When Glenn Irwin won Saturday’s Bennetts British Superbike Championship race at Silverstone, confirming his place in the Showdown on Sunday looked a formality. It was anything but though as changes to bike set up led to some nervy moments for the Honda Racing rider.

The weekend couldn’t have started any better for the Carrickfergus man as he timed his move to perfection in Saturday's race only leading across the line when he took the chequered flag for his first win of the season.
 
“It was a chaotic race but I didn’t want to be one of those riders making lunges at the beginning,” Irwin said afterwards. “I had to play it quite safe but with about eight laps to go, I saw that Jason [O'Halloran] was starting to push and I felt okay.
 
“The final sector wasn’t our best and I was losing a little bit of traction from both the front and rear and was understeering a lot. But a win was a great way to kick-start the Showdown decider.
 
“We put ourselves under the maximum pressure but I like that because I think that's when I perform and I was really happy with how Saturday went. When the Fireblade is good like it was on Saturday, I'm up to fight for the wins and podiums. It gave me a 32 point buffer with regards to the Showdown for Sunday’s races and to lose that would have been silly.”
 
However, that buffer considerably shrunk in the first encounter around the 1.64-mile National circuit when he could only manage 13th and although two of his Showdown rivals, Lee Jackson and Danny Buchan, were only just ahead of him in 11th and 12th, two more, Josh Brookes and Bradley Ray, took third and fourth to crank up the pressure.
 
It set up a thrilling final race with three Showdown places still up for grabs. As positions changed on track, so too did those in sixth to eighth in the Showdown but ninth place in the shortened 15-lap race ultimately sealed Irwin’s spot in sixth overall.
 
“A place in the Showdown was the goal coming into this weekend, I didn't think we would get a race win with the form of Yamaha and Suzuki from the past two seasons at Silverstone so to tick that off in race one was amazing.
 
“For race two, we tried something with the bike and today was a day we could slightly get away with it with the points buffer. It wasn't too detrimental to us but it set us up for a nervy last race!
 
“I was riding round calculating the points, and wondering 'if I crashed out now would I still have a place in the Showdown'. Sunday was an enjoyable day though and the Fireblade in race three was a big step from the bike we had in race two, set-up wise.
 
“I didn’t have the smoothest start to the season from a technical point of view and then suffered an injury so it hasn’t been easy but to make the Showdown, and go into it with some podium credits, is very pleasing.”