Donington Park - BSB Round 10
The Track
Circuit length: 2.49M / 4.02KM
Corners: 12
Lefthand: 5
Righthand: 7
BSB Lap Record : Leon Haslam - BMW 1:27.593 (2023) 102.22mph
Kennedy claims victory and Bridewell is back on the box
Saturday 28th September 2024
As the dust settles after a day of superb Bennetts British Superbike racing, Honda Racing UK and Jack Kennedy celebrate winning by the finest of margins, whilst Tommy Bridewell scores a second-place finish.
Cold but dry conditions remained throughout the day at Donington Park for the first day of racing in this, the tenth round of the championship. Aboard their respective Fireblades, Tommy Bridewell and Andrew Irwin qualified well within the top ten positions in fifth and ninth places as less than a second covered the top twelve.
Despite the close nature of qualifying however, the opening twenty-lap superbike race of the weekend was a two-horse affair as the leading championship duo rocketed away to the front of the field and left their competitors in their wake. Kyle Ryde from pole made a clean getaway at the start whilst Bridewell had work to do early on from fifth. But get to work he most certainly did, as he made bold decisive overtakes quickly to reach second by the end of the first lap.
From here on in he stalked his championship rival and ramped up the pressure lap after lap as he sat right on the rear wheel of his competitor. A move for the lead however just didn’t materialise as the two lapped at an incredibly similar pace. Nonetheless, by crossing the line in second, Tommy maintains his championship lead and has gained vital information from which to make overnight progress with his setup, and having achieved the fastest lap of the race he starts the sprint tomorrow in pole position.
Andrew Irwin meanwhile had a strong race from ninth on the grid to a fighting fourth at the flag. Mastering his early race aggression to make hard clean moves through the field, this result marked a welcome return to the podium fight as he finished just two-tenths behind elder brother Glenn in third.
For Honda Racing UK though it was in British Supersport that the loudest cheers would come. Jack Kennedy delivered a gutsy and determined ride to victory number eight of the season with a stunning last-lap move on his championship rival to win by just 0.05 seconds.
In the same race, Dean Harrison endured a bruising ten-lap scrap as hard-fought battles ultimately cost him time in his pursuit for a top-five finish. He completed the race in ninth.
Kennedy extends his championship lead
Sunday 29th September 2024
In weather befitting the late September running of round ten of the Bennetts British Superbike championship, Honda Racing UK experienced contrasting fortunes from the two championships in which it competes.
In the first BSB race of the day, the twelve lap sprint, Tommy Bridewell fought hard from pole position in a race-long duel with championship rivals Kyle Ryde and Glenn Irwin to secure his twelfth second-place finish of the season so far. Team mate Andrew Irwin meanwhile raced to a solid sixth-place finish, backing up his return to front running pace and one of only a handful of riders to lap in the mid twenty seven bracket.
The second superbike feature lap race of the weekend though was a frustrating affair for Bridewell as he failed to replicate his podium performance earlier in the day and had to settle for fifth at the flag. Andrew Irwin followed just behind to make it a brace of sixth-place finishes. Whilst finishing fifth enabled Tommy to score more valuable championship points in his quest to defend his title, he relinquished the series lead to rival Ryde and now heads to Brands Hatch for the finale as the hunter rather than the hunted.
But it was in supersport that the team celebrated the spoils of racing as once again Jack Kennedy displayed his sensational talent as he powered his CBR600RR to the podium once more in a hard-fought race against the larger capacity machines of his championship rivals. Sixteen laps of nail-biting racing resulted in a superb second-place finish for Jack and another top-ten finish for teammate Dean Harrison in eighth.
Critically though for Jack’s championship challenge, he finished ahead of his nearest rival Ben Currie. As such, he enters the final round with a points advantage of twenty one points.
#4 Jack Kennedy
It was a really good race today, I knew I really had to push the Honda to stay on the pace of Stapleford and Currie, particularly as we were losing time in places and having to push even harder in other areas to make up the time again. We managed to do it though and managed to be in a position to try and push for the win towards the end. The second to last lap was my quickest lap which I am really happy with. Luke defended really well into the Melbourne Loop in the final lap which made it impossible to have a go for the win because he is so much stronger out of the final corner and the run to the line. I knew that I had to take second and take points out of Ben in the championship which we achieved. I don't think the weekend could have gone any better, we leave the weekend twenty one points clear and I am very happy with the job that Honda and myself are doing. I can't wait for the last round, even though I don't want the season to be over!
#1 Tommy Bridewell
It's still not easy I must be honest, when I am riding on my own without coming under attack I can do the lap time and I know that my pace is good. There is just a couple of areas that we need to work on so that I can be competitive where I need to be competitive. I am happy, the team are doing a great job we just need to be clever and to be aggressive when we need to be and ride as hard as I can. In that first race, we gained some points on Kyle but lost some points to Glenn. I'll take it at the moment. Then in race three we just didn't have the pace to go with the Yamahas. It's frustrating for sure but it could have been much worse. We've lost the championship lead but now all the pressure is on Kyle. We go to Brands with it all to play for.
#18 Andrew Irwin
Those conditions are honestly the worst conditions for me to race in, when there are dry sections of track, wet sections of track and you have the narrowest of lines to race on, it is super difficult. I was in the leading group of nine or so riders for pretty much all of the race but to pass anywhere is just so difficult because as soon as you run off line you are into the wet patches and the bike starts sliding all over the place. It’s so easy to crash out of the race so to stay on and get the finish, yes it’s not the result we wanted but we will take it.
#5 Dean Harrison
In today's race it was a similar story to the races of late in all honesty. When we are running in clear air we have the pace of the leaders but if you get caught up in any of the early race shenanigans you just lose time and then passing in the race is super difficult. We tried to be a bit more aggressive this weekend and to get the elbows out early on but when you can't run your own lines in the fight it is difficult to run your pace. We're inside the top ten and working hard to keep improving.
All that remains for Honda Racing UK is the season finale at Brands Hatch, Kent, 11-13 October.
| 1 | Kyle Ryde (OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing) | 398pts |
| 2 | Tommy Bridewell (Honda Racing UK) | 394pts |
| 3 | Glenn Irwin (Hager PBM Ducati) | 352pts |
| 4 | Danny Kent (McAMS Racing Yamaha) | 290pts |
| 5 | Ryan Vickers (OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing) | 265pts |
| 6 | Christian Iddon (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) | 261pts |
| 7 | Lee Jackson (MasterMac Honda) | 237pts |
| 8 | Leon Haslam (ROKiT Haslam Racing BMW Motorrad) | 218pts |
| 9 | Charlie Nesbitt (MasterMac Honda) | 193pts |
| 10 | Josh Brookes (FHO Racing BMW Motorrad) | 189pts |
| 12 | Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing UK) | 182pts |
| 1 | Jack Kennedy (Honda Racing UK) | 396pts |
| 2 | Ben Currie (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) | 375pts |
| 3 | Luke Stapleford (Macadam Triumph Racing) | 374pts |
| 4 | Eugene McManus (ROKiT Haslam Racing BMW Motorrad) | 232pts |
| 5 | Harry Truelove (ASTRO-JJR Suzuki) | 226pts |
| 4 | Alastair Seeley (Macadam Triumph Racing) | 225pts |
| 7 | TJ Toms (R&R Racing Yamaha) | 184pts |
| 8 | Shane Richardson (ASTRO-JJR Suzuki) | 126pts |
| 9 | Rhys Irwin (ASTRO-JJR Suzuki) | 88pts |
| 10 | Dean Harrison (Honda Racing UK) | 80pts |
Built with Shorthand