Honda Racing starts Round 4 strongly at Knockhill
KnockhillHonda Racing has made a bright start to Round 4 of the 2025 Bennetts British Superbike Championship (BSB), on the series’ annual trip to Knockhill Circuit in Scotland.
Honda Racing has made a bright start to Round 4 of the 2025 Bennetts British Superbike Championship (BSB), on the series’ annual trip to Knockhill Circuit in Scotland.
The short, undulating circuit on the Scottish hillsides in Fife is a favourite for riders and fans alike, bringing a unique challenge to the visiting series. In wet and windy conditions during Friday’s Free Practice sessions, Tommy Bridewell showed consistent top-five pace on his Honda Fireblade, while team-mate Andrew Irwin underlined his return from injury by going straight into the pole position shootout for the first time since the season opener at Oulton Park in May.
In the end, an unexpectedly dry qualifying session meant a compromise setup on the Honda Fireblades, which resulted in Bridewell qualifying in eighth place and Irwin 11th.
In the 30-lap race that followed, Bridewell capitalised on an improved setup to fight his way through to fifth place at the finish line, while his fastest race lap puts him fourth on the grid for Race 2 on Sunday. Irwin also moved up in a pitched battle but opted to ensure that he finished and took the flag in tenth place, lapping fast enough to start in eighth for the second race.
“Tough race for sure. I think, in the grand scheme of things, I’m happy. I didn’t feel too confident going into that race, because we didn’t do the test here, so we were unsure of the dry setup. It’s been unexpectedly dry today, which is nice after the torrential rain during practice, but in FP3 we put the bike back on the dry settings from Snetterton and then for qualifying we went dramatically different with our approach, which I wasn’t too happy with. That showed in the qualifying time that we got. For the race, we came back to a bit of a halfway house on the setup and the bike was a lot better. We just need to find a bit more in the weaker areas of the setup now. We can only work and keep doing what we do.”
“Tough race for sure. I think, in the grand scheme of things, I’m happy. I didn’t feel too confident going into that race, because we didn’t do the test here, so we were unsure of the dry setup. It’s been unexpectedly dry today, which is nice after the torrential rain during practice, but in FP3 we put the bike back on the dry settings from Snetterton and then for qualifying we went dramatically different with our approach, which I wasn’t too happy with. That showed in the qualifying time that we got. For the race, we came back to a bit of a halfway house on the setup and the bike was a lot better. We just need to find a bit more in the weaker areas of the setup now. We can only work and keep doing what we do.”
“Honestly, I just needed to finish a race - for myself as much as anything. For the team, too, because it’s been a difficult period. So 10th is something to build on. We have another two races tomorrow so hopefully we can do that. I lack race time, I think that’s part of the problem, but with these two more races tomorrow, we’ll give them a bit of a crack and try to close the gap to the riders ahead.”
“Honestly, I just needed to finish a race - for myself as much as anything. For the team, too, because it’s been a difficult period. So 10th is something to build on. We have another two races tomorrow so hopefully we can do that. I lack race time, I think that’s part of the problem, but with these two more races tomorrow, we’ll give them a bit of a crack and try to close the gap to the riders ahead.”