Irwin ninth as Cadwell Park challenges Honda Racing UK
Cadwell Park
Cadwell Park has thrown some challenges to the Honda Racing UK team this weekend, as they tackle their home track for the seventh round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship this Bank Holiday weekend.
On Friday evening before the weekend started, there was an official test, where Glenn Irwin topped the times with a blistering 1:26.130 lap time, lapping under what was the existing circuit record and setting the pace aboard the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP. However at the end of Saturday's combined free practice Glenn was 15th and left fighting for a spot in Sunday's Superpole.
With a new day ahead of the team, and four sessions before the afternoon's eBay Sprint Race, Glenn stormed to the top of the time sheets once again in today's final practice, with a stunning time of 1:25.992, placing himself in Superpole, alongside teammate Takumi Takahashi who had already secured a Superpole position having finished ninth in Saturday's SUPERPICKS top 12.
Wrapping up Superpole with Glenn 10th and Takumi 12th, the Honda-pair lined up on the fourth row of the grid ready for the 14-lap sprint race. Teammates Ryo Mizuno and Tom Neave were outside the top-12, despite BSB rookie Tom breaking the 1:26 barrier during qualifying, he lined up 18th, with Ryo 23rd.
The 14-lap eBay Sprint Race was red flagged on the second lap after a crash on the Mountain, which unfortunately saw Takumi fall. The race was restarted over a 12-lap distance, but with the team still repairing the damage to Takumi's fallen machine he was forced to sit out, which was a huge blow for the Suzuka 8-Hour winner, who had been showing real progress throughout the weekend, and will start tomorrow's Race 2 from last place on the grid.
Meanwhile over the restarted race, Glenn finished ninth claiming valuable points for his Showdown challenge. The points also didn't stop there with Tom taking the chequered flag in 14th and adding more points to his tally. Ryo came home in 23rd.
Tomorrow, on Bank Holiday Monday the Honda team and all its riders will be back in action with two longer 18-lap races at Cadwell Park.
In terms of the Showdown today has been good, but it's one of those races I'm not pleased with. We have one eye on those trying to get in and they didn't score big and we finished close to them on track. I'm pleased with the fight throughout the race after struggling at the start and getting a bit beaten about, we managed to respond and made some progress. Our job here is to improve the Fireblade, and it's something I really enjoy and have enjoyed the development journey, but when we don't achieve that as a team it frustrates me, and what is frustrating me most about today. As a team we're struggling in the same areas, so tonight is like a game of Monopoly, we're rolling the dice and scratching our heads.
We are struggling for today. The start of the weekend wasn't bad, but I couldn't improve in every session and I couldn't do anything to improve for the race. It's a circuit where I struggle every year, but there are points where I'm starting to enjoy riding the track, so I'll do my best to increase our position tomorrow, even if it's just by one more!
My lap times were improving steadily until FP4 and I was getting a good feeling, but in Superpole I made a little mistake. In today's race, there was a crash in front of me and I had nowhere to go and hit the rider in front of me rear wheel, causing me to crash and retire. It's a shame because I was riding the best rhythm in this year, but I'll try to make up for it in the two races tomorrow.
It's nice to be back in the points today, but I'm dissatisfied with where I am currently. I believe there's a lot more potential in the bike and also myself and we've not yet managed to find that sweet spot. I'm not giving up on the weekend, we have two more feature races tomorrow and I'm confident we can find a good setting in order to show everyone what I'm truly capable of round here, as we're just off the mark of where I know I should be.