Andrew Irwin has been☂ thrown out of the results for the third British Superbike Championship race at Donington Park after being judged at fault for an incident that eliminated Josh Brookes.

Irwin was chasing a third BSB win on a hugely successful 2020 opening we👍ekend aboard the new Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade, but while fighting over third position with Brookes the pair ma⛄de contact at the top of Craner Curves.

Caused by Irwin cutting up the inside at 𒅌the first right-hand🤪er, a light touch sent Brookes down in a fast crash and out of the race, though the Australian escaped unharmed.

With Irwin going on to finish second behind Tommꦺy Bridewell, stewards later blamed him for ‘avoidable/unfair contact’ and threw him out of the results. In addition, he has picked u💜p 6 penalty points (3 suspended) which added to previous penalty points means he will start race one at the next Snetterton round from last.

“Even with the outcome this evening from the final race, this has been a grea꧑t weekend, with two race wins at the first round on a brand-new machine. It's been a good start to the season with Honda and the Fireblade, and I'm looking ꦛforward to the progress we can make.

“I'll keep working hard, putting in the time and effort in the next two weeks, to arrive at Snetterton𓄧 even better. But we have to be realistic there, we know it's a different track and a different style to Donington, so we have to hope the bik🍒e is also competitive there, so I'll go, try my best and hopefully we can do a good job.

Irwin’s DQ means his brother Glenn – with a trio of second place finishes – assumes the championship lead after the opening round, te𒆙n points clear of Andrew.