Glenn Irwin victorious in opening British Superbike race at Oulton Park

The Hager PBM Ducati rider qualified second fastest on the front row of the grid and took the lead on the third lap of 18 with a pass on OMG Yamaha’s Ryan Vickers into Hizzy’s.

From there, Irwin controlled the race from the front and although Christian Iddon (Oxford Products Ducati) threatened to put the Ulsterman under pressure, reducing the deficit to half-a-second after 11 laps, Irwin was stronger over the final few laps and closed out the win by one second.

It was a convincing ride from last year’s title runner-up, who has a strong record at Oulton Park in recent seasons.

Behind Irwin and Iddon, pole man Kyle Ryde secured the final place on the rostrum on the OMG Yamaha, one second down on Iddon, with reigning champion Tommy Bridewell (Honda Racing UK) overhauling early race leader Vickers for fourth.

Danny Kent finished sixth on the McAMS Yamaha ahead of Aussie Jason O’Halloran.

Irwin is fourth in the standings ahead of the Sprint race (13:15 BST) and Race 3 (16:15 BST) on Monday, nine points behind Vickers.

The Northern Ireland man will be confident of climbing further up the table as he targets more wins before turning his attention to the North West 200, where Irwin has won the last eight Superbike races in a row.

His brother Andrew finished outside the points in 16th position on the Honda Racing Fireblade as his early season struggles continued in the first race at round two of the series.