later blamed him for ‘avoidable/unfair contact’ and threw him out of the results. In addition, he has picked up 6 penalty points (3 suspended) which added to previous penalty points means he will sta🥂rt race one at the n🍬ext Snetterton round from last.

“Even with the outcome this evening from the final race, this has been a great weekend, with two race wins at the first round on a brand-new machineᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ. It's been a good start to the season with Honda and the Fireblade, and I'm looking forward to the progress we can make.

“I'll keep working hard, putting in the🏅 time and effort in the next two weeks, to arrive at Snetterton even better. But we have to be realistic there, we know it's a different track and a different style to Donington, so we have to hope the bike is also competitive there, so I'll go, try my best and hopefully we can do a good job.

Irwin’s DQ means his 💫brother Glenn – with a trio of second place f♔inishes – assumes the championship lead after the opening round, ten points clear of Andrew.