Christian Iddon’s ‘home’ round of the British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park saw his title hopes evaporate as the Stockport rider didn’t manage to muster up enough points to get into the top six.
Iddon had ridden strongly throughout Free Practice, saving his best ’til last in FP3, setting the fastest time of all aboard his Tyco BMW S1000RR, in drying conditions around the Cheshire parkland track’s International circuit.
The former Super Moto champion’s free practice pace didn’t translate into qualifying, however, Christian missing the cut to progress through to Q3 by just two-tenths of a second, on the incredibly competitive BSB grid, and having to settle for 13th place, of the 30 riders competing.
It was all or nothing for Iddon, having gone on the record admitting he had ‘nothing to lose, and everything to gain’.
But it wasn’t to be, Race One was to end sooner than hoped, taking a tumble on lap seven of e18.
As a result of his good pace, Iddon would line up eighth for Race Two, but all but mathematically out of the Showdown running.
After straight-lining the chicane on the opening lap, Iddon would complete lap one in twentieth place, but despite hitting neutral on the exit of Druids bend and losing a couple more places, he would claw back nine places to finish 11th overall.
The final race of the weekend left Iddon feeling much more positive, setting the fastest lap and claiming ninth place from 13th on the grid.
He said: It [Race 3] went well, I honestly felt at one point that we had the pace to win it.
“I had a bit of a technical problem during the Safety Car period that made the second half of the race a bit difficult. But fastest lap showed we were heading in the right direction.
“We’ve made progress with the bike this weekend; now we need to refine it”.
Iddon is next in action this coming weekend, September 16-17, as the BSB Championship rumbles in to Donington Park, in Leicestershire.
Jenkinson on the podium
Elsewhere there was a podium for Knutsford rider Adam Jenkinson on his NEI Motorsport BMW in the Superstock 1000 category.
Jenkinson had closely followed the leading trio for much of the race, but was quick to pounce as Taylor Mackenzie and Ian Hutchinson made contact ahead of him, at the final corner, ‘Jenko’ taking second place behind Joshua Elliott. Wilmslow rider, Sam West finished in 20th place.
In the Superstock 600 Race, Stockport rider Ben Luxton took ninth place overall, climbing from 14th on the grid of 34 riders.
