Glenn Irwin: Northern Ireland rider passed fit by BSB for opening practice

Glenn Irwin has been passed fit to compete in first practice of the British Superbike Championship round at Thruxton.

After being assessed by the BSB’s chief medical officer, Irwin will be allowed to participate in the opening practice session at 13:00 BST and will then undergo a further review before he is allowed to compete in the remainder of the weekend.

Irwin had been sidelined since a practice crash at Snetterton in June, which left him with fractures to his hip socket and pelvis.

The 35-year-old also had surgery on his sacrum (pelvic region) as part of his recovery.

Irwin had declared himself fit to compete in the build-up to the event after undergoing independent tests, but was made to wait for official confirmation until he had been assessed by the chief medial officer ahead of first practice at Thruxton.

“Thank you to everyone who has helped me get to this point”, Irwin posted on X.

“So excited to return with controlled expectations for this weekend.”

The Northern Ireland rider will be competing with a new team OMG Racing Yamaha after his exit from PBM Ducati.

When announcing Irwin’s departure from the team, PBM said there had been a “point of conflict” over the immediacy of the Northern Ireland rider’s return, which had originally been scheduled to be a round later at Cadwell Park at the end of August.

In response, Irwin felt there had been a lack of loyalty from his team, who will run Scott Redding in his place, adding they weren’t “prepared to wait” for him.

Despite declaring himself fit to race, a statement on Thursday from MSRV, which runs the BSB championship, said Irwin was “on the ‘unfit list'” until cleared by the series’ chief medical officer, who has “sole discretion” over the participation of riders who had sustained a serious injury.

Irwin will now compete in the practice session but his participation in the remainder of the weekend will not be confirmed until a further assessment ahead of second practice at 15:50 BST.

The first race is on Saturday at 16:15 BST before Sunday’s two races at 13:15 BST and 16:20 BST.