VisionTrack Ducati’s Christian Iddon remained philosophical after the Bennetts British Superbike visit to Cadwell Park, securing a best result of fifth after failing to finish one of the races.

Despite the spill, his fourth in three rounds – two of which weren’t his fault – he moved up from third to joint second overall in the title standings although Jason O’Halloran’s win and two second-place finishes means he’s now 33 podium credits clear of the Tyneside-based rider.

The weekend started well with a hard fought fifth on Saturday, an impressive ride from ninth on the grid at a circuit where overtaking’s notoriously difficult due to its tight and twisty nature.

“I was quite content with the result and after qualifying about where our pace suggested we should be, I had a much better race,” Iddon said. “I didn’t make the greatest of starts so it was hard work but we made good strides forward.”

“With about three to four laps to go, I thought I may be able to make it onto the podium. It wasn’t to be but it was a hard fought fifth place and I felt that if we could improve the performance in a couple of sectors, I’d be in a better position in Sunday’s races.”

His strong pace during the race translated into third on the grid and a front row start for Sunday’s opener and he was running comfortably in the same position in the early stages of the race before losing the front at Charlie’s on lap four.

However, despite having to start from 12th and the fourth row for the final race at Cadwell, he bounced back to take a solid seventh. With Tarran Mackenzie opting out of the races - due to injuring his hand during Saturday’s contest - the duo are now tied in second in the table as they continue to take the fight to the in-form O’Halloran.

“Being third and on the front row for Sunday’s first race was definitely a much better starting point but you make your own luck in this game and that’s two crashes in two meetings which have been my fault. When added to the ones when I’ve been knocked off, it’s disappointing in one way but with Taz not riding, I’ve somehow managed to climb to second in the title.”

“In truth, we’ve chased our tail all weekend and I’ve not found a suitable setting despite the team working so hard. We were hoping to get some more data in race two to help for the final race but the crash scuppered that. We now regroup and head to Snetterton in a positive frame of mind as that’s where I got my maiden win last year.”