Alstare Bimota World Superbike star Christian Iddon has repsonded to claims by Sylvain Barrier he was responsible for the Frenchman’s crash at the Laguna round which saw him slide into the pitwall and break a heel as Iddon rode into him.

Iddon says the whole thing has been blown out of proportion and he thinks it necessary to respond now that allegations have appeared in the media. bikesportnews.com had been in touch with Iddon after Barrier’s statement but he said then he wanted to stay quiet.

“I had hoped to not to need to comment on the crash of Sylvain Barrier in Laguna Seca and have so far stayed quiet. However, following recent escalating and extreme allegations as well as poor behaviour from other parties involved, I feel I now must respond,” said Iddon in a statement.

“The ‘incident’ between Sylvain Barrier and myself at Laguna Seca was nothing more than a racing incident and had it been anything more than that Race Direction would have been involved and they have not.

“Sylvain had tried to pass me into the final corner and ran extremely wide. I was able to accelerate well with a good line - unlike Sylvain who lost all acceleration and tried to cut my line by continuing to turn left after the exit of the turn. Our paths crossed and I was very lucky not to crash (even a piece was broken from my boot) when he collided with me. Unfortunately Sylvain fell from his machine.

Picture evidence also shows that I gave more than ample room on the exit of the turn and was almost in the middle of the circuit, and ahead, at the point of contact.

“Despite this, I still deem it to simply be a racing incident in much the same way I deemed the start of Race 1 to have been a ‘racing incident’ when Sylvain hit me off the line after making a poor start and, as in the other collision, turned left to cut my line. Once again I was lucky not to crash, but I accepted the mistake and said nothing.

“Sylvain is a hugely talented racer and it is a great shame that this behaviour and these comments have occurred. Despite all of this, I do of course still wish Sylvain a full and speedy recovery.

“I understand we as a team are very much in the media spotlight, which is ever increasing, as is the number of other riders commenting on our racing. I can only take this as a huge compliment as Team Bimota Alstare, my team mate Ayrton Badovini and even myself are proving what strong competition we are now, and will be in the future.”