A bright start for Honda Racing at Thruxton
ThruxtonThruxton Circuit in Hampshire plays host to the sixth round of this year’s Bennetts British Superbike Championship (BSB) this weekend, with Honda Racing in the thick of the action.
Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire plays host to the sixth round of this year’s Bennetts British Superbike Championship (BSB) and Quattro British Supersport Championship this weekend, with Honda Racing in the thick of the action.
Celebrating his birthday at his home track, former BSB champion Tommy Bridewell was in fine form from the outset at Thruxton; ending Friday’s two Free Practice sessions with his Honda Fireblade in third place on the timesheet. In Qualifying, he automatically had a place in the top 12 based on his practice times, and would end up in fifth place on the grid.
Andrew Irwin, riding alongside Bridewell, wasn’t able to match the Wiltshire man’s pace in Free Practice after a technical issue curtailed the second Free Practice. This pushed him into the first qualifying round, producing an utterly committed lap that put him at the top in that session. In the pole position shootout, Irwin would end up with seventh place on the grid, just 0.074 seconds off Bridewell’s best time.
At the start of Saturday’s 20-lap Sprint race, a clean getaway and a couple of bold moves saw Bridewell muscle his way to the front of the field to hold the lead for as long as possible before slipping back to eighth.
This passed the baton to Irwin, who in turn battled up as high as fourth until the heat and abrasive surface of the Thruxton track saw his tyres begin to suffer. This allowed riders to come back at the Northern Irishman, including Bridewell. The two Fireblades crossed the line in fourth and fifth place.
In Supersport, the two Free Practice sessions on Friday ended with defending champion Jack Kennedy at the top of the timesheets on his Honda CBR600RR, with team-mate Dean Harrison fifth. On Saturday morning this order was reversed, however, with Harrison qualifying fourth for the Sprint race, with Kennedy also on the second row in sixth.
On the first lap, Kennedy moved up quickly to hold fourth place and stayed there to the chequered flag. Harrison also maintained a strong pace, being embroiled in a race-long battle and crossing the finish line in eighth.
“It was just standard Thruxton, to be honest! It’s tough here, because there are so many factors to think about in your approach: do you push hard from the start or hold back and keep out of the way of the chaos! Track position is key. I got away decently, was happy enough in the lead, and just tried to settle into the race. But there was a lot of passing, a lot of movement, a lot of riders bumping into each other and you just had to settle and regroup. I picked my time to get going again and unfortunately I got a bit held up, which allowed the front three to get away, and that’s frustrating because I feel we’ve got podium pace here.”
“It was just standard Thruxton, to be honest! It’s tough here, because there are so many factors to think about in your approach: do you push hard from the start or hold back and keep out of the way of the chaos! Track position is key. I got away decently, was happy enough in the lead, and just tried to settle into the race. But there was a lot of passing, a lot of movement, a lot of riders bumping into each other and you just had to settle and regroup. I picked my time to get going again and unfortunately I got a bit held up, which allowed the front three to get away, and that’s frustrating because I feel we’ve got podium pace here.”
“The weekend has gone quite well so far. Yesterday, in the second Free Practice session, we were unfortunate to have a little technical problem which meant that we weren’t able to go out and set a time on the soft tyre. That meant we had to go through both Qualifying sessions and so after going fastest in Q1 I had to use the old tyre in Q2. But it was a good race, I feel like I didn’t have quite as much left in the tyres as I needed at the end but a top five finish is good to have. Looking to tomorrow, we’ve got a few ideas to try out in Warm-up and then I think we can be even more positive in those two races.”
“The weekend has gone quite well so far. Yesterday, in the second Free Practice session, we were unfortunate to have a little technical problem which meant that we weren’t able to go out and set a time on the soft tyre. That meant we had to go through both Qualifying sessions and so after going fastest in Q1 I had to use the old tyre in Q2. But it was a good race, I feel like I didn’t have quite as much left in the tyres as I needed at the end but a top five finish is good to have. Looking to tomorrow, we’ve got a few ideas to try out in Warm-up and then I think we can be even more positive in those two races.”