Christian Iddon narrowly missed out on the podium at Thruxton in the latest British Superbikes event at Thruxton.
The TYCO BMW rider couldn’t repeat his Brands Hatch heroics – he was in line for third place in race two but was pipped at the post by JG Speedfit Kawasaki racer Leon Haslam.
Iddon had struggled with tyre wear throughout free practice, working hard with the team to get the best from them around the notoriously abrasive Thruxton track, leaving him with little time to show his outright pace.
When he finally did, in qualifying, the Stockport rider claimed fourth on the grid in Superpole around the UK’s fastest track.
Selecting the harder tyres, in an effort to reduce the effects of wear, meant Iddon would always be on the back foot, when the entire front row were on the softer tyre.
Despite dropping a couple of places on the opening lap, Iddon clawed them back, only for the race to be neutralised under the safety car for five laps.
As the race got back under way, the former Supermoto champion dropped two places once again, to sixth.
But with five laps remaining he nicked fifth place back of Jason O’Halloran [Honda] and stayed there until the chequered flag.
Iddon, starting seventh, dropped a place on the opening lap of race two, but clawed his way up to fourth place in a battle with Haslam.
With just one lap to go he inherited third place, in a repeat of his outing at Brands Hatch two weeks earlier, but with Haslam breathing down his neck it was going to be nip and tuck at the line, squeezing through to take third place on the last lap of the race, leaving Iddon in fourth, just 0.240secs behind the 2016 BSB Championship runner-up.
“I came in to the weekend knowing that I had pace, as I had pace here last year, but knowing it was all about tyres,”said Iddon.
“From the outset, from the very first lap of free practice, we were doing two race runs every session to see what we can do.
“So it was frustrating from a riding point of view because I wasn’t really able to let loose and show the potential that I had until qualifying.
“That was good as we qualified quite well, and I was happy that once I got to ride the bike how we wanted to that we had the pace.
“It’s a strong haul of points with a fourth and a fifth, and normally we’d be quite happy with that, but with those around us in the showdown taking massive points hauls it’s been a little bittersweet.”
Elsewhere there was a podium for Knutsford rider Adam Jenkinson in the Pirelli Superstock 1000 race.
The NEI Racing rider led for much of the race but was narrowly beaten by the Suzuki of Richard Cooper. The gap at the flag just 0.083secs to Jenkinson in second place.