Christian Iddon shows grit to go through pain barrier in final British Superbikes round

He was fighting teammate Danny Kent inside the top 10 in Saturday’s sprint race, but was taken out on the final lap.

Much like his teammate, Kent, it’s been an up and down year, with any progress always seemingly undone by bad luck.

As he and the team made progress early in the year he suffered a freak injury at Knockhill.

Bouncing back, things began to improve again and he qualified on pole at Snetterton, only to miss out on a podium with a brake issue, before retiring and being taken out in the final race at the Norfolk circuit.

Not to be kept down, he bounced back again, only to be taken out of the podium fight at Oulton Park, suffering another injury in the process.

He missed the penultimate round but at the season finale he highlighted how tough and determined he is when the visor goes down.

Iddon said: “It was a difficult weekend. We lost FP1 with a technical issue and we were always playing catchup.

“My hand wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, but it wasn’t 100 per cent. I struggled getting into the positions I wanted to, certainly in left-handers.

“I didn’t feel very sharp, but I can’t use it as a complete excuse. “Qualifying was terrible, I had a strange feeling with the tyre but from 21st on the grid I felt quite racey in the sprint race."

He added: “I think we were up 10th or around there and I was just looking to bring the bike home and got taken out on the last lap which was frustrating, and kind of resembles our season, really.

"Every time we felt like we were making progress and improving something would knock us back, either something I did, technical issues, or other riders.

“In the last two races we were just missing a couple of tenths and I didn’t have a great feeling from the front, I think due the missed practice time.

"So I was overworking the rear to compensate, but we managed a couple of top 10s despite the issues.

"It’s been a tough couple of weeks, a difficult season, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”