VisionTrack Ducati’‘s Christian Iddon may have only led this year’’s Bennetts British Superbike Championship for just a few hours at Donington Park on Sunday but he goes into the final three rounds very much as a serious title contender.

Second place behind Andrew Irwin in the opening round of the weekend saw him move to the top of the title standings but although he wasn’’t able to replicate that result in the two dry races, finishing fourth and sixth, he’’s only 16 points adrift of team-mate Josh Brookes as they head to Brands Hatch in just under two weeks time.

““The main focus was to leave Donington Park still with a good chance of the championship and I’’ve managed that and got the boxes ticked. It was good to get on the podium in the first race in the damp conditions and although I struggled in certain parts, I was good on the brakes,” said Iddon.

““When Glenn went down it muddled my head a bit in terms of championship positions, but I knew it was important not to do anything stupid so tried to pressure Andrew as much as possible as it wasn’’t easy leading in those conditions.””

The Tyneside-based rider was unable to repeat that performance in the first dry race of the weekend but bounced back in the final race to limit his losses and ensure he goes to Brands right in the thick of the title chase.

““I struggled quite a lot in the second race with a couple of issues but although we improved the bike for the final race fourth was the best I could do although maybe I should have tried a different plan in hindsight.”

““I’’m just 16 points off the championship lead with all to play for at Brands Hatch, although we missed a couple of opportunities to close the gap today but either way, I’’m looking forward to it.””