Honda’s Glenn Irwin took his fifth win of the season as he bagged the final British Superbike Championship race of 2022 ahead of brother Andrew with Danny Buchan finishing third to make it two Synetiq BMW’s on the podium.
Glenn Irwin grabbed the holeshot from pole position but Buchan went ahead at Stirlings and he led at the end of the opening lap from Glenn Irwin, Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW), Andrew Irwin, Danny Kent (Buildbase Suzuki) and Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Ducati) although Hickman quickly went into second at the start of lap two. Jason O’Halloran was missing though with the McAMS Yamaha being wheeled off the grid after the sighting lap.
The top six remained the same for the next couple of laps but the front four were edging away from Kent and, indeed, the Suzuki man had to yield fifth place to Bridewell on the fourth lap, the gap to the leading quartet now a second.
Lap five saw Andrew Irwin take second from brother Glenn having slid up the inside at Paddock Hill to make it a BMW 1-2-3. Meanwhile, further back, champion Bradley Ray was fighting his way through the pack and was up to seventh on the Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha.
Andrew Irwin made it a Synetiq 1-2 on lap 2 having again chosen Paddock Hill to make his move but the front four were still close, just a second covering them after seven laps. The battle for fifth was now between Bridewell, Kent and Ray as Josh Brookes (MCE Ducati) made his way up to eighth ahead of Christian Iddon and Kyle Ryde.
Buchan continued to lead the way from Andrew Irwin but Glenn Irwin got back into third at the start of lap 12 having overhauled Hickman at Paddock Hill and the four remained close together, Bridewell now running almost two seconds adrift in fifth. Ray had found a way by Kent for sixth.
Hickman began to drop away on lap 14 but Glenn Irwin still had designs on the win and was back into second with five laps to go with the gap to Buchan 0.219s. And when Buchan made a mistake at Surtees, running wide slightly, Glenn Irwin needed no second invitation with Andrew also taking full advantage to move up to second.
However, it was Glenn Irwin who had the strongest pace at the end of the race and he came home to win on what looks likely to be his final race for Honda, brother Andrew in second and Buchan in third to make it two Synetiq machines on the podium.
Bridewell got Hickman on the final lap to claim fourth with Ray in sixth and Brookes getting the better of Kent for seventh. Iddon and Ryde completed the top ten in the final race of the season.
