Prior to the weekend, Glenn Irwin had never finished on the podium in a British Superbike Championship race at Knockhill let alone win one, but he brought an end to that statistic in emphatic style with two victories north of the border.
It could have been a clean sweep too had he not made a rare mistake in the second race, slipping off at the hairpin, but with three wins and eight podiums already to his name this season, the BeerMonster Ducati rider’s title credentials are clear.
“It was a tough start to the weekend, and we knew it would be a strong track for our rivals, but we improved in every practice session, and I knew when we took pole that we could have a good weekend,” the BeerMonster Ducati rider said.
“We made another change to the bike ahead of Saturday’s race and it was so enjoyable. I wanted to be precise, composed and at one with the bike.”
Irwin was well on course to take the second race win with another composed ride seeing him work his way through the pack and take the lead with seven laps to go.
However, he ran ever-so-slightly wide at the hairpin and slid off, much to everyone’s surprise; it would be his only mistake in an otherwise faultless weekend.
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Indeed, he bounced back in superb style and put in a similar ride in the final race of the weekend, only this time without the fall, to take his 13th career BSB victory and slot into third in the title standings, eight points behind team-mate Tommy Bridewell.
Looking as confident as he’s ever done in BSB, both on and off the bike, it’s clear Irwin’s only interested in the title in 2023.
“It’s a shame what happened in Sunday’s first race as I could have been coming away with a hat-trick but I’m happy with the two wins we had and, like, Saturday, I really, really enjoyed the final race.”
“I could see Tommy in the lead and knew when it was time to up the pace as whilst he was strong in some areas, I felt strong all around the circuit.
"He improved his braking into the hairpin all weekend, but the BeerMonster Ducati was strong out of the hairpin, and I was able to make my move along the straight and into the first corner. Two wins out of three means it’s been a pretty good weekend.”
