Motorcycle PPE

Due to the imminent arrival of my new road bike, I have been forced to consider my bike riding gear. For years now I’ve ridden almost exclusively on track so wore only one-piece race leathers. However in days of yore I rode sports bikes, enduro bikes, supermotos and commuter bikes so have a bit of a collection of ageing gear.

My new bike is a middleweight adventure bike. I hate the term ‘adventure bike’, it makes me sound like a wannabe Charlie Boorman ….

…oh. Oh dear. That’s exactly what I am. In fact I’ve followed the absolute archetypal bike rider career progression – early hacks like 1200 Bandits with flat bars, then onto sportsbikes I wasn’t good enough to ride, dabbling at riding dirt bikes – very badly, then thinking I’m a hero wobbling round on trackdays, then racing a bike too powerful for me before finding that less is more and realising racing a pizza bike is the most fun you can have on two wheels. And now I’ve reached that stage where you buy a bike capable of completing the Dakar and envisage yourself riding round the world on it when actually it’ll go through some muddy puddles and potholes three miles outside Reading every third Sunday. But this is the path we must follow. My only claim to non-conformity is I didn’t buy a GS…

Being a self-righteous sort of guy and a stickler for rules, in my early riding days I was one of those people who tutted at the very thought of riding a motorbike without donning every available item of personal protection. I would complain at the sight of blokes wearing trainers on superbikes or not wearing gloves or riding in T-shirts blown half way up their backs. You see I had ‘educated myself’ on the damage that even a small accident can have and therefore I was wearing the ‘right’ bike gear whilst these oiks clearly didn’t understand what would happen if they crashed (and many of them rode in a manner which would greatly increase the odds of an off). So these riders must be ignorant of the risks they were taking, I assumed. This, I now recognise, was me being my pretentious little self.

Risk assessment is personal. And that is intentional. And that is also highly desirable. Because the alternative is the suppression of free thinking and the imposition of draconian rules on aspects of our lives which we currently have personal control over.

This was highlighted recently when JD Sports advertised Nike trainers by showing them being worn by someone wheelying a motorbike down a street. The motorcycle industry threw their hands up in horror and condemned the advert as ‘irresponsible’ for encouraging people to wear non-PPE gear when riding a bike. But the reality is that this is exactly what we see on our streets every day. Whether it be a fifteen year old R1 or a little gangster’s Surron on its back wheel, I’ll see riders in trainers every day. That’s the choice a lot of people make – the ad was simply a reflection of our daily reality.

Maybe I’m not their target market?

So what is it that the motorcycle industry wants?

Are they suggesting that it should be illegal to wear trainers on a powered bike? No, because that would decimate the number of legitimate motorcycle riders overnight. Bikes are expensive. Helmets, gloves, expensive. If you then need CE-approved PPE boots, trousers and jacket on top? Well that rules out bikes as anything other than rich people’s toys and will destroy bike sales figures – and in turn will destroy the businesses of those who sell accessories and apparel. (And you can forget your Deliveroo and Just Eat economy if the riders on scooters have to buy £2k worth of protective gear before delivering your soggy kebab.) It is an unavoidable fact that to sell bike gear you must have people on bikes.

If the bike industry wants to avoid mandatory protective equipment (other than helmets), what does it want? It seems it wants exclusivity on influence over bike riders. It wants to be able to decide what images bike riders see so that this can maximise sales of ‘protective’ bike gear. You see, there’s an important point to note – since 2018, all clothing sold as motorcycle clothing must be examined and rated for CE approval. This instantly creates a tangible difference between what you buy in Top Shop (does that still exist?) and what you buy in SportsBikeShop. And that’s just perfect for motorcycle apparel suppliers who can now say that you need to buy your gear from them. If it’s not CE marked then it isn’t biking gear. And they want to make sure we all believe that wearing anything other than biking gear is irresponsible. Hence the objection to the mere inference by JD Sports that wearing trainers on a bike is anything other than lunacy.

But here’s the rub – simply buying something approved for motorcycle use is no guarantee of the level of safety it provides to you – it really only ensures it is made of materials that offer some protection. Pop in to your local SportsBikeShop and just look at the range of CE clothing they have, from shirts to hoodies to jeans. The choice is vast and nobody but nobody can convince me that some of that gear isn’t next to useless for protecting flesh and bone. Which is why you need a grading system which determines how much impact and abrasion protection any garment theoretically provides.

Testing of equipment intended for motorcycle use was originally based on the Cambridge standard, formally introduced in EN 13595:2002 – it was mandatory but never enforced. This standard was ignored by the vast majority of manufacturers (the same ones preaching we must wear approved safety gear).

Then the EU introduced EN 17092:2020 which came into effect in 2018, this standard was mandatory and enforced. The standard reduced the impact zones tested from four to three and, critically, changed from the Cambridge standard of abrasion testing to what is considered a less rigorous test, known as Darmstadt. They also removed any test for cut impact. EN 17092:2020 has five levels, C, B, A, AA and AAA. Class C is impact protection only (abrasion protection is expected to be provided by a second garment) whilst class B does not provide any impact protection. So A to AAA is where you need to be at for road riding.

Image courtesy of BKS Leathers

Given that AAA is a less rigorous test than what went before, it isn’t the pinnacle of what can be achieved with the right gear. Those garments which exceeded the AAA requirements are now categorised with all other AAA garments with no way of differentiating. Given that the tests offer no absolute numbers which a rider can use (eg how long will it take to wear through on surface type x when worn by rider type y) then all grades are only ever relative to other grades – ie AAA will hold together longer than AA in the same situation. This suggests that there are only three categories of clothing (approved, better than approved and better again) which to me seems far too indiscriminate.

The request for additional higher standards to which the very best gear could align has been repeatedly denied. The UK, outside of EU, is free to add its own 4A (AAAA), 5A, 6A categories should it choose, but for some reason the representatives of some of the largest brands claiming to have your safety as their priority have blocked it. So they want you to be safe, just not too safe. According to them AAA is good enough for anyone and there’s no point in exceeding the standard as you’ll still only ever be able to claim AAA. This is deliberate, because categorising items above AAA would highlight the weaknesses in modern, lighter fabrics which are good enough to achieve AAA but would never pass the Cambridge test the way leather or heavier/multi-layered textiles can. In other words it gives manufacturers much more scope for variety whilst still claiming the ‘highest’ level of protection.

All of this needs to be taken in context. How much protection do you want? Are you prepared to sacrifice comfort for ultimate protection? Could sacrificing comfort add to the risk of a crash? Probably most importantly – does your gear fit well? The best lid on the market is next to useless if it is the wrong size and high impact resistance in your body armour is no good if your baggy hoodie allows the armour to twist out of the way of the impact zone. And at the end of the day if someone drives over you, no armour is going to help.

And rarely is anything related to crash protection as obvious as it appears. Helmets, for example, certainly reduce the number of deaths. But do they create more brain injury patients instead? Some studies show that open face helmets provide minimal protection against facial trauma and brain injury compared to no helmet, so why are they legal?

So you want an open face helmet?

If the bike industry wants to convince us to buy their gear, they need to invest in educating people and being transparent. Educate them on risk and how to mitigate it. Be clear about what protective gear can and cannot achieve. And don’t condemn others who offer an alternative view – if it’s a stupid view it should be easy to overcome with intelligent marketing. I’m not their target market – I’m already convinced of the importance of the right gear and I also trust my own judgement based on years of experience. I’ll go to the shops on my step-through wearing nothing more protective than full face lid and mx gloves. I know it’ll hurt if I come off, but I understand that risk. Yes, my neighbour will tell me to ‘protect the NHS’ by wearing protective gear – but he drinks like a fish, is five stone overweight and hasn’t exercised in his life so forgive me if I give him short shrift.

In other words, do your homework. JD Sports don’t care for your wellbeing, but then neither does much of the bike industry – they care about selling stuff. One resource I have been impressed with is the Bennetts Bike Social site. They undertake independent testing and have introduced higher standards to differentiate the most protective equipment on the market. They also provide some great insight from experts such as THIS PAPER. Here’s a GREAT ARTICLE echoing my thoughts above. Here’s an INDEPENDENT REVIEW of the regulations highlighting that EN 13595 was intended to co-exist with the new EN 17092 until 17092 was amended to allow for higher classifications than AAA. See HERE for Bennett’s list of equipment tested and proven to exceed AAA rating.

The following is a quote from Brian Samson (BKS) provided to Bennetts Bike Social:
“In the beginning, there was an assurance that EN 13595 would be left in place until EN 17092 was first revised and with that there was hope of both standards being merged to create AAAA (4A), AAAAA (5A) and maybe even a 6A level. It would appear that interest has never got going from the powers that be, but resistance to higher specifications than are currently provided by EN 17092 AAA do not serve riders’ interests – they only serve those whose commercial interests who are satisfied by the current version of EN 17092. Surely as any manufacturer of PPE, you would encourage the highest levels of safety for the end users you all serve?”

As a very happy existing customer of BKS, they were where I ended up when I couldn’t make sense of the classifications of textile clothes. They achieve Bennett’s Diamond Plus with their TEXTILE SUIT that is provided to police riders across the country, so that’s what I’ve gone with. In fact they have discovered they can achieve better abrasion test results with textile suits than leather – which is why the police forces across the country are now moving to the more comfortable textiles.

I do think the bike industry is missing a trick here. Adding AAAA and AAAAA rating won’t undermine sales of AAA in my opinion – it’s about context and risk. If you are transparent about what each means, each rider can decide for themselves. Got plenty of money and dislike skin grafts? Just buy as many ‘A’s as you can afford. On a budget or not bothered about having the last word in protection and prefer a lighter fabric? Stick with an AAA. It’s about enabling bikers to make educated choices rather than trying to force-feed us mediocre kit and hobbling the top end guys by removing their ability to differentiate.

It’s an ill wind…

…that blows nobody any good. Or so they say. Well it was a strong wind at Donington Park at the weekend, whether it was ill or not I’m not qualified to say but it definitely blew us good.

We popped up to Donington Park weekend last to take in the sights, sounds and smells of the 2024 BSB grid of high performance racing motorcycles. We won’t make it to the first round in Navarra, Spain, for various reasons – the main one being cost, frankly. If we could make a longer trip of it then maybe, but with flights, hire car and hotels it becomes an eye-watering cost for two days trackside. So we thought we’d take in the weekend practice session and take the opportunity to catch up with Glenn.

We’re delighted to be sponsoring Glenn again this year and we’re looking forward to supporting a one-man team. Last year PBM was a big beast with two distinct sides to the garage, this year 100% of the focus is on our man. Hospitality will now be a more traditional setup with members of the great unwashed able to pay princely sums to come and sit near us on race Sunday, last year was a very private setup with very restricted entry. Paul liked to do things his way, Jordan has a different approach.

The weather was rather exciting at the weekend, with virtually no rain but dramatic high winds. Some awnings suffered as a result and a few people woke up rather seasick after a night sleeping in swaying vans and trailers. Watching the take-offs from East Midlands was fun. Heidi even had to deploy the Coucon (Irish Dry Robe) on Sunday such were the conditions. It was last seen in the wild on Anglesay in 2017 in similarly harsh conditions. There was a decent crowd there on Saturday but much fewer on Sunday thanks to a poor forecast – however there was no meaningful rain until late on. Hats off to Donington who did have some food stalls open and had the bar and canteen open all weekend.

Packed stands

So what did we learn from two days of practice? Really, not a lot, as expected. The top Hondas, Yamahas and Ducatis were all competitive – the Honda being the unknown going into the weekend and turning out impressive results with Irwin and Bridewell spinning some fast laps. The OMG boys were near the top all weekend and Mr Ryde spolied PBM’s weekend by pipping Glenn to fastest overall. PBM didn’t have much to prove and Glenn did his usual of getting on with the job in hand grinding away on scrubs until deciding to stick in new tyres and destroying the best lap time. Hats off to Kyle for coming back and bettering it by banging in the only 1:27 lap of the weekend – the youth has some pace.

Next outing is Navarra on 20/21st April which will be more telling as the teams prepare for the first races there, two weeks after that it’s Oulton Park over the Bank Holiday weekend leading straight into the North West 200 which leads straight into Donington Park. May will be a busy month for Glenn.

When it comes to pit lane fashion, Andrew’s Nikes beat Glenn’s Crocs.

At the weekend we popped over to see 2Strokes Racing in the paddock, we met the team lead Pete last year and we really like his plan and how he’s going about it. He has a couple of riders in the BMW 900 cup, we’re going to follow them closely this year. Look them up on Facebook where they have a very active profile, they have big plans for a young Northern Irish lad Joel Haire who looks full of promise.

In other news, my new road bike still isn’t here despite me clearing out the garage in preparation so Triumph better pull their finger out before I get grumpy. The Grom has been cleaned and serviced and will come with me to North West 200 in the back of the van where I’ll deploy it Thunderbirds-fashion to enable rapid progress through heavy traffic between Portrush and Portstewart.

Anyways, let’s see what Navarra brings in a couple of weeks, Glenn looks on top form, is totally relaxed (to the point of nearly missing one of his sessions at the weekend!) and clearly feeling very positive – we’re expecting great things this year. After Spain the madness really begins and we can’t wait!

The End is Nigh!

The long off-season is nearly done. BSB ’24 kicks off in early April with the first test day at Dony GP. Later the same month the circus trundles out to Navarra in Spain for testing and the flyaway Round One. So who is coming out to play?

The following is what the BSB site shows today, note Mr G. Irwin on the list as the sole rider on the PBM Racing Team.

This promises to be another exciting season with a few changes amongst the top riders, a couple of big teams keeping the same bikes/riders and some new blood – as well as the return of Mr Skinner for TAS.

Heidi and myself are again proudly sponsoring Glenn and look forward to him being in a one man team this year with none of the distractions of another petulant rider sharing his garage. I’m not sure we’ll make Navarra and we won’t be going to Knockhill but we intend to be everywhere else including NW200 for a full season supporting Glenn as he aims to go one better than last year.

What have we been up to during the off-season? Mostly boating on the Solent, we have access to a bunch of different powerboats this year so I’ve been taking every opportunity to try to freeze/scare Heidi to death on the water. It’s something I’ve long wanted to get into and I’m loving the ability to get out on the water despite some genuinely baltic conditions over the winter. Heidi will be doing her Level 2 Powerboating this year too and hopefully we’ll get some good weather between BSB rounds to enjoy the water.

Having stopped riding in circles a couple of years ago now, the biking itch has increased to the point where I’ve had to give in and buy a road bike – it arrives in April. I bought a 125 step-through a year ago and have loved it for running to the shops but it has generated a want in me that called for something bigger. As older men do, I’ve bought a big adventure bike, a Tiger 900 Rally Pro. It’s big and tall and bouncy and promises to be a lot of fun once I learn how to hold it upright.

So let’s get this BSB party started, it’ll start with a bang this season, I’ll be driving straight to Portrush from Oulton Park at the start of May for the NW200 the following weekend and Donington Park the weekend after that – but then no racing for us until start of July as we won’t bother with Knockhill. After that it’s pretty much racing every other week.

Cannae wait!

I’m A Grumpy Goat

Reading doesn’t have a lot going for it other than fast trains to London. But then again those trains cost over £50 return (for a 25 min journey each way) and the train car park costs £25 per day. So generally speaking Reading doesn’t really have anything going for it.

Reading did have some promise on a retail front years ago, with the building of the Oracle shopping centre with big brands such as House of Fraser on board. Since the plague (and probably predating that if we are honest) the high street experience has gone to absolute shit. HoF is no more and I have vowed to boycott John Lewis for the rest of my life due to treatment I received in their Reading store (which looks like a throwback to the 50s and is run by trolls). There is now no shopping experience which isn’t better online. Shops have no stock, the people who work there are often appallingly bad at their jobs and why should I travel all the way to the shop, pay £10 for the car park, wait in queues, speak with rude people and carry my purchase home when for a better price my friendly delivery man brings it to my door within two days following a couple of clicks on a web page? And if I did ever need to go to a shopping centre, well Bracknell have now done it better.

Even walking through the town is now thoroughly depressing as you have to dodge the screaming junkies and try not to stare at the bizarre life forms who at one extreme have been bloated beyond recognition by a lifetime of takeaways or at the other extreme barely exist as narcotics have rotted them from the inside out. The shops have sharps bins into which they deposit the hypodermic needles they sweep up from their doorstep each morning. Every time I walk through Reading I leave depressed at the state of our society. I suspect this is because the healthier and more fortunate specimens in the region avoid the town now, leaving it as a hangout for those with no purpose, those who need a fix, or those who need another dose of junk food.

‘Why then even go to Reading?’ I hear you ask. Well this brings me to my point – there are, or have been, some reasons to endure the misery that is Reading town centre. The most compelling of these attractions has until now been The Grumpy Goat. It currently resides in Smelly Alley (Union Street) and is a beacon of hope for those who love fine produce. It sells the best craft beer and spirits, world class cheese, fine coffee, it has a great little craft beer bar and makes the best toasties. Or until Saturday it does, at least.

I first found the Grumpy Goat by searching for ‘craft beer’ on Google maps and if my memory serves me I didn’t find it on the first one or two half-hearted attempts as it was tucked away in the Harris Arcade, a little arcade that seems to do everything it can to pretend it doesn’t exist. Beside the pipe tobacco shop, the hat shop, the old comic shop and just before the tattoo shop, was the Grumpy Goat. Capacity in the shop was four people before things got intimate. It was hard to see what was on the shelves because you were stood so close to them! I became a regular there buying both beer and cheese and was delighted when they moved to the new premises in Smelly Alley – a historic title bestowed on the street initially due to the open sewer it housed and subsequently because the fish shops were located there, close to the train station. The last fish shop closed not long ago.

To appreciate the location, I popped along today and took some photos for you. The street is too narrow for Google maps to do a Street view. Here’s what we find…

Quite the shopping experience, you’ll agree. As long as you need a new phone cover every week and you suck chemicals through a plastic pipe. Personally I struggle to believe that any of these businesses can make enough legitimate, (legal) income to cover the rent but the less said about that the better.

There are two shops which I would consider setting foot in, other than the Goat. If I need a key or Cluedo.

And then there is the Grumpy Goat. It has a welcoming wide open front and on-street tables where you can enjoy a lunch, beer, pastries and coffee roasted by our friends at Anonymous. The cheese counter is stocked – and often manned – by world cheese judges (the owners, Anne-Marie and Charlie). Much of the produce is the very best of local and there is a large vegan section. Also behind the vast counter are accompaniments for your cheese, some tasty sweet snacks and other local products such as swaadish curry sauces. Go to the back of the shop and its wall to wall alcohol, with multiple fridges full of craft beer, many from local giants such as Double Barrelled, Siren, Elusive and Phantom as well as legends such as Cloudwater and Verdant.

Pop upstairs to the new bar where they have eight (I think) taps of ever-changing craft beers which are always meticulously maintained in top condition and served by local people who know about beer. It took a long time to get the bar up and running and it has been incredibly popular for both those wanting a quiet afternoon sip of high quality beer or those wanting to enjoy some live music in the evening. But the community around the Goat goes wider than that. They host Craft Theory, Reading’s best craft beer festival. They host running events and dog walks, live music and are very actively involved in other events such as Reading Cheese Feast.

These types of shop are the little gems that Reading so badly needs. They are people who sell the things they love and do it because they want other people to discover what they have. It isn’t about big profits and high turnover, it’s about scraping a living whilst employing locals who want to learn and promoting other small businesses. The shop was a superb place to find some of Berkshire’s best produce all in one place as well as a venue to catch up with the friendly staff and the like-minded clientele.

This shop has been through some things. Moving to a new larger premises three years ago just in time for a pandemic was one challenge. A recent fire at one end of the street (the end where deliveries come in) saw the council close off that end for months on end. But they came through all that only to be given one weeks notice, this week, to vacate the premises. The landlord has instigated a break clause with no negotiation and apparently no explanation. The rent is paid, no arrears, but the landlord wanted to mandate terms which were not viable for the business. Seems he just got a better offer. Just tell the staff there are no jobs, the clients that there is no longer a business, pack up your stock and clear out. Two months before Christmas.

It’s the perfect story to illustrate where we’re at as a country. The land owners run the place, they are also the government and the media. Their assets, not their wages, allow them to become ever wealthier whilst contributing next to nothing while those of us on a wage have half of it taken away in tax before we get it. The tax laws are designed to make the rich richer and to suppress those of us who have to rely on a monthly wage income. And those brave independent businesses who choose to take the path less travelled, who live month to month at the mercy of weather, of trends, of pandemics, of road closures, of Brexit who could never hope to afford to own a premises – well they are at the mercy of their landlords who on a whim can close a business overnight which has taken years and tens of thousands of pounds to build. They can put ten people out of jobs, impact the revenue of multiple suppliers, destroy a small community which has formed as a direct result of the shop and break the hearts and resolve of the owners. As a couple they dreamed up, started, grew and developed this business together.

We are gutted at the loss of the institution that is the Grumpy Goat. We can’t imagine how the owners, staff and suppliers feel. All we can hope for is that they have the appetite to risk it all again so we can get behind them and make it another success.

Goats don’t give up.

BSB At Its Best

BSB @ Brands Hatch GP, October 2023. Where do you start???

Ironically the very end might be the best place to begin (y’all know the results after all). After eleven rounds, thirty-three races, eight different circuits, the title was won by one half of one point. You see it’s not entirely accurate to say there were thirty-three races because race one at the first visit to Brands was cut short and delivered only half points. Hence Glenn finishing on 454.5 points to Tommy’s 455.

It was drama to the very end, quite literally. Last race, at the start of the last lap, had they finished in that order Glenn would have been Northern Ireland’s first ever BSB champion. But half way through the lap Tommy moved from third to second by passing Kyle Ryde and secured himself just enough points to win. There were other mad moments – like hailstones and torrential rain coming from nowhere literally five minutes before qualifying. The whole season just seemed like a never-ending stream of drama, to the point where if you had predicted the events of the season nobody would believe it possible.

There were six race winners in the whole season. Top three of those were Ryde (6), Bridewell (8) and Irwin (10). Glenn and Tommy stood on the podium eighteen times each. It was an amazing season for the PBM Ducatis and there was going to be something badly wrong if one of them wasn’t going to win, but who could predict 0.5 points? All Glenn could do at the last round was win and hope Tommy wasn’t right behind him. Glenn managed a 3/1/1 to Tommy’s 2/2/2.

There are a million ‘if only’s to consider, but what is the point? What this will mean is that next season Glenn will be even more aware that every single point – and every single half point – at any point in the season could make the difference.

I’m delighted for PBM for having such an amazing result in a season which dealt them a cruel blow with the loss of Paul. I’m happy for Tommy for making good on his promise to his late brother to win the title. I’m happy that there were some standout performances from other riders with Lee Bob Jackson, Ryde, Vickers and Haslam coming to mind.

Ultimately all my support was behind Glenn for the last two years and whilst it is frustrating that he missed by so small a margin, it is also something to be immensely proud of. He took it to the last lap of the last race against someone who is an incredibly talented and experienced rider. He behaved professionally throughout the season despite a lot of goading, he threw himself into a very new and different mental and physical regime in order to get the best of himself. If Glenn can do the same thing next year I wouldn’t want to bet against him.

For us it was incredibly sad to see the season end, we’ve had so much fun this year. We followed Glenn to every race weekend, including NW200, apart from Knockhill. We’ve enjoyed great hospitality from FHO and PBM throughout the year and made a lot of new friends. This year we felt the highs and lows so much more acutely, it really was quite a ride. But it’s also a relief to have a few free weekends and have the time to regroup and consider next year.

Massive thanks to Glenn, Westy, Laura and the Irwin family for making us feel so much a part of it all. To FHO for looking after us so well and PBM who were great hosts. To the friends who came along through the year to share the experience and to the regulars we spend time with at every round. It has been a great year and we can’t wait to see what Glenn can pull out of the bag next season.

I shall dwell no more, instead I’ll share some photos of the last round that should give a feel for the level of craic to be had trackside, even when you don’t quite get the result you want.

NISC sticker bombs

More bombing

Random photo bomber

Race prep

Behind the scenes

Last race and still smiling

The real Glenn Irwin

Penultimate Round, Ultimate Drama

Teams exist for teams to win. Teams do not exist for individual glory. And whilst every rider wants the best possible individual result, this has to be achieved in the context of what is right for the team.

On Saturday afternoon at Donington Park as Race One approached the weather was doing its absolute worst. It was grey, the rain was falling but not properly falling, the track was wet but not properly wet. Tommy Bridewell was on second spot on the grid with Glenn back in sixth. Tyres were going to be critical – would it get drier through the race, get wetter? Both PBM Ducati boys went with inters, a tyre which you rarely see because it only operates well in a narrow set of circumstances when it is too wet for slicks but there is not enough standing water to keep wets cool enough to work.

Mayhem ensued as the race started on a track that had suddenly become very wet and both Ducatis dropped backwards through the pack. All leading bikes were on wets. There were two strategies to deploy – ride it out or pull in. Tommy decided to ride it out and rode round in 23rd place before pulling in on the last lap of ten to change tyres – I presume to try to bang in a faster lap to push him up the grid for race two. Glenn pulled in on lap one, his team changed his tyres and he went back out and completed the race albeit a lap behind.

Meanwhile on the banks by Craner Curves we were confused. Would Glenn’s laps count? They were not being registered. Why did Tommy stay out risking himself and the bike when it was clearly all but unrideable? Did he record a lap on his wets?

You never quite know what a BSB round is going to come up with, I knew driving to Dony it was going to be dramatic – but this was already something else. Both first and second place riders in the championship bagging zero points in race one while the chasing pack all recorded points including Haslam, fourth in the championship taking a second place and 22 points.

In the end it turned out that if you don’t manage to complete one lap in a race, your grid position in the next race is your race one position plus six – so for Glenn it would be twelfth on the grid and dead last for Tommy. This was going to be interesting….

Sunday dawned and the weather looked a bit more stable. It would be a dry first race – I was really hoping for predictable conditions, either wet or dry. And off they went, from his twelfth place start Glenn came through corner one on lap two in first position! Game on, he looked bursting with confidence and was clearly out to capitalize on Tommy’s difficult starting position. Tommy meanwhile was blasting through the ranks, crossing the line in 15th, 13th, 12th, 11th, 9th, 8th, 7th, 5th, 1st, 1st, 2nd…..

And that’s where it ended because as the rain started to fall, the scrap at the front turned ferocious, involving Ryde and Haslam along with Glenn and Tommy, that’s when Tommy made his mistake.

Coming into Melbourne Loop, Tommy tried to take two bikes up the inside. Coming in too hot and with the line closed out he had to go straight on – straight into the back of Glenn. Both riders took a fairly violent tumble and ended up in the gravel with their bikes. Glenn was on his feet almost before he stopped rolling and ran straight at Tommy, he was obviously very emotional and it looked like things were about to turn ugly as the cameras cut away. Glenn didn’t in fact lash out and Tommy already looked worse for wear after bouncing his head off the tarmac. Glenn was pulled away from the scene by a marshal. As the race concluded, Ryde (third in championship) and Haslam (fourth in championship) added another 25 and 22 points to their tally respectively, closing the championship right up. Team PBM handed 47 points to the opposition due to Tommy’s crash.

Over the tannoy some time later, Tommy told the paddock how it was Glenn’s fault that he rode into the back of Glenn. I thought that was a very, very disappointing way of dealing with things. I think it is clear that Tommy needs beef with Glenn to fire him up and so is refusing to allow himself any admission that he ever owes Glenn an apology. It’s a strategy, it’s an ugly one but if it works it works. Sadly for Tommy, it won’t work. Tommy is racing against a grown-up who has the intelligence to see through it and focus on the bigger picture. As a result of the incident Tommy received three penalty points and a three position grid penalty. Glenn received two penalty points for his reaction to the crash. Luckily for Tommy, his two penalty points from last year expired on 25th Sept or he’d be going to Brands with five points.

Composing yourself after something like that to be in the right mindset for the third race that afternoon is one thing. Having a bike to ride is another. Glenn’s bike had suffered significant damage in the crash and it wasn’t a given the bike would be ready. In the end, Glenn lined up for race three in fifth spot shoulder to shoulder to Tommy in fourth. There was no way this wasn’t going to be dramatic. To add to the tension, it was a fully wet race over twenty laps. It was all to play for.

Karma, apparently, plays the long game. Through turn one Glenn suddenly lost power, narrowly avoided being taken out by riders behind and his race was over. A throttle sensor had apparently failed. Given the reliability of the Ducatis year to date, I have no doubt this was a consequence of the crash in the previous race. Glenn was leaving Donington Park without having gained a single point. His lead of the championship had gone and all we could do was watch to see how much damage Tommy and Leon could do to Glenn’s title hopes (Ryde was having a race to forget in 13th). Turns out, not much. Tommy started well but then looked like he lost confidence in the bike around lap nine and subsequently lost places lap after lap. It wasn’t until a few laps from the end he seemed to regain composure and looked like clawing some places back from a lowly tenth. But there was one last twist in the tale – before Tommy could regain any points, the man who was fourth in the championship and about to take a safe second place in the race to promote himself further – blew up his engine! Leon Haslam’s engine let go in a cloud of smoke and the race was red flagged. An unbelievable end to an unbelievable weekend.

You might imagine coming away from the penultimate round of BSB having gained zero points would be a disaster. However the reality is that Glenn is second in the championship and only 7.5 points behind. PBM retain both top slots and where Leon might have been much closer, his engine failure meant he sits 41 points off the lead and Kyle’s poor result in the last race leaves him 35 points behind. I have to say I was absolutely gutted for the Haslam team when the bike let go, they deserve every success after a tough year where Leon has ridden fast and clean all season. It’s not over yet but he was on course to be right in the mix going into Brands.

At Brands Hatch there are 35 points for a win, 30 for second, 27 for third. Then 24 points for a fourth place and two less points for every place thereafter. That’s a lot of points still to be had, it’s the GP circuit and you can bet the weather will play a part. Glenn has already put the Donington weekend behind him, the way the last race played out has convinced him that destiny has a big prize for him this year and personally I have no doubt that Glenn will win this championship. He couldn’t be more dedicated or focused and his mental approach to the season has been amazing to witness.

You just need to look at the last few races to see who has the momentum. At Oulton Tommy went from second to sixth on a last lap lunge in race one. In race two he broke the rules by almost creating a pile-up behind the safety car demoting himself from first to sixth, then proceeded to give race control the fingers and declare war on his team mate. He won the last race. At Dony he crashed in free practice, race one he rode round in last for the whole race, in race two he took out both Glenn and himself by crashing, in race three he dropped from third on lap two to finish tenth. He is sat on three penalty points going into the last round.

Glenn on the other hand – Oulton Park he won race one, won race two, second in race three. At Donington he used his head to rescue a bad tyre choice in race one, was leading and was taken out in race two and had a mechanical due to the previous crash in race three. He has two penalty points and has refused to rise to Tommy’s attempts to kick things off.

I can’t wait for Brands Hatch. There is one thing that will be guaranteed – it won’t be dull. Two PBM riders fighting it out but now with Ryde only 35 points off the lead and Haslam 41. When we last visited Brands, Ryde only managed ten points and Haslam eight, but these guys are class acts and the PBM boys need to defend against these guys as well as compete with each other. The one thing PBM can’t afford to do now is take each other out again. Everyone is fallible but if you do make a mistake, own it. Then we can enjoy what is, after all, meant to be sport – not conflict.

Whatever it takes

Oulton Park was the ninth of eleven rounds in the 2023 British Superbike Championship. There have been twenty-seven individual races across six months so far. The championship lead is split by one half of one point, 360.5 to 360. The leader, Glenn Irwin, has had eight wins and a total of sixteen podiums. His team mate Tommy Bridewell has had eight wins and fifteen podiums. Third in the championship is currently held by Kyle Ryde who is sixty points away from second place. There are six races left with a maximum of 180 points on offer (twenty-five for a win at each of three races at Dony, thirty-five for a win at each of three races at Brands Hatch).

Those are the statistics. Then there is the fact that the two championship leaders are team mates in the most successful BSB team ever which has just suffered the sudden passing of the team owner, Paul Bird. Could there be a more highly-charged setting for the last two rounds? Well, maybe, if the two teammates suddenly fell out. And so it transpired…

Glenn Irwin is an emotional man with a big heart. I’ve learned this from getting to know him and talking to the people closest to him. So the passing of Paul Bird who has been instrumental in getting Glenn (and many others) into a position from where he could win his first BSB championship was going to have a big impact on him. From a performance perspective, my suspicion was that it would only serve to intensify Glenn’s already maniacal focus on the championship win, so it was no surprise to me to see Glenn at the top of the charts after practice day and on the front row for the first race. It wasn’t a big surprise to see Tommy Bridewell there either given he was experiencing the same emotional roller coaster and is every bit as determined as Glenn is to win the championship in 2023.

Glenn won an intense race one battle after leading for almost the entire race. Tommy put himself ahead in the closing laps but was quickly retaken by Glenn and ultimately Tommy’s last effort to take the lead led to him overshooting at Hislop’s, he ended the race in fourth giving away seven points to Glenn. The championship lead was down to seven and a half points.

At the previous round, Glenn took twelve points off Tommy’s lead, that won’t have been a good feeling and the pressure was starting to tell so Tommy would have been absolutely determined to win from his pole position in race one at Oulton. For him to give away another seven points and end up off the podium at one of his favourite tracks must have been a brutal blow. There would be serious pressure to reverse fortunes in race two on Sunday. It was clear both bikes were performing incredibly well with nobody else able to mount a serious challenge for the race lead, so this was going to come down to a battle of talent and nerves between the PBM riders.

In my opinion, Tommy had the second race won. Of eighteen laps he led on all but five laps (Glenn leading laps two to five). Now Glenn was close at the end of the race, very close, but Tommy crossed the finish line first and Glenn would have struggled to pass Tommy. So that should have been all she wrote and Tommy would have clawed back three points and bolstered his confidence. But that isn’t what happened. And Tommy didn’t win – despite what he will tell you.

Last year the Safety Car rules came under scrutiny when Tarran Mackenzie launched as the safety car pulled off the track. He went too soon and two riders (one being Glenn) followed him and suffered the same penalty for passing the car before it had left the circuit. The Safety Car would again cause controversy in race two at Oulton Park but on this occasion the fault and associated penalty – to me at least – appear clear cut. On lap fourteen Storm Stacey crashed and left his bike in a dangerous spot at Clay Hill. The Safety Car was deployed with Tommy in the lead and Glenn behind. As the car turned off its lights and approached Lodge, Tommy accelerated towards it then grabbed a handful of brake twice, causing chaos behind him. Glenn had to brake hard on both occasions to avoid passing Tommy. Kyle Ryde shot up the left of Tommy and nearly hit him. Lee Jackson did very well not to hit Glenn and ended up out of position. O’Halloran shot through the pack and narrowly avoided collisions. Hickman ended up overshooting the corner. Haslam ran up to the back of the leading three, having to brake hard. The most alarming footage is of Vicker’s bike which careers past the whole pack and ends up in front running under the nose of Tommy. Check out the footage on ‘officialbsb’ Instagram page. Nobody can convince me that it was safe to do what Tommy did, it was reckless and clearly contravened the following rule which applies under the Safety Car:

Riders must not ride unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other riders.

Tommy appealed but his appeal was turned down. What was Tommy’s reason to accelerate down the straight and then bring a BSB pack almost to a standstill, potentially causing a pileup? I can only imagine he was immensely frustrated at the safety car – understandable – and was trying to ensure he retained his lead by trying to trick Glenn into receiving a penalty for passing under the Safety Car. This strategy secured him a ride-through penalty which he took after the race as three seconds added to his time. He went from leading the race to finishing sixth. His reaction was to give the ‘wanker’ sign and the fingers to race control on his in lap. I expect this and subsequent comments will attract points on his license.

NOTE: Tommy has since issued a video apologising for his hand signals and admitting to a lack of judgement re. the Safety Car issue – although he claims he did nothing wrong as he was just warming his tyres.

Now imagine, if you will, racing over eighteen laps of Oulton Park on a superbike. Imagine you fought for the win the whole race and the championship is within grasp for the first time in your life. Imagine your boss has just passed and you want to do your very best to pay tribute to him. Imagine all of that and within a minute or two of you winning the race and pulling in, you have to do a live interview with no preparation or time to gather your thoughts. That’s tough and it means that you will not always say things exactly how you would, given the opportunity to script them. This is why we see, on occasion, riders apologising for previous comments made. In Glenn’s post race interview he referred to his own family and his upbringing when saying that he was raised to have common sense – this was relating to Tommy’s decision to brake suddenly under the Safety Car. I can tell you for a fact this was not a dig at Tommy’s family, in the same way that me saying my car is blue does not mean your car can’t be blue too. But that is how it was taken and Tommy and his family took issue with it. Glenn later explained what he meant but offered no apology because there was no offending comment made in the first place. As a result of all this, Tommy in a later interview declared the PBM garage was now split and it was ‘all out war’. You can decide for yourself whether this was a fitting remark given the weekend it was.

There is nothing surprising about things getting fractious at this point in the season. Two guys on the same bike with masses of talent both fighting for their first championship – it’s going to get heated. Maybe Tommy needs to feel anger to get the best out of him – it certainly doesn’t slow him down or lead him to make mistakes. And if he needs to invent arguments to fuel this, I can understand that. Glenn is different (this year at least) and isn’t fuelled by anger or negativity. I see that as an advantage, his own focus is enough and he doesn’t need to create chaos to drive himself forward. If Glenn can keep the cool head that he has shown all season, that’s what will give him the edge over Tommy who is on the same bike and has proven he is every bit as fast as Glenn on the right day.

In race three Tommy took the spoils, he was fired up and won the race fair and square with a great ride – Glenn admitted he couldn’t make up time he lost due to a wheelie on the last lap. Perhaps evidence that Tommy is at his best when he’s properly fired up? Unfortunately Tommy then made his comments about ‘all out war’, claiming Glenn was the one stoking things up in interviews. He also claimed to have won the double on live TV which will only serve to wind up Mr Higgs. He made all sorts of ‘zipped mouth’ signs on the in lap and his language in parc fermé was fairly explicit in front of a lot of children. There have been suggestions of manipulation of the championship, I hope these came from the great unwashed hordes on social media and not anyone close to Tommy. I’d say all this shows an immature side of Tommy which might be an Achilles’ heel. I admire his passion and enthusiasm but I would admire it more if he could manage himself better in the spotlight and keep the controversy for behind closed doors. Diplomacy aside, he’s a superb rider and whoever wins this championship will not do so easily.

So on we go, Donington Park is in two weeks and it couldn’t be more exciting. Glenn is doing all the right things and it is delivering the solid results he needs – his team mate is proving to be a ferocious opponent. It’s only going to get more spicy as we approach the finale at Brands Hatch. It’s great for the championship and spectators and I’m so pleased to be backing a man who has the potential to win BSB this year. There are no guarantees in bike racing, anything can happen including downright bad luck. Consider every possible outcome of a given race and multiply by six. It is still theoretically possible that neither man from PBM wins. But for my money the PBM man who can manage the mental pressure best will take the title. Both men are taking very different approaches and I personally prefer Glenn’s approach – but you have to do what you have to do.

Outside of the racing, obviously the weekend was steeped in emotion with Birdy having passed. I’m not going to try to pay tribute as I’m not qualified to – but it was a poignant moment listening to the others who knew him best from the paddock share their stories. It won’t be the same without such a character in the paddock but it is great to know that Paul’s daughter Jordan will be running the team from here on.

Oulton Park second round tends to be a more boozy affair than other rounds due to the annual appearance of our good friends Danny and John. And so it was with the lads late night drinking Friday followed by all day and night drinking on Saturday. The craic was ninety, as they say. Was also great to see some men from God’s Own Country make their way through hours of torrential rain to enjoy two days of sunshine at the circuit – my friend Paul from home was over with his mates along with a lot of other familiar accents throughout the paddock.

Roll on Donington, it’s a circuit close to my heart and is guaranteed to produce drama.

Just for your titillation, here is where the championship was at this point last year:

And here is how the season ended….

King of the Mountain

There was no wiping the expensive, pearly-white grin off Mr Irwin’s face this weekend at Cadwell Park – and for good reason.

Stepping up for his 200th BSB race on Sunday afternoon at a track where he’d never won, he dispatched the opposition in fine style in race one, starting third and leading from almost the get-go, crossing the line first on every lap and only being passed briefly by Ryde on lap 11. He wasn’t the fastest bike on track but he was wide enough that nobody who wasn’t a whole lot faster was getting past – and nobody had that sort of advantage. The OMG Yamahas of Ryde and Vickers looked mighty strong but the script for the race was written before they even lined up, Glenn was maximising the strengths of the big Ducati showing superb traction and pace on the start/finish and back straights.

You can tell when the stars align for a rider like Glenn, he’s not a great poker player and when things are all working together there’s a palpable buzz, that Ready-Brek glow. And it was oozing from Glenn’s side of the garage all weekend. Tommy’s side of the garage was in a very different place, throwing settings at the bike in an attempt to get lap times close to his title contender. Bridewell only managed fifth in the first race and you could tell he wasn’t happy seeing his points advantage eroding.

Much to Heidi’s dismay, grid positions are based on fastest lap time of the previous race – this grossly offends my wife’s sense of fair play and she required some alcohol to calm her down when she heard Glenn was placed eighth on the grid for race two.

But we’ve seen this one before. The one where Glenn looks like he is too far back on the grid, like he would need to take too many risks, use too much tyre to win from there. And yet somehow he comes up with the goods. Steady progression through the pack, taking opportunities when they are there but not taking too many chances. When you believe in yourself, you don’t need to.

And so it was in race two on Sunday, Glenn picked his way through over the course of the eighteen lap race to present a masterclass to the huge crowds at Cadwell Park. After a race weekend, I invariably have a look at the Position Chart pages of the results sheets because to me they tell the story in the most succinct way. Having the confidence to sit your ground way back in eighth until the bike comes to you, then picking the others off one by one, another few laps in 4th… I was wondering how much Glenn cared about winning so long as he beat Tommy – playing the longer championship game instead of going for glory. I should have known better, Glenn wanted the points and the win. It was widely commented that this was Glenn’s best ever race on the big Duc and it would be hard to argue otherwise. It is a race I’ll never get tired of watching.

The challenge of being out front at a race meet is that everyone is throwing the kitchen sink at trying to catch you in the next race whilst you’ll be wary about making changes in case they go the wrong way. For race three Glenn was starting one grid position further up in seventh – however Tommy was in fifth and would clearly be desperate to minimise the weekend’s damage. Glenn’s team had been tweaking the bike to dial out some front end chatter, whilst Tommy’s team were making much bigger setting changes. Both rolled the dice, both had it all to play for – a triple win for Glenn, a damage limitation exercise (and potential morale booster) for Tommy.

Above is how it unfolded, Glenn storming ahead taking the bull by the horns and looking superb but with Tommy breaking his balls to stay in the game. It looked like Tommy wouldn’t have enough to make the pass, but on the sixteenth lap he managed a move. He described it as waiting until he saw Jesus before he hit the brakes in order to pass Glenn into Park Corner. Now I’ve ridden Cadwell a lot (slowly) – Park straight is a balls-out straight initially downhill, then your stomach drops at the bottom when you hit the incline. You rise to a blind crest, the track about three feet wide, and you need to manage the bike going light on the front with late braking into Park Corner itself which a tight little corner that if you get it wrong ruins the whole of Chris Curve. Overtaking on the inside is risky because there is no room for two bikes going through the corner together and running wide hands the position straight back. Tommy did a superb job of making the pass stick and the two Ducatis went hell for leather for the remainder of the race. Glenn commented later that despite coming second, the last laps chasing Tommy were probably the most enjoyable because they gave it everything.

Glenn walked away with two wins and a close second, was awarded King of the Mountain, Bennetts rider of the meeting and probably most critically – the points gap to Tommy is now a mere 14.5 points. He’s on fire right now and the incredible amount of work he’s putting in is paying off in terms of his mind being as finely tuned as his body to win this thing. There are rumours that he’s chopping in the fifth wheel motorhome, preferring to do his breathwork and alternative therapies in a teepee. We’ll find out at Oulton Park…

So the racing was amazing, the weather was the usual Cadwell story of random downpours but they didn’t affect the superbikes or the craic. Phone reception was nil, so sorry for anyone trying to contact me. We were locked in the paddock until spectators went home, hence a late journey back Sarf, but not as late as the Irwin crew who had no flights home because of the Air Traffic Control meltdown. Glenn’s Dad and his friends were a sight, huddled in a circle poking at their ageing phone handsets pretending to reschedule flights when everyone knew it would be Glenn’s Mum sorting it all out from home.

Andrew is proving to the world he has a career in broadcasting when he jacks in the racing, but before that he has some races to win on a Honda, he’s close to his return and chomping at the bit – I’ve missed having the brothers on track and the Honda with Andy on it definitely looked competitive this year.

For now, however, it’s the PBM Ducati show (albeit missing the PB part of it – get well soon Paul) and it looks like being a very exciting last few races. The points for a win jump from 18 to 25 in the next round so its all to play for. Glenn can smell the money, Tommy is desperate to keep his nose ahead, and there are a couple of guys waiting in the wings for any little mishaps that might befall the leading pair. I for one can’t wait to see how it unfolds!

Brands Hatch GP – Round 6

I’m going to lead with a bunch of stats because sometimes it pays to take stock.

The top five in the championship scored the following points at Brands Hatch GP this weekend:

Bridewell 41
Irwin 31.5
Ryde 10
Brookes 9
Haslam 8

That puts Glenn 34.5 points behind Tommy, 42.5 ahead of Ryde who is 3rd in the championship. So whilst Tommy has extended his lead, the other riders at the top of the table didn’t do anything to help their championship aspirations.

The points system this year is:
Rounds 1-8, Points = 18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Rounds 9-10, Points = 25-22-20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1
Round 11, Points = 35-30-27-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2

• There are a total of 121 points still up for grabs.
• Tommy has scored 258 so far from a possible of 315, ie. he has claimed 82% of points on offer.
• Tommy has had one DNF, Glenn has had two.
• Out of 18 races, 6 have been won by Tommy and 4 by Glenn.
• Only 4 other riders have stood on the top step.
• 23 BSB podiums for PBM Ducati this season.
• This time last year, PBM’s riders were 13th and 14th in the championship and hadn’t been on the podium.
• At this point last year Yamahas had claimed 29 podiums compared with 3 for Ducati.

The half-points on the scores are as a result of a red flagged first race on Saturday which wasn’t restarted – the conditions were very wet and Haslam’s bike was apparently putting fluid on the track. He was given the orange and black and then the race was red flagged as the circuit was deemed contaminated – half points awarded. To be fair, it minimised the damage for Glenn whose setup wasn’t great and looked like he was struggling, he only lost 1.5 points to Tommy who finished 6th compared to Glenn’s 9th position, Glenn having started in 7th.

Sunday surprised us by being warm and sunny and whilst there was a stiff breeze, it stayed dry all day. Starting 14th in Race two was a challenge but never discount Mr Irwin. At the end of lap one he was in 9th, next lap 8th for a couple of laps then he spent six laps in 7th. Two laps in 6th, three laps in 5th, he finished 4th. That meant Tommy, who rode outstanding and took the win, put a few more championship points between himself and Glenn.

Glenn was on 5th for Race Three and this was always going to be a cracker – the setup issues on Saturday meant Glenn had worked hard to get to the second row and it’s rare he doesn’t take full advantage when he starts near the front. Unfortunately a corner one incident pushed Glenn back into the pack – Glenn’s view was O’Halloran basically ran him off circuit going down Paddock Hill – and he made sure everyone knew it when he got on the microphones after the race. Anyone who has ridden Brands knows you don’t mess around at that part of the track. I took a look at the footage but unfortunately the cameras follow Brookes into the gravel at corner one so you don’t see the incident. What you do see is Glenn had already made the pass on the outside.

At the end of lap one Glenn was in 9th which meant sacrificing tyre wear to get back to the front. By lap two he had gained two positions and by lap three another two to put him 5th. On lap four he came round 4th behind Tommy where he sat for a few laps, then followed Tommy past Danny Kent so the PBM Ducatis held 2nd and 3rd. Vickers was a constant threat, challenging any time Glenn looked like he wanted to settle in and meaning more tyre wear to fend Ryan off. For the last five laps, both PBM riders having passed Iddon, it was Bridewell leading Irwin. From what I could tell, Glenn’s tyre looked significantly worn compared to Tommy’s but it was an incredibly close race with 0.133 seconds splitting them over the line – I can’t think of too many races this year when I’ve seen Glenn working harder. Amazing to watch.

The takeaways are this – Glenn’s competition is coming from his team mate whose squad just seem to have nailed the settings better than Glenn’s side of the garage in the last couple of rounds. Tommy is riding faultlessly and deserves everything he is getting right now, but with five rounds still to go consistency is key. The championship is likely to come down to who can hold their nerve. The pressure of the lead can be intense, but then so can desperation to beat your team mate. This will be about who can stick to the plan, ride their own strategy, not get distracted. In my opinion both riders are metronomic in their consistency right now.

As for other riders, both Haslam and Ryde lost out due to broken gear linkages – it’s reassuring it isn’t just club racers who suffer this. Haslam also had a fluid leak so two mechanical DNFs, a shame because he was riding really well. Vickers continued his amazing form and showed that he is both aggressive and level-headed when he has the right bike under him. Iddon had a stonking round, it’s easy to forget how lost they were at the start of the season and now you could never discount him from a win. Kent was again at the pointy end, making the Honda do things that Honda can’t seem able to make it do. And poor FHO had another one to forget with DNFs for both Pete and Josh.

Spectacle of the weekend goes to Mr Rabat who did a classic Graham Hill bend crash in FP4 and ended up on the floor at the emergency exit which leads to pit lane. Not knowing the circuit – and I suspect as a result of landing on his head – Tito, minus various levers and a visor decided to lift his bike, push it across the live track and point it the wrong way back towards Graham Hill. At this point the marshals who had been trying to help him scattered and put their hands on their heads waiting for the inevitable as bikes came rattling down the track passing Tito facing the wrong way. It was a heart in mouth moment as I watched from below Race Control and I’m just glad it didn’t end in disaster as Tito’s attempts to bump-start the bike failed. I want to see Tito do well, from my armchair I would advise him to calm down and realise that nobody walks into BSB and goes straight to the top – it takes some learning especially for someone not brought up on UK tracks.

As for PBM, with two amazing bikes and two seasoned riders both in the form of their lives, Birdy is going to have an exciting remainder of the season! I’m really excited to see how Glenn manages the deficit over the next few rounds. We’re a long way off needing to panic at this stage – there is still a long way to go and right now I believe Glenn has the magic ingredients required for the championship – consistency and a level head.

Blazing Saddles – BSB Round 3

At the end of round three, Glenn Irwin has had one DNF in nine races. This is the only occasion this season when he finished a race in a worse position than he started.

Glenn has finished fifth or better in the eight races he finished, with six podiums and two race wins.

PBM now hold first and second spots in the riders championship, Glenn trailing Tommy by three points after a DNF by Glenn in Race Two.

On the surface, some might suggest the results are coming easy. The first, perhaps obvious, thing to say is that BSB podiums don’t ever come easy. The depth of talent on the grid this year is superb, both from the more seasoned superbike riders and from younger guys who are realising their potential.

Take a look at some of Glenn’s races and it becomes obvious he has had to work hard to get himself over the line at the front. See the best examples below:

I’ve learned never to be downhearted about a disappointing qualifying, poor starting position, a duff start or a poor first lap. Glenn goes about his business is a very mature manner, despite being a lad who typically wears his heart on his sleeve. You don’t see the emotion overtaking the racecraft – rarely will you see a lunge or a move that could end in a DNF – rather a well-paced, considered graft through the field, preserving tyres, knowing points are more important than podiums. My interpretation is Glenn has the experience to understand timescales – meaning he knows how long a race is and what can change over that period and he knows how long a season is and how devastating one rash move can be to the end result.

This weekend was tough – a bad tyre limited performance in race one and a technical issue and DNF in race two pointed towards a significant impact on the points table. However with Bridewell and Ryde also logging DNFs, the damage wasn’t as bad as it could have been. In race three Glenn delivered a valiant third place – having fought through the pack from eleventh on the grid and setting the fastest lap time of the race, he had no tyre left to fend off Vickers who looked like he was going to piss on Mr Irwin’s chips right at the end of the race. Glenn managed to just about hold him off through Melbourne and Goddards but Ryan is worthy of mention for his spectacular return to form this weekend after injury – the Yamaha clearly suits him and now he’s another man who can’t be discounted from being a podium contender.

Youth – Kyle Ryde – is delivering on his promise of top form with two wins, although crashing out of the lead in race two will have been hard to take. Another massive talent who will be fighting at the front. Haslam, on home turf, was inevitably a threat but it seems like the bike isn’t quite perfect yet – 4th and 8th in the full length races.

Bridewell had a good weekend bagging two seconds and a DNF, when he gets to start near the front he always seems to be a contender for the win.

Two men who were on excellent form and who both landed DNFs as a result of a brush with the younger Irwin brother at the Melbourne Loop were Iddon and Stacey – Iddon seems to be finally able to get the bike to work with a 5th in race three and Storm recording a 9th and 11th. On the topic of Andrew, that monkey on his back hasn’t quite disappeared. He saw a gap when Iddon went wide at the loop in race one and instinctively went for it. Iddon predictably hauled the bike back onto a racing line just as Andrew was occupying the space, resulting in a double DNF. No fault was the decision for that one. But in race three the same scenario presented itself with Storm Stacey running wide at the exact same spot. Same scenario, same result, both DNFed. The crash looked identical but this time it was three penalty points and a three grid-position penalty to Andrew.

It is fair to argue that when someone runs wide you can take their line, but with the lean angle of the loop and the fact it’s 180 degrees, it is predictable that anyone who has outbraked themselves will park the bike, haul it on its ear and point it straight back up the hill towards Goddards. The physics of this means that they can’t see anyone who has pulled up inside them and a clash is predictable. I’d suggest if you have not shown the other rider a wheel on the way into Melbourne, maybe a pass on the inside isn’t the best course of action. Easy to say from the comfort of my armchair, of course…. I was gutted for Andrew because he looked to have superb pace during practice and was fifth in SuperPole – coming away with nil points is a big disappointment.

Besides the racing, there was the weather. And the crowds. It has been years since I remember Donington being that busy, likely as a result of the scorching sunshine. Getting sunburn at both the first Dony round and the NW200 is quite a thing… Inevitably with British and Irish crowds on a sunny weekend, there was extreme drunkenness and third degree burns. I’m talking fat old men, with scarlet heads, so drunk they’re dribbling at 5pm. Sure ye cannae beat it!

Huge thanks to Vicki at FHO for setting us up with Grid Passes for my birthday, very much appreciated – the team at FHO hospitality really are superb.

For now its a bit of a break as I can’t bring myself to drive to Knockhill, so next round will be Snetterton in July. Good opportunity before then to upgrade the van ready for the rest of the season’s trips.