Vital Points As Iddon Bounces Back From Free Practice Fall

Christian Iddon, BSB, Brands HatchOur words and pics as Christian Iddon has a tough weekend at Brands Hatch…

It was a weekend of consolidation for erstwhile Championship leader, Christian Iddon, at Brands Hatch in Kent. The Tyco BMW rider forced to settle for points whilst struggling to get the bike set up to his liking.

Iddon, from Stockport, headed the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship as the Series headed to ‘The garden of England’ for rounds 5&6 of the 2016 season, around Brands Hatch’s shorter ‘Indy’ layout.

The ultra-competitive nature of BSB meant that more than twenty riders were regularly lapping the 1.2mile track within a second of each other throughout Free Practice and Qualifying.

Christian was struggling to get a setup, and get to grips with the handling of his Tyco BMW, the result of this being a fall on Friday, finding himself sat on the grass on the exit of Graham Hill bend when he lost the front end during Free Practice.

Qualifying a disappointing 11th place, Iddon took solace from the fact that he had been merely three-hundredths of a second off going through to Superpole, where the top nine riders fight it out for Pole Position.

Race One saw Christian pass the chequered flag where he started, in 11th place. While Race Two he claimed 7th spot from 13th on the grid, with some last minute changes helping Iddon’s handling issues.

“It’s been a difficult one” explained Iddon, “definitely the most difficult weekend of the season so far.

“I’ve basically been chasing ‘front-end feeling’ all weekend. I went down on the front on Friday afternoon [in Free Practice], so I was on the limit of where we were at and the way I was riding the bike.

“We made a big change for Race One, which was a big risk, it was a step forward but still just off where I needed to be. We then made two more changes before Race Two, which absolutely transformed the bike.

“I’m actually going home feeling really positive, obviously we’ve got no trophies, 11th and 7th isn’t what we’ve come to expect, but were still 3rd in the Championship, the second Race I had the second fastest lap [on ideal], so it shows that once we get the bike back to how I feel I can ride it, we’ve got the pace.

“Two points scoring finishes and we’ve just got to look forward to the next round now at Knockhill” summarised Christian.

Iddon now sits third in the Championship, behind the Kawasaki of Leon Haslam, and the Shane Byrne’s Ducati, just seven points off the top, as they head next to Knockhill in Scotland on the 24-26th June.

Our photos of Christian in action at Brands Hatch can be found HERE.