DONINGTON PARK
2nd - 3rd OCTOBER
The Track
Circuit length: 1.98m (3.186km)
Corners: 10
Lefthand: 4
Righthand: 6
BSB Lap Record : Peter Hickman - BMW 1:06.081s (2021)
Rain brings mixed results for Honda Racing UK at Donington Park
Saturday, 2nd October 2021
The Honda Racing UK team have experienced a mixed day at Donington Park for the tenth round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, with wet weather conditions hampering progress. Pre-empting a poor and potentially disruptive weather forecast, the schedule for today was altered bringing both the opening races for Superbike and the Pirelli National Superstock Championship forward by a few hours.
This morning Glenn Irwin set the third fastest qualifying lap in Q2 aboard the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP in what was tricky conditions. With the rain coming down for the opening race of the weekend, Glenn had a good start and was running in third place until lap three where he crashed out, unhurt, at Fogarty Esses.
Teammates Ryo Mizuno and Takumi Takahashi both made their race debuts on the GP layout at Donington Park, but sadly for Ryo after setting the ninth fastest time in the morning's practice, he also crashed out of the running, unhurt, on the 12th lap, where he was sitting 12th. The 16-lap race saw 15 finishers cross the line out of 26 riders on the grid, and coming home 13th was Takumi who added further points to his BSB tally.
Honda Racing UK's Superstock rider, Tom Neave qualified seventh ahead of his 12-lap race and with the rain firmly set for the day, it wasn't going to be an easy race. Wanting to protect his championship lead as much as possible, Tom had a cautious run not wanting to do anything that might have caused him to crash out. Coming home 11th, Tom maintains his championship lead by 14 points, ahead of title rival Alex Olsen.
Fantastic fourth keeps Neave in Superstock title contention
Sunday, 3rd October 2021
Tom Neave brought his Honda Racing UK CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP machine home in third place, after a thrilling battle in today's Pirelli National Superstock race. Starting from 12th on the grid, Tom had his work cut out across the 14 laps in order to keep his championship hopes alive, but getting his head down and riding a smart race he made light work of cutting through the pack to get into the group battling for fourth.
Once he had shaken off challenges from Chrissy Rouse and Fraser Rogers, Tom was fourth and started the hunt to third place, where with just three laps remaining, he made his move on Davey Todd and slotted into the final podium spot. With the championship clear in his mind, title rival Billy McConnell was in second and despite giving it his best shot, Tom crossed the line third, 1.757 seconds shy of Billy. Tom still remains the man to beat as the title fight now goes to the final round at Brands Hatch, where Tom has a 22-point lead ahead of Billy, and 23 points ahead of Alex Olsen, with one race to decide who will become the 2021 Pirelli National Superstock Champion.
The team's Superbike riders again had a day of mixed conditions with Race 2 taking place in glorious sunshine, while Race 3 was disrupted by a heavy rain shower and shortened to 15 laps. Glenn Irwin had a solid ride in the opening race of the day finishing tenth, but it was in the final race of the day in terrible conditions, where he put in his best performance of the weekend. Having to start from pit lane after suffering a technical issue with his quickshifter during the warm up lap, Glenn had 26 riders in front of him. Quickly and carefully making his way through, Glenn came home in 10th place having made up an incredible 17 places across the 15 laps.
Keen to improve after yesterday's crash in Race 1, Ryo Mizuno collected further BSB points finishing 14th. However with wet conditions for the final race and struggling with surface grip, he wasn't able to match the 14th position in the earlier race and came home 21st. Meanwhile Takumi Takahashi took on a development role for the weekend's action, using the races to test and develop new parts for the Fireblade, he came home 18th and 20th in both of today's outings.
There's now a short break for the Honda Racing UK team, before the season finale takes place at Brands Hatch on 15-17 October.
#2 Glenn Irwin
Race 2 today was fun, the Fireblade was working well but physically I was beat and couldn’t give any more. We made a change for the last race, and it felt good in the dry, but in the end, it didn’t matter as we had the issue with the quickshifter and it was a wet race. Losing the warm-up lap and initial heat in the tyres wasn’t ideal, but fair play to the team, they had to make another quick change and they were faultless. During the race and seeing the likes of Josh [Brookes] and Danny [Buchan] go out, I thought to myself 'we’re not able to win the championship, but we can beat those guys and fight'! It has been a weekend of frustrations at times, but the positives have outweighed those frustrations, and we’re coming away having learnt a lot and I can tick off gaining confidence riding in the wet.
#13 Takumi Takahashi
I worked a lot this weekend trying to find a good feeling with a development swingarm. My feeling in the dry was getting a little better, but it was a difficult weekend for me because I didn't have much time in the wet, and when we did I didn't have a good feeling. There is only the final round left, so whether we cry or laugh, we will be ready to finish with a smile on our faces.
#88 Ryo Mizuno
It was not a good day for us. We had a good qualifying session and we tried to improve the set-up, but in Race 2 it was worse. For Race 3 we went back to the set-up and in the warm-up we got the feeling right away, and I was looking forward to it, but then it started to rain and the wet conditions were very bad, so we finished in a bad way. It's a shame about the result but we have made a lot of progress in the dry and I'm looking forward to the next round, which will be the last one. We will work hard as a team to end the season on a high note!
#68 Tom Neave
After yesterday's result it's good to turn it around to have a solid result and an awesome battle! When you have a race like that it doesn't always matter where you finish, it's just a fun position to be in. I gave it all I could today and left nothing on the table, we were so close to being able to wrap the championship up if we had finished second we'd have won today, but after yesterday's performance it was just good to put a solid race together again. I probably spent too long battling for fourth/fifth place, so to break free and come back at the end showed I had my head on and I wanted it. Although we're taking the championship to Brands, we don't have much to do, so fingers crossed we can do the business there!
Bennetts British Superbike Championship Standings
1 - Jason O'Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) 1102 pts
2 - Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) 1102 pts
3 - Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) 1084 pts
4 - Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati) 1076 pts
5 - Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW) 1050 pts
6 - Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati) 1042 pts
7 - Danny Buchan ( SYNETIQ BMW Motorrad) 1041 pts
8 - Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing) 1029 pts
9 - Bradley Ray (Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW) 221 pts
10 - Lee Jackson (FS-3 Racing Kawasaki) 203 pts
Sealed with a win: O'Gorman takes victory to secure the crown
The number 67 signs off an impressive campaign in style at Donington, ahead of Brown and Lyons in Race 2
Sunday, 03 October 2021
Casey O'Gorman (Microlise Cresswell Racing) ended the season on a high as the number 67 put in another stunner at Donington Park to secure the 2021 Honda British Talent Cup. Getting the holeshot and, this time in the dry, putting in another dominant performance saw the points leader wrap up the crown in style as closest Championship rival Carter Brown (City Lifting by RS Racing) came home second. Jamie Lyons (C&M Motors Ltd/Tooltec Racing) locked out the podium, ending the season with another top finish.
From the off it was a two rider fight at the front, with O'Gorman streaking away in the lead and only Brown able to go with him. Lyons was holding station in third with a small gap behind him too, with a gaggle of riders then fighting over fourth.
Brown stuck in behind O'Gorman initially, but the number 67 then started to stretch his legs and the gap began to go up. Keeping it tidy under pressure, it was nearly seven seconds by the time the Microlise Cresswell Racing rider made it to the flag to sign off from 2021 in style. Eight wins, three missed rounds and some injury struggles later, O'Gorman is the Honda British Talent Cup Champion!
The fight for second saw Lyons catch Brown mid race and it seemed like that would boil over into a duel, but ultimately the number 74 was able to stay ahead and pull away again, just over two seconds clear of Lyons by the flag. For both it ends the season on a solid high, however, and secures them second and fourth in the final standings, respectively.
The fight for fourth saw Cormac Buchanan (Microlise Cresswell Racing) suffer some late heartbreak as he crashed out, leaving Evan Belford (City Lifting by RS Racing) vs teammate Johnny Garness as the duel for 13 points. Belford took it in the end, securing P3 in the Championship in the process as Garness completed the top five in the race for P5 in the standings.
Rhys Stephenson (Rocket Racing) took another impressive result on Sunday in P6, with some time in hand over Bailey Stuart-Campbell (151s Racing) in seventh. Harrison Crosby (Banks Racing) had a lonelier ride to P8, with the top ten completed by a close finish between Rossi Banham (MJL Racing) and Harley McCabe (MLav VisionTrack Academy).
That's a wrap on 2021. Congratulations to O'Gorman, Brown, Belford and all those who won, progressed and learned on the Road to MotoGP™ this season. The Honda British Talent Cup will return in 2022, so stay tuned for more updates!
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