Imola 1 year after date with Graeme Irwin
Imola 2018. The last GP on the calendar, and it will ultimately turn out that this was the last GP ever for Graeme Irwin. After a season where luck had often let Irwin down, as so often happened, the sting was in the tail of the season, and Irwin broke his skipper's bone in a fall during the last series in Imola. Five operations later, the hard lump came out, after which Irwin ended his active motocross career. Next weekend the MXGP circus will once again return to the famous Imola circuit, and this time without an Irwin at the start. The end of a career or the beginning of a new one? Who knows. One thing is certain, with MX retirement or not, Irwin will hit the ground running this weekend!
Graeme Irwin how it started:
Like many others, Irwin started his motorsport career at a young age, and while both his brothers moved more and more towards road racing, Graeme remained loyal to his old trusted studded tyres. Not without success! At the age of fifteen, Irwin won the title of British junior champion, followed by an Irish title among the big boys one year later. A new British MXGP star seemed to be in the making, and once he also managed to win the British MX2017 title together with Dave Thorp's Buildbase Honda team in 1, the road to the World Championship was completely open. Unfortunately for Irwin, who had even switched to the KTM UK-Hitachi team for 2018, this would only last for one full World Championship season. One year full of injuries ended on the operating table, where after frantic attempts to repair the fracture to his skipper's bone, all hope of ever returning to the highest level was lost.
Graeme Irwin today:
Imola marks the end of Graeme Irwin's motocross career, but this did not mean that Graeme's racing days were numbered. Partly thanks to both of his brothers who were active in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at the time, Graeme managed to make the switch to tarmac racing. Together with the help of Kawasaki UK and Team 109 Kawasaki, this remarkable switch suddenly became a fact, and Graeme Irwin was suddenly on the grid of the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 championship. We are currently fifteen games into the championship, and Graeme occupies 2rd place in the championship with a total of 33 points. Only at Donington Park (where he scored in the third and final match of the weekend) and during the last match in Thruxton did Graeme score. Not exactly results that will appeal to the imagination of a motorsport enthusiast, but with only 1 year of experience on asphalt it is difficult to predict a complete flop. So we'll have to wait and see what the future in road racing will bring for Graeme Irwin, but one thing is certain. Next weekend at the Cadwell Park circuit, Irwin might feel a bit like motocross again.
Text: Dieter Jans
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