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Belfast Telegraph
16-05-2025
- Sport
- Belfast Telegraph
Jonathan Rea focused on making progress as comeback from injury continues in Czech Republic
Rea made his long-awaited comeback at the beginning of May after spending more than two months out with a foot injury. The record-breaking six-time champion suffered fractures in a crash in testing a few days before the season commenced in Australia. Rea endured a tough return at Cremona in Italy at round four but now wants to put the injury behind him as he concentrates on making further progress this weekend, where the 38-year-old is seeking to score his first points of 2025. 'If I could come away from Most feeling good with the bike, riding the bike in the proper way, making the correct adjustments, that would be something to be satisfied with because there's still a lot of the season left,' said Rea. 'Now, I'm not racing for classification because I've been injured — it's all about trying to maximise the opportunities that come my way and to do that we have to prepare in the best way, so Most is a good place to try and regain that feeling, and consistency and performance. 'I still have a lot of pain day to day but the body is clever to understand the pain, so it becomes easier if you like. 'I think with the plates inside my foot, and you walk on that with every movement, two of the metatarsals are fused together, so it offsets a lot of the force and pain. 'I think until I get those plates out, I'm going to have that feeling, so we need to check in the summer break if there's enough gap (to have them removed) or whether that can be done at the end of the season,' he added. 'Honestly, functionally and strength-wise, my foot is at quite 100 per cent let's say; aside from the pain and discomfort, it's quite normal and it shouldn't be an excuse from now on. 'Now is more about me getting a feeling on the bike and trying to forget the foot injury.' Turkey's Toprak Razgatlioglu has a strong record at Most and was fastest in both free practice sessions on Friday for the ROKiT BMW Motorrad team. The reigning champion is 34 points behind Ducati's Nicolo Bulega ahead of Saturday's first race (1.00pm) and is eager to close the deficit. Bulega was involved in a huge high-side in FP1 but was able to participate in the afternoon session, ending the day fourth. Razgatlioglu was two-tenths quicker than Sam Lowes (Marc VDS Racing Ducati) with brother Alex (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) in third. In the British Superbike Championship, Ulsterman Glenn Irwin led the time sheets in free practice at Donington Park on the Hager PBM Ducati. Irwin, who is tied on 32 points at the top with Bradley Ray and Leon Haslam after the opening round at Oulton Park, was 0.093s ahead of Yamaha rider Ray, with Rory Skinner third on the Cheshire Mouldings Ducati for TAS Racing. Current champion Kyle Ryde (OMG Nitrous Competitions Yamaha) was fourth with Haslam in fifth. Andrew Irwin was 10th fastest for Honda Racing UK with fellow Northern Ireland man and BSB rookie Scott Swann in 12th (Send My Bag IWR Honda). The first BSB race of the weekend on Saturday is set for 4.15pm with tomorrow's races due at 1.15pm and 4.20pm.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Irwin second as Haslam claims first win since 2018
Glenn Irwin finished second as Leon Haslam claimed his first British Superbike race win since 2018 in Monday's sprint at Oulton Park. The Englishman held off Irwin and Bradley Ray, who won Sunday's opener, to prevail in the 12-lap contest for Moto Rapido Racing. "It's so good. yesterday I was a little bit nervous to be honest with you, Wilf [team owner Steve Moore] was saying bring it home, take it easy and by the time I'd got into second yesterday, Brad was long gone" said 2018 BSB champion Haslam. "Today I thought I needed to go hard from the start and I managed to make an early move, catch him down, and I didn't expect to do that lap time." Ray led Storm Stacey and Haslam early in the race as Irwin dropped to fourth. Haslam made a move at the start of lap five to lead and held on from there, while Northern Irishman Irwin recovered to pip Ray to second for Hager PBM Ducati. Haslam, 41, added: "To be honest, the last five laps were the longest laps ever, there were a couple of false neutrals and a big moment on the last lap. I was struggling to get back into gears and I went down one too many and it popped in. "It was a rookie mistake really on the last lap and I should have kept it smooth. A big thanks to Moto Rapido, all the sponsors involved. It's been a hard few years and it's a nice feeling to get back on the top step." Race three at Oulton Park takes place at 16:30 BST on Monday.
Belfast Telegraph
04-05-2025
- Automotive
- Belfast Telegraph
Beaming Glenn Irwin on why runner-up finish in British Superbike opener ‘feels like a win'
Irwin's qualifying hopes were blown when he crashed on the Hager PBM Ducati, but the Carrickfergus man scythed his way through the field before getting the better of former champion Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Ducati) for second place. Bradley Ray, the 2022 BSB champion, made a winning return to the series after racing in World Superbikes for the past two years. The Raceways Yamaha rider also smashed the lap record as he wrapped up victory in the opening race by just under two seconds from Irwin, who is concentrating on winning the BSB title in 2025 after announcing his retirement from road racing. Irwin will start Monday's 12-lap Sprint race (1.15pm) from second place on the front row and says he will 'take the fight' to Ray. 'It feels like a win, and I know Brad won the race and fair play because he did a great job… he knows he's very fast over one lap and used that strategy and broke the guys,' Irwin said. 'I don't have much to say other than a huge thanks to the team. 'We arrived here after three great tests, and some new parts – the same parts but just fresher – were put in for this weekend and the bike yesterday was so hard to ride. 'It was very slow, we tried to give it more power and then it was a monster – really couldn't understand it. 'So, then they changed the engine, they changed nearly everything they could change and then I threw it down the road in qualifying, which was completely my fault. 'The first thing I did was apologise to Jordan (Bird, team co-owner) when I came in, but we got the head down. 'I changed my training programme this winter and I feel very fit, very calm on the bike in that race, and we look forward to tomorrow. 'This guy (Ray) has done a great job to win the race and it's nice he's back in from World Superbike, but we will take the fight to him tomorrow.' Honda Racing's Andrew Irwin has been withdrawn from the rest of the Bank Holiday meeting after suffering a shoulder injury in a crash in qualifying on Sunday. Scott Swann, making his BSB debut for the Send My Bag by IWR Honda team, finished 12th, with Richard Kerr from Co Donegal in 16th on the ROKiT BMW. After the Sprint race on Monday afternoon, the final 18-lap race of the weekend is set for 4.15pm. In the Supersport class, Eugene McManus from Randalstown finished third on the MMB Racing Ducati in the Sprint race on Sunday. Luke Stapleford took a narrow win ahead of reigning champion Jack Kennedy from Dublin. Meanwhile, Jonathan Rea was left empty-handed as he made his return to the World Superbike Championship following injury at Cremona in Italy. The six-time champion has been out of action since sustaining multiple fractures to his left foot in a crash during testing at Phillip Island in Australia. Rea was 19th on Saturday, 16th in the Superpole race yesterday and 18th in Race Two. The 38-year-old said his comeback was more challenging than he had expected. 'It's been a tougher weekend than I expected, but I knew we had to start somewhere,' said Rea. 'The target of the weekend in my own mind was just to try and commit to racing, get passed fit and do my best to complete all three races with no mistakes. 'We completed that target. Of course, I wasn't as competitive as I wanted to be, but considering I was only fully weight-bearing and walking without my air boot three weeks ago, I can accept that.' Italy's Nicolo Bulega ( Ducati) won all three races from Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW) to increase his lead in the Championship to 34 points ahead of the Fifth Round, which takes place at Most in the Czech Republic from May 16-18.
BBC News
04-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Irwin runner-up to Ray in British Superbike opener
Glenn Irwin produced an impressive ride from 15th on the grid to finish second behind Bradley Ray in Sunday's British Superbike Championship opener at Oulton earned a dominant 1.937-second victory as he smashed his own lap record during the Northern Ireland man Irwin also had an encouraging beginning to the campaign on his Hager PBM Ducati as he moved into third place by lap 13 after getting past last season's champion Kyle Carrickfergus rider moved into second place ahead of Leon Haslam with three laps remaining and held on to that in the closing stages despite the Englishman's attempts to regain the runners-up had to be content with fifth place after being passed by series debutant Storm Stacey in the closing stages while Tommy Bridewell completed the top brother Andrew had to opt out of Sunday's opener after crashing in practice earlier in the afternoon. The Honda rider slid off into gravel and while he was reported by organisers to be "OK" after receiving medical treatment, sat out race bank holiday weekend Oulton Park action will continue on Monday with the race two sprint event at 13:15 BST before race three at 16:15.
