Brands BSB Final: ‘I did all I could but it wasn’t enough’ - Irwin

Glenn Irwin ended the 2022 Bennetts British Superbike Championship in almost exactly the same manner as he’d started, the Honda Racing rider taking two wins at Brands Hatch at the weekend compared to the treble he’d taken at the season opener at Silverstone.

Irwin came into the final round with a slim chance of taking the title but, realistically, second overall in the championship was always his main target across the final races and with two wins and a third, he did exactly that to record his best ever finish in the championship. Having previously had mixed fortunes on the Honda Fireblade at the Kent venue, Irwin was transformed at the weekend and pole position for Saturday’s Sprint race, signalled his intentions duly converting it into the race win. It wasn’t enough to stop Bradley Ray from lifting the title but a start to finish victory ahead of Peter Hickman and brother Andrew was the perfect start to his weekend and he ended the year very much as the form man, scoring more points in the Showdown phase than any other rider. “I did all I could, but it wasn’t enough to win the championship this year,” he said. “But we have to be realistic and Bradley (Ray) has outperformed me for the majority of the season and it’s probably only during the last few rounds where we have been on a par pace wise. But hats off to Brad, he’s a very deserving Champion, he’s a young lad who has a big future in this sport. “The Fireblade was faultless this weekend and the bike developed all year long, the team working incredibly hard. In Saturday’s race, I felt I could have done another 100 laps out there and it was a thoroughly enjoyable race from start to finish and it’s always nice to look behind and see your younger brother on the podium,