Irwin back on the rostrum

After qualifying the Heads and All Threads Suzuki second-fastest, he finished as runner-up in race one and in race two.

Second overall leaves him second in the championship with fellow East Antrim rider Martin Barr in third.

“I got a bad start in the first race, and it took me a while to get going,” said Irwin It wasn’t until the last third of the race that I started to be consistent. I was riding good, but when you’re behind people you can’t really get going.

“It was a good start in the second, behind Kullas, but when Whatley got by us he pushed and made a gap.

“I don’t think I’m really pushing enough at the start, whereas Whatley is putting in a few fast laps and doing the damage early on. If I can ride a bit smarter, I may be able to push him a little bit out of his comfort zone.”

Two in a row for Lorenzo and Laverty scores first points of the year

Round five of the MotoGP saw Jorge Lorenzo win his second race in a row, while local rider Eugene Laverty scored his first points of the season for the Aspar Honda team.

Winning two races in a row after finishing outside of the podium in three Grand Prix is a big contrast. These are much better results, but you have to keep your feet on the ground and not hesitate, because things can change very quickly and I can have bad results in the future,” said Lorenzo.

Laverty was pleased with his result in France saying. “The objective before the race was to score points and we have achieved that.

“I set some consistent laps and managed to get in the points for the first time this season. I am happy with that and hopefully we can keep it up for the upcoming races.”