After setting the first ever sub 53s British Superbike lap around the Silverstone (National) Circuit in qualifying, Irwin’s day went f☂rom good to great after leading every lap of race oꦛne. 

With free practice and qualifying 🍸indicating 10 to 15 riders could be in with a chance of winning the 2022 season opener, the 24 lap race around Silverstone was anything but that, as it quickly became a three-way fight.&nbs🗹p;

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The front row of Irwin, Ryde and Ray all made good starts which was ꦰenough to lead them into turn one in ♉the same order.

Movement between the podium finishers took place on two occasions as Ryde and Ray battled for P2, and although Irwin was unable to escape the🉐 Yamaha pair's grasp, an attempt at the lead never came to fruition as the Honda rider used h♈is exceptional pace in sector one to his advantage. 

Irwi♌n was able to counter the Yamaha’s better turning ability thanks to his CBR1000RR-R’s impressive traction, therefore kꦜeeping him out of reach come the braking zones. 

After suffering various off-season injuries, the 24 lap race was Irwin’s first race stint of the year, making his p๊erformance all the more impressive. 

Speaking after the win, Irwin added: "Testing has been difficult; In Snetterton we had a problem that we didn’t find until after, here it was what it was - crazy wind! Yesterday we had teething prob♓lems and today it started to come good. 

"I think, when you qualify that fast then surely you can take something off that in the race. Even a second off and you have a good pace which is practically what happened. 0.8, .7, .6 off tha💎t was a good pace. 

"It's the first tꦓime I’ve done a race run this year because of everything 🌱that’s gone on. I had to breathe a little bit during that one."

While it was a great day🔯 for the Honda man, Irwin expects a ಞfightback from those who had disappointing races, hence why no predictions for race two were made by the Northern Irishman.  

"You can’t make predictions in this championship," continued Irwin. "I 🐎just need to make a good start, these boys (Ryde and Ray) will be here, Yamaha are always here. I expect other people to respond, some people won’t be so happy and it’s down to us to continuღe the good work."

Are Ryde and Ray here to stay? 

Ryde♌ and Ray are both double British Superbike race winners - Ray in 2018 and Ryde in 2020 - both with Buildbase Suzuki, however, the two Rich Energy OMG Racing riders have failed to sustain consistent performances over the last feꦬw seasons. 

And although a larger sample of races i🤡s needed in order to truly determine whether both are ready to fight for the title, the change from BMW to Yamaha certainly suggests they are. 

Fast all throughout pre-season, Ryde and Ray carrie꧃d that form into this weekend as the pair were regularly inside the top five, while also breaking Jason O’Halloran’s race lap record on more than one occasion. 

Like Ryde, Ray felt stuck behind Irwin without being able to get through: "It was a difficult race. I got an average start to be fair, slott🎀ed into third and then felt 👍like I could maybe have a little bit better pace so I passed Kyle, but I couldn’t really do anything after that 

"I sat behind Glenn for quite awhile. I made a few s🐬m🦂all mistakes at a few corners and then Kyle came back past me. 

"And there I was just sort of stuck there. I couldn’t do any more than what I did today. I gave everything! But I reall💎y, really enj♐oyed that and I’m so happy to be back on the podium."

Key storylines to follow during Sunday’s British Superbike double-header

Looking to bounce back will be 2018 BSB champion Leon Haslam, who aft🦄er qualifying in fifth, had to retire froꦇm race one because of a technical issue. 

Had Haslam been without the issue then a top ten looked likely, despite losing five places on the ope🐓ning lap. 

Also in the bounce back category are both MCE Ducati riders. Following a strong pre-season, particularly the three-day test at Snetterton, it looked as if two-time series winner Josh Brookes was back to somew﷽here close to his best, while former WorldSBK champion Tom Sykes loo🔯ked equally as impressive. 

But both riders were no🌳n-factors during the race after finishing 12th and 13th. 

After qualifying out of position, pre-weekend favourite Jason O’Halloran will be hoping to do better than fifth during rꦡaces two and three. 

Rory Skinner was one of the more impressive riders during race one as the FS-3 Kawasaki rider held onto the leading trio for a considerable amount of time. Tyre degradation seemed to be an issue for the Scot towards the end, which should that be addressed come tomorrow, then we could be looking at anoth🎃er name b꧑eing added to the ‘potential race winner’s’ list.