British Superbikes, Brands Hatch: Iddon: ‘ I thought I was going to highside down Paddock!’

Christian Iddon lived up to the promise shown all weekend with a hard fought second in the final race of round six of the British Superbike championship, at Brands Hatch.

Lisa Lewis

21 Jul 2024

Christian Iddon, BSB, 2024, Brands Hatch, Race Three, 21st July
© Ian Hopgood Photography

Christian Iddon had been a nearly man all weekend before a final overtake brought him second for Oxford Products Ducati in the final BSB race at Brands Hatch.

Having finished fifth on Saturday, the unlucky Iddon had manoeuvred himself into a comfortable third in race two, before the red flag in the sprint lead to a restart, where he was sat up by Andrew Irwin, fighting back for sixth.

Aware of his potential, Iddon had been hoping for his pace to yield better results on track:

“I feel like we could have had more out of this weekend, we’ve had a good pace the whole weekend, the bikes worked really good and the teams worked really well - so it’s a shame that this is the only time we’ve made it to the podium”.

The #21 revealed why he went backwards at the start of the third and final race - delivering a huge save at Paddock Hill Bend:

“I set off, and actually, the first lap, coming down Paddock, I lost the rear and I pretty much thought I was down! It was really bad. I thought I was going to highside down Paddock, which is never a nice thing - managed to stay on but it dropped me down a few places”.

Iddon calmly worked his way back into the race to become part of the three way battle for the remaining podium places behind runaway winner Ryan Vickers:

“Picked my way forward and then got in behind Kyle and he was setting a really good pace, but my board at that point had, like, plus one and a half to Bridewell, and then that started to come down a little bit so obviously Tommy was pulling a really good pace.

I kept trying to pass Kyle but to be fair I probably couldn’t have gone much faster even if I’d got in front”.

It was a close battle for all involved with no room for error - Tommy Bridewell was ready to pounce behind, with the #1 plate closing in being the push Iddon needed to go for second:

“We were running really good lap times, better than what we’ve done all weekend, deep into the race, so I felt good. Then my board said plus nought - and I knew I had to sort of make it count, Kyle got a little bit of a hook a book onto the back straight and it was my only opportunity to pounce and I managed to make it stick and then I just had two and a half laps of just sort of defending hard - he actually came back past me at Paddock, but then we had a good race and I always enjoy battling with Kyle and the boys.

It’s been a good weekend, probably one of the most enjoyable races I’ve ever had - I definitely wouldn’t have said that if I finished fourth! But it was good fun”.