Be Wiser Ducati’s Glenn Irwin is ‘over the moon’ after he extended his contract with the Paul Bird outfit for another season. It is the first time in the Northern Irishman’s career that he has remained with a team for three consecutive seasons.

He was close to being an MCE British Superbike showdown contender, but he experienced an horrific crash at Knockhill and he dislocated both his shoulder and elbow and suffered nerve damage too. But Irwin fought hard to get back to fitness and even won his first BSB race at Silverstone.

As he has been injured it meant that he lost out on a place in the top six and is now chasing the Riders Cup accolade. But his main aim is to support his team-mate Shane Byrne who is fighting to win the BSB title once again.

“It is really, really good and it is the first time in my life that I have stayed in a team for three years and in the past we have done two years. I think that continuity always works and I was showing that this year until my accident,” said Irwin, speaking to bikesportnews.com from the track.

“Now we can focus on the short term to do everything I can to help the team win the title. The Ducati is a fantastic package and I am over the moon and I am grateful and I can’t wait to repay him with good results.

“To come back and still be a bit hampered by the injury to get the win at Silverstone that was the one thing I wanted this year was to make the showdown and win a race and the showdown was taken out of our hands.

“We didn’t finish that many points off it and we are content and we might go to Spain over the winter for a month and bring the cycle bike out and really up the effort and look at the guys at the very top and what they are doing and join them.

“I had two breaks to my shoulder and one on my elbow and both were dislocated and I had nerve damage. It was quite bad, I think if I was at the end of my career I think you would jack it in but I have hopefully got another 15 years plus and it is time to crack on and see what I can do.

“Throughout my injury I was not put under any pressure and it is time to go out and yes there is the riders cup but the key thing is to be a team player and from now on in is that Shakey wins the title and I can claw are few points and hopefully that trophy is sitting in the Be Wiser garage at the end of the year.”