Glenn Irwin has rued a “missed♌ opportunity” in the 2024 British Superbike Championship after suffering a monster hig💦hside in the sprint race at Thruxton.

The Paul Bird Motorsport Ducati rider endured a largely difficult weekend at Thruxton, ending ra🍃ce one a distant 14th but was on the front row for the sprint contest.

However, while running third, Irwin suffered a huge highside 𝐆at Campbell and landed heavily on track. The🎉 race was red-flagged.

Irwin walked away and took part in the fin𝕴al race of the weekend, though struggled to 15th riding battered ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚand bruised.

Now 47 points off the championship lead in fourt🌊h, Irwin feels the crash proved to be a missed opportunity but is “not too concerned” ꧂about the title picture right now.

“I’ve had some big highsides before but the second or third gear ones defini🤪tely hurt 💫more,” he said.

“Starting from the front row for the Sprint race gave us a great chance of a podium but the mistake cost us a🍨nd it was a missed opportunity.

“It made the final race 50/50 but I felt OK so gave it a go and although I was annoyed to lose a couple of places towards the end,🦋 we got some points.

“We have struggled with the front tyre all season, but we have more things to test ahead of the next rou💎nd and some more ideas.

“We’re 47 points adrift of the lead but I’m not too concerned. There are plenty of races to come and plenty of points, allไ at go🍒od tracks for us so we’ll go again.”

Team boss Jordan Bird praised his rider and squad for being able to take part in the last race of the weekend at Thr🍎uxton.

“When you look at the crash, to come back from that and make it on tra🉐ck for the final race is testament to both Glenn and the team,” he added.

“We got the a🎉bsolute maximum out of everything in that last race.

“We knew T🦂hruxton was going to be a difficult meeting for us but Glenn and the team never stopped workin🔯g and we couldn’t be prouder of their efforts.

“We head to Cadwell next, a circuit that has been a happy𒈔 hunting ground for both Glenn and the team so we’ll look to build our confidence up and get our title challenge back on track.”