Christian Iddon took his second win of 2021 as the Visiontrack Ducati rider claimed victory at the latest round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch.
Stockport’s Iddon arrived in Kent as championship leader, but seventh on the grid for the opening encounter of the weekend gave him plenty to do.
Race one on Saturday was red-flagged early on, but from the restart Iddon immediately made progress, taking four places on the opening lap to claim the final podium spot, where he would finish 12 laps later.
Sunday looked to be bringing mixed weather conditions, though race two was a dry affair, starting third Iddon was a part of a five-way scrap for the lead, running as high as second for some time, but it was a ‘disappointing’ fifth place at the flag.
Rain ahead of the third and final race of the weekend caused a stir on the grid with riders and teams making tyre choices as they sat waiting on the grid.
An inspired tyre selection from Iddon and his crew saw him flying as the race progressed, but an engine failure for a fellow competitor saw the race red-flagged as he hunted down the leader.
Much to Iddon’s frustration, the whole field were allowed to change tyres during the stoppage, but he didn’t let it cause him any problems, setting about claiming his second win of 2021 despite challenges from Danny Buchan [BMW] and Jason O’Halloran [Yamaha].
Iddon said afterwards: “I was a bit disappointed after the first race where I struggled a bit for grip in the second half of the Race but everything was looking good in the second as my tyre choice was really coming into their own.
“I was really wound up after the red flag came out and determined that the re-start was going to be mine. In such a short race, I didn’t have to worry about tyre life and I could just go for it which is exactly what I did!
“It was an amazing race and I was surprised at the pace we were all going at but I’m just glad I was able to get the job done, keep my lead in the championship and pick up a good haul of podium credits.”
The British Superbike Championship now heads for Thruxton in Hampshire over the weekend of July 30 to August 1.