Multiple British Supermoto champion Christian Iddon brought the curtain down on his first season of circuit racing with a battling points finish in the final round of the Fuchs Silkolene British Supersport Championship at Oulton Park.
Christian rejoined GNS Racing for the season finale alongside newly-crowned BSS champion Sam Lowes and was hoping for better luck than in the penultimate round of the year at Silverstone, when his visor misted up during the race and he was forced to retire.
With a bumper field of 37 bikes on track, Christian struggled to get a clear lap during the two Friday practice sessions but then suffered from issues with his bike during final practice and qualifying on Saturday – which left him 18th on the grid.
Christian was on form in the Sunday morning warm-up to set the eleventh quickest time but he was then forced to start the race from the pits when the electronic dashboard on his bike failed on the warm-up lap.
Despite that leaving him right at the back of the field, Christian battled his way up the order to finish in a highly-respectable 13th place, scoring three points in the process.
“I didn’t really get a clear run on track on Friday and then on Saturday we encountered some issues with the bike which were no-one’s fault but which restricted my time on track,” he said. “The team worked hard to resolve the problems but we still had them on race day and I had to start from the pits. To start from there and finish in 13th is a good result but on the other hand, there is disappointment as I know I could have had more and didn’t really get the chance to shine in my home round.
“I can’t fault the team as they did everything they could to solve the issues we had, but it was just one of those things. Finishing the season with GNS and working with the newly crowned Supersport champion has been a huge help as I continue to learn about circuit racing.”
The Oulton Park race brought the curtain down on Christian’s first season of circuit racing after he took the decision to move away from Supermoto at the start of the year.
Having competed in British Superbikes, World Supersport and British Supersport during the year, Christian has been able to learn a huge amount about the differences between Supermoto and circuit competition and he will now go into the winter evaluating the possible options for 2011.
“The whole plan for me this year was to learn and I felt I was doing a good job in Superbikes at the start of the year, but ultimately things there didn’t go to plan,” he said. “From there, it’s been a case of seeing what rides were available to continue my education. The World Supersport outings at Silverstone and Nurburgring were fantastic and I’ve really enjoyed my two rides with GNS, even though I had problems in both meetings. It would have been nice to have a trouble-free run in those two events but I feel I have learned a lot from working with the team and riding alongside Sam.
“Looking to the future, I’m working towards being back on a Superbike next season although I’m not ruling out a season in Supersport as I know that 2011 will be another season where I can keep learning about racing on circuits and really push to secure some stronger results.”
