Penrith-based Be Wiser Ducati’s Glenn Irwin put in a pair of solid performances in the two Bennetts British Superbike Championship races at Assen.

Those fourth and fifth place finishes on Sunday see Irwin remain in contention for third place overall in this year’s series.

And with younger brother Andrew taking a fine sixth place in race two, it marked a good day’s work for the team in a dramatic weekend of action at the Dutch track in the penultimate round of the 2018 campaign.

After qualifying in fourth, Glenn started the first 18-lap race from the head of the second row of the grid, although he slipped back to sixth at the completion of the first lap.

He remained there until lap five when he moved ahead of Christian Iddon to take fifth, and then began to reduce the gap to the leading four riders.

As the race went into its second half, the 28-year-old, from Carrickfergus, was unable to match their pace and he completed the race in a solid fifth.

It meant he started the second race from sixth on the grid and on the second row once more, where a crash at the end of lap two saw him involved with the fallen Dan Linfoot and dropped back to 15th place as a result.

A safety car period allowed the group to bunch up once more and, when racing resumed, Glenn set about moving up the leaderboard and with a series of overtaking manoeuvres, he put in a brilliant ride to claim fourth place at the chequered flag.

With 24 points taken on the day, the Northern Irishman now sits in fourth place overall but just three points behind third-placed Josh Brookes with three races to go.

Younger brother and team-mate Andrew also suffered in the opening laps of the first race and eventually finished 16th, just outside the points.

He started race two from the middle of the sixth row in 17th place but benefited from the mayhem on the opening laps and found himself in 11th on lap five.

This soon became tenth and, when Glenn overhauled him, he set a similar pace to move through the pack, too, to claim sixth place, the second-best finish in his short BSB career.

“Race one was quite difficult, so it was nice to end the race weekend on a positive note,” said Glenn.