Oxford TAG Triumph rider Christian Iddon had a mixed weekend at round four of the British Supersport Championship at Thruxton. Much like the Hampshire weather, Iddon made a bright start before things took a turn for the worse on Monday.
Iddon scored his best ever British Supersport Championship result, finishing 7th in the sprint race on Sunday. He looked on course to better that in Monday’s feature race before getting tangled in Steve Plater’s crash and failing to finish.
The weekend began steadily, with Iddon ending the two free practice sessions in 9th and 12th respectively.
Iddon improved his lap times in qualifying, again ending 9th fastest. Although he was quick through the high speed second sector, he felt there was more to come on the more technical first sector.
Starting from the front of the third, Iddon had a platform from which to attack. He duly did, moving up to 7th in the early stages. After losing a place to Dean Hipwell on lap 3, Iddon was back up to 7th when Jack Kennedy crashed out.
As Hipwell made a move on Paul Young, Iddon saw a chance to follow him through, but thought better of making a risky move on his experienced team-mate. After that, Iddon struggled to find a way past Young, leaving the front 5 riders to break clear. Iddon to the flag in seventh place, his best finish of the season.
The weather for Monday’s feature race was grim. Persistent rain all afternoon had left plenty of standing water on the track causing heavy spray. Iddon began steadily, and made sure he safely negotiated the early exchanges.
When the field settled down, Iddon became embroiled in a race long battle with his team-mate Billy McConnell and Steve Plater. By lap 11 the three were still battling for 6th position. McConnell lead them into the high speed right hander of Church. Plater made a move up the inside in Iddon but looked to be running slightly wide. As he tried to get back to the inside line he high-sided. Iddon had nowhere to go and struck the stricken Padgetts Honda, ending his race.
The race was red flagged, as Jack Kennedy had crashed out at the same time, and with two-thirds distance completed; was called a result.
Iddon escaped largely unhurt from the crash, although Steve Plater sadly suffered a broken left humerous.
“I am obviously disappointed with how the weekend has ended up for us. I felt strong in the first race and scored a good 7th place finish and I was going well again in the second before the crash,” Iddon reflected. “It was turning into a real good battle between myself, Billy [McConnell] and Steve Plater. We had all passed each other a couple of times.
” Plater came past me on the run into Church, but I thought he was going to run wide with the speed he was carrying. So, I was lining him up to go back through on the inside. I think was trying to hold the tighter line and suddenly he had a massive high-side. I didn’t really have anywhere to go and just couldn’t avoid his bike.
“I am fine, though I think I got caught by the bike after I had come off, so I am a little sore. I have heard Steve has broken his arm, which is obviously sad news. I wish him a speedy recovery.
“The first race went OK, I felt good at the start and maybe should have made the break with the leading five. I watched Hipwell go through on Youngy which created a bit of a gap. I thought about going for it, but to be honest it was a difficult pass to try and make, especially on your team-mate. After that, I never really managed to get a good run on him.
“The Oxford TAG Triumphs are working really well at the moment, which the boys have proven with their wins. I am looking forward to getting to the next round at Knockhill, where hopefully it will be my turn to celebrate.”
It was a good weekend all round for the Oxford TAG Triumph squad as Billy McConnell won the sprint race from pole position and Paul Young made a late charge to take victory in the feature race.
