BSB: Irwin ruffles feathers on debut

Andrew Irwin ruffled feathers as he made his BSB debut filling in for Shane Byrne in the Be Wiser Ducati team at Snetterton this weekend.

The Ulsterman turned heads by making an appearance in the top ten throughout free practice before qualifying 12^th for Sunday’s opening race, but an ambitious move at turn two saw him dramatically crash out taking Dan Linfoot, Jason O’Halloran and Michael Laverty with him.

A little more cautious in race two, he was able to benefit from a number of retirements to take an impressive top ten result and will now turn his focus to becoming more ‘Superbike fit’ ahead of the next round at Knockhill.

“I think all in all, it’s been a positive weekend,” he told MCN.  “Coming here I would have taken a top ten no problem, but I’m a racer and I always want more. The crash upset my rhythm a bit, it was my fault and I made a mistake and I’m sorry to the guys involved.

“I’ll go away from here and try and put on some muscle between now and Knockhill. I’ve been trying to lose weight for the last few years for Supersport but now I need to put on a few kilos to be able to handle the big Superbike. I’m looking forward to the rest of the year and think we can continue to build, if we can be inside the top ten regularly then that’s a good job for a first year in superbike.”