Brands Hatch serves up a stern test for Honda Racing
Brands Hatch GPThe closing day of Round 5 of this year’s Bennetts British Superbike Championship (BSB) at Brands Hatch served up an array of challenges for Honda Racing.
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Dry weather conditions before the weekend’s second BSB race gave cause for optimism, with Tommy Bridewell’s Honda Fireblade on the second row of the grid in sixth place and team-mate Andrew Irwin just one place behind.
However, Bridewell flicked into a high-side crash as he accelerated out of Clearways bend at the end of the third lap, leaving Irwin, who had been running close behind, to race onward to an eventual seventh place.
After a visit to the medical centre for a comprehensive check-up, Bridewell withdrew from the final race of the weekend as a precaution. This left Irwin to fly the flag for Honda Racing on a track which had damp patches, and it was the variable grip level that caught him out and triggered a violent crash, from which he emerged uninjured.
On a positive note, the Honda Racing UK entry of 23-time TT winner John McGuinness MBE enjoyed another strong performance in the Superstock race. Starting 19th, McGuinness was in the thick of several battles before crossing the line in 17th place.
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“It was a painful end to a disappointing weekend. I’m taking a lot of chances on the bike at the moment because the gap between us and the fastest guys isn’t getting any smaller no matter what we do. It’s massively frustrating, there’s very little else to say about where we are currently, but we will keep working to find a solution.”
“It was a painful end to a disappointing weekend. I’m taking a lot of chances on the bike at the moment because the gap between us and the fastest guys isn’t getting any smaller no matter what we do. It’s massively frustrating, there’s very little else to say about where we are currently, but we will keep working to find a solution.”
“The weekend was going entirely to plan, we were building off the back of finishing all three races at Knockhill and just chipping away at lap times and letting the lap times and the results come to us. In the third race, I felt completely comfortable in sixth place. I was in the lead pack and just looking to see what sort of opportunity might arise when out of nowhere, so it seemed, I was suddenly thrown quite a long way up off the bike, which was totally destroyed. It’s a big disappointment.”
“The weekend was going entirely to plan, we were building off the back of finishing all three races at Knockhill and just chipping away at lap times and letting the lap times and the results come to us. In the third race, I felt completely comfortable in sixth place. I was in the lead pack and just looking to see what sort of opportunity might arise when out of nowhere, so it seemed, I was suddenly thrown quite a long way up off the bike, which was totally destroyed. It’s a big disappointment.”