Irwin tops BSB standings after Oulton Park treble

Glenn Irwin produced a composed ride to hold off last year's British Superbike Champion Tommy Bridewell in Race Two at Oulton Park

Glenn Irwin completed a brilliant treble at the bank holiday weekend British Superbikes round at Oulton Park to storm to the top of the championship standings.

After his Race One win on Sunday, Irwin edged out Tommy Bridewell in the 12-lap Race Two before fending off Christian Iddon in a concluding thriller where only 0.665 seconds separated the top four.

Irwin's three wins mean he takes a six-point championship lead over overnight leader Ryan Vickers, who secured his first podium of the weekend by finishing third in Race Three.

Iddon's two runner-up finishes and a third place at the Cheshire circuit moved him up to third place in the championship, seven points behind Irwin, with Danny Kent a further point off the pace after taking two fourth places on Monday.

Irwin, who will compete at his home North West 200 road racing meeting later this week, produced a flawless ride on his Hager PBM Ducati in Race Two to hold off last year's champion Bridewell as Iddon took the final podium place.

After starting on pole in Race Two, Irwin held a narrow lead over Iddon for the opening eight laps before Honda rider Bridewell moved into second spot.

Bridewell briefly closed to within a bike length of Irwin on lap nine but the Northern Irishman produced a composed closing three laps to finish 0.352 seconds ahead of the 2023 champion, with Iddon a further 0.234 seconds back in third as he held off Kent for third.

Irwin moves ahead on lap 12

Race Three was even more exciting as Iddon led for the opening 12 laps before Irwin moved ahead.

However, Iddon was far from finished as he stayed on the Northern Irishman's tail for the remainder of the race, with Irwin having to work extremely hard to hold off the Stockport rider on the last lap, with only 0.128 seconds between them at the finish.

After only managing fifth and ninth places in the opening two races, Vickers, who earned a double in round one in Spain, finished the weekend strongly by snatching a podium finish as he passed Kent on the final lap.

The top six was completed by Leon Haslam and Bridewell, who after challenging Irwin strongly earlier in the afternoon, got caught in traffic in the closing race.

Irwin's treble means he has triumphed in six of his last six races at Oulton Park.

His brother Andrew squeezed into the points in both Monday's races as he took 14th and 15th places which puts him in 17th place in the championship.

Peter Hickman crashed out in race three but was able to walk away apparently unhurt but Scottish rider Rory Skinner missed both of Monday's races following a warm-up crash.

Worryingly, Skinner's helmet came off after he crashed but while he was taken to hospital with concussion, he was able to later return to the circuit to watch the concluding action.

Also on Monday, six riders had to be taken to the event's medical centre following a crash in the BMW Cup race, which led to a short delay to the programme.