Glenn Irwin may have failed to register a podium for the first time this season but another strong weekend at Silverstone for the Honda Racing rider meant he again extended his lead in the 2020 Bennetts British Superbike Championship.

With none of his closest rivals, for now, winning a race, Irwin finished fourth in all three races at the Northamptonshire venue and increased his lead at the top of the table from 23 to 35 points. And with the series now at its mid-way point, Irwin is more than satisfied with the work done so far.

“I always felt this weekend was going to be a bit different to the first two rounds as it’s a circuit that both Yamaha and Suzuki always seem to go best at,” Irwin said at the conclusion of the three races.

“They had their best results here at Silverstone in 2019 and were again stronger than the rest of us this time so my aim was to do as well as I possibly could with the key aim to extend my championship lead.”

I wouldn’t use the phrase damage limitation but I wanted to get as many points as possible and of course, I would have liked to have finished on the podium, three fourth place finishes is a good outcome from the weekend.”

Irwin was again experiencing a track for the first time with the new Honda Fireblade but he was more than happy with its performance and particularly the tyre life.

“There wasn’t much between any of the bikes this weekend but the Yamahas and Suzukis were that little bit stronger in the race and Kyle rode brilliantly for his two wins. The Fireblade worked really well though, as good as it has been elsewhere, and the longevity of the tyre was really good.”

Although he added 12 points to his lead to put him in a more than healthy position, Irwin still isn’t getting carried away and you won’t hear any title talk from him at all.

“There’s great discipline in the team and both that and their ethos has been instilled into me so the approach for the next round at Oulton will be exactly the same. I’ll probably eat some rubbish at McDonalds tonight and then it’s my son Freddie’s first day at school tomorrow but after that, I’ll get stuck back into my training. We’re only at the half way point so my feet are firmly on the ground.”