Irwin in third spot in Supersport series

Riding with a broken ankle didn’t help Irwin’s preparations, but the tough Carrick rider got on with the job in hand at Snetterton and came away with fifth after Saturday’s sprint race before taking sixth spot on Sunday.

“I should have had two fifths but I suppose after riding with the broken ankle and the huge crash I had on Saturday during qualifying the results weren’t too bad,” the Gearlink Kawasaki rider said.

“I was certainly a bit stiff and sore on Sunday but the biggest problem is that we are down on speed to the Triumphs. No matter what I did, they just blasted past on the straights. It is something the team will work on before Knockhill. We are still in the hunt for the title, so that’s a positive.”

Alastair Seeley (inset) had a good run on Saturday when he snatched second on the run to the line from championship leader McConnell.

The ‘Wee Wizard’ smashed the lap record on the Mar-Train Yamaha as he homed in on the leaders to claim the runners-up spot and close the points gap to 11.

A crash in Sunday’s warm-up lap ruled him out of the race and dropped him to third in the standings, three points behind Irwin.

“I just lost the front,” Seeley admitted. “I have no idea what happened so we will have to look at the data and try to figure out what went wrong. At least I didn’t pick up any injuries from the incident.”