Rhys and Caolán Irwin from Kilmacrennan, County Donegal,
both took very positive results away from the third round of the British
Superbike Championship at Donington Park on Saturday and Sunday last (May 25th
& 26th), as they both achieved their best results of the season.
Younger brother Rhys put in his best British Talent Cup
performance so far, to take fourth place in Saturday's race one, having battled
in the lead group throughout the race. Racing in Superstock 600 Caolán overcame
handling problems in qualifying and a mechanical issue in Sunday's race, to
pick up sixth place.
Qualifying went well for Rhys as he grabbed fifth on the
grid, just a tenth of a second off a front row start. In Saturday's opening
race he then got away with the leaders and was in the thick of the action
throughout, moving himself into third with six of the twenty four laps left to
run. Just as the Kilmacrennan based youngster was about to make his move to the
front he was pushed wide by a rival and dropped back to seventh with just three
laps to go. An excellent recovery over the remaining laps saw him retake fourth
place by the flag to remain third in the championship.
For Sunday's second race Rhys once again started fifth, but
was immediately in trouble as he finished the first lap in tenth place. By the
end of lap two he was twelfth and by the mid point of the race was really
struggling as his lap times were more than four seconds off the fastest. As the
riders headed onto the final lap Rhys was in danger of dropping out of the
points completely, as he sat fourteenth, but a last lap incident for the race
leaders moved him up to tenth place at the flag, allowing him to rescue fourth
in the championship standings. After the race it was discovered that a major
problem with Rhys's front tyre had been at the root of his difficulties and
that he had performed remarkably under the circumstances.
While Rhys had two races over the weekend, older brother
Caolán would race on Sunday only. Handling difficulties in practice, as the
team continue to to get to grips with his Clean Rubber and Oasis Bar backed
Kawasaki, left him in a disappointing thirteenth after practice. Changes for
qualifying helped him to jump up to seventh place and further changes to the
bike overnight saw an improvement to third in the warm up session giving the
team confidence for the race.
A steady start to Sunday's race put Caolán in eight place at
the end of lap one, but he then began a series of very fast and consistent laps
which saw him close the gap to the leaders, while gradually moving up to fifth.
In the closing stages, while still in touch with the lead group, Caolán was
reeling in the fourth placed rider when an issue developed with his steering
damper. Unable to maintain his pace the Donegal native somehow managed to hold
on for sixth place, and his first points of the season.
Speaking after the race the two Irwin Racing riders had
mixed feelings about the weekend. “It was a tough weekend” said Rhys after race
two. “Going from almost winning Saturday's race to fading away on Sunday was
tough to take but I had to keep my head down and make the best of the
situation. In the end Saturday's fourth place, and sticking with the bike on
Sunday despite the difficulties, has kept me in the championship hunt and I will
use the disappointment of Sunday's race to fire me up for the next one, at
Snetterton in July.”
Caolán Irwin said of his weekend. “While I was a bit
deflated when I reached the end of the race, looking back on it now its been a
great weekend as we have made so much progress with the bike. The R4R Team were
brilliant and they listened to me when I said something was not right. Together
we got to the bottom of it and I had great pace by the time we came to the
race. Despite my mechanical issue we've now got points on the board and a good
base setting to go to Brands Hatch with.”
The Irwin brothers will be back in action at Brands Hatch in
two weeks time with Rhys returning to the Moto3 Standard Class and Caolán
continuing in Superstock 600.
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