Christian Iddon saved the best until last at Brands Hatch at the weekend with victory in the final Bennetts British Superbike Championship race ensuring he left the Kent venue as the championship leader.

The VisionTrack Ducati had come into the meeting as leader but briefly lost it to Jason O’Halloran after the Yamaha rider won Sunday’s first race and Iddon was back in fifth.

However, an inspired tyre choice looked like it would give him the win in the final race of the weekend only for a red flag to intervene but he didn’t let the stoppage deter him and took the spoils in a frenetic seven lap dash.

“Finishing third in Saturday’s race was obviously good but it was a really hard race and a bit of a re-run of the race last October when I was in the leading pack but didn’t have the pace to win. I was just missing those last couple of tenths to push for the win,” said the Stockport rider.

The team made changes to the Ducati Panigale V4 RR for Sunday’s opener but he again encountered a lack of grip in the closing stages and had to settle for fifth, having ran in second for the first half of the race.

The damp conditions for the closing race then saw him fit a slick front and an intermediate rear and it was a clear the race would have been his had it gone the full race distance as his pace was superior to anyone else’s and he was all set to take the lead when it was stopped.

Nevertheless, he put the disappointment behind him and used it to his advantage, channelling his aggression into the seven lap dash which he took from Tarran Mackenzie by just 0.075s for his second win of the season.

“I was a bit disappointed after the first race where I struggled a bit for grip in the second half of the race but everything was looking good in the second as my tyre choice was really coming into its own. I was really wound up after the red flag came out though and determined that the re-start was going to be mine.

“In such a short race, I didn’t have to worry about tyre life and I could just go for it which is exactly what I did. It was an amazing race and I was surprised at the pace we were all going at but I’m just glad I was able to get the job done, keep my lead in the championship and pick up a good haul of podium credits.”