Honda Racing ends Oulton Park weekend positively
Oulton ParkContinued wild weather in the wake of Storm Amy played a major role at Oulton Park as the penultimate round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship (BSB) drew to a close.
Honda Racing BSB stars Tommy Bridewell and Dean Harrison lined up alongside one another on the third row of the grid for Race 2 amid strong winds that were persistently threatening to bring more rain - making setup choices critical.
The pair got away cleanly, but Harrison slid off the circuit and rejoined in last place before the red flags came out due to contamination of the track surface after a major oil spill.
The heavy duty clean-up operation, which covered a 120-metre stretch of the track, meant that there was a two-hour delay in the day’s schedule. When the race was restarted, the conditions were gusty but dry, the distance being shortened to eight laps and the original grid positions being retained.
Again, the two Fireblades got away well, and this time there was no slip-up from Harrison although he was forced to acclimatise while completing his first dry laps on a BSB Superbike since early in the 2024 season. Bridewell began to make progress through the lead group and would eventually take the chequered flag in sixth place, with Harrison reaching the finish line in 15th.
In the third and final BSB race of the weekend, Bridewell started fourth and Harrison 16th based on their fastest laps from Race 2. In a furious slipstreaming battle among the top 10 riders, Bridewell got shuffled down the order to cross the line in ninth place, while Harrison was able to hold station and eventually finished in 15th place once again.
“The third race was a slow race, in fact a really slow race, which was certainly a massive benefit for me, because that enabled me to stay within sight of the leading pack. It’s a difficult position we’re in at the moment, because I feel like I’m just riding around and not able to really fight for victories, which is really difficult. And yet we are making progress and I’m really happy with the team’s effort. All of the guys in the crew are doing a great job, but at the minute we’ve just extracted all that we can from the package. That’s just basically where it’s at for us right now.”
“The third race was a slow race, in fact a really slow race, which was certainly a massive benefit for me, because that enabled me to stay within sight of the leading pack. It’s a difficult position we’re in at the moment, because I feel like I’m just riding around and not able to really fight for victories, which is really difficult. And yet we are making progress and I’m really happy with the team’s effort. All of the guys in the crew are doing a great job, but at the minute we’ve just extracted all that we can from the package. That’s just basically where it’s at for us right now.”
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“The first race yesterday was just like the wild west, really! The second race we were able to settle in a bit and I actually learnt a lot. Honestly, apart from that little crash we had yesterday I think it’s been a good weekend on the bike. We scored points in all three races and we’re there or thereabouts. We’ll just look forward to Brands now because I think that the characteristics of the track are broadly similar to Oulton Park and what we’ve learned this week we’ll try and implement there. I’ve got my head back into it a little bit so I’m looking forward to it. The lads in the garage never stop working, they’re flat out all the time, and it’s nice that they listen to some of my input and hopefully it will help move both Tommy and me forward.”
“The first race yesterday was just like the wild west, really! The second race we were able to settle in a bit and I actually learnt a lot. Honestly, apart from that little crash we had yesterday I think it’s been a good weekend on the bike. We scored points in all three races and we’re there or thereabouts. We’ll just look forward to Brands now because I think that the characteristics of the track are broadly similar to Oulton Park and what we’ve learned this week we’ll try and implement there. I’ve got my head back into it a little bit so I’m looking forward to it. The lads in the garage never stop working, they’re flat out all the time, and it’s nice that they listen to some of my input and hopefully it will help move both Tommy and me forward.”