Kennedy extends championship lead
Donington Park GPAfter a defiant ride to second place, and podium number fourteen of the season, Jack Kennedy increases his points advantage in British Supersport.
In weather befitting the late September running of round ten of the Bennetts British Superbike championship, Honda Racing UK experienced contrasting fortunes from the two championships in which it competes.
In the first BSB race of the day, the twelve lap sprint, Tommy Bridewell fought hard from pole position in a race-long duel with championship rivals Kyle Ryde and Glenn Irwin to secure his twelfth second-place finish of the season so far. Team mate Andrew Irwin meanwhile raced to a solid sixth-place finish, backing up his return to front running pace and one of only a handful of riders to lap in the mid twenty seven bracket.
The second superbike feature lap race of the weekend though was a frustrating affair for Bridewell as he failed to replicate his podium performance earlier in the day and had to settle for fifth at the flag. Andrew Irwin followed just behind to make it a brace of sixth-place finishes. Whilst finishing fifth enabled Tommy to score more valuable championship points in his quest to defend his title, he relinquished the series lead to rival Ryde and now heads to Brands Hatch for the finale as the hunter rather than the hunted.
But it was in supersport that the team celebrated the spoils of racing as once again Jack Kennedy displayed his sensational talent as he powered his CBR600RR to the podium once more in a hard-fought race against the larger capacity machines of his championship rivals. Sixteen laps of nail-biting racing resulted in a superb second-place finish for Jack and another top-ten finish for teammate Dean Harrison in eighth. Critically though for Jack’s championship challenge, he finished ahead of his nearest rival Ben Currie. As such, he enters the final round with a points advantage of twenty one points.
All that remains for Honda Racing UK is the season finale at Brands Hatch, Kent, 11-13 October.
It's still not easy I must be honest, when I am riding on my own without coming under attack I can do the lap time and I know that my pace is good. There is just a couple of areas that we need to work on so that I can be competitive where I need to be competitive. I am happy, the team are doing a great job we just need to be clever and to be aggressive when we need to be and ride as hard as I can. In that first race, we gained some points on Kyle but lost some points to Glenn. I'll take it at the moment. Then in race three we just didn't have the pace to go with the Yamahas. It's frustrating for sure but it could have been much worse. We've lost the championship lead but now all the pressure is on Kyle. We go to Brands with it all to play for.
It's still not easy I must be honest, when I am riding on my own without coming under attack I can do the lap time and I know that my pace is good. There is just a couple of areas that we need to work on so that I can be competitive where I need to be competitive. I am happy, the team are doing a great job we just need to be clever and to be aggressive when we need to be and ride as hard as I can. In that first race, we gained some points on Kyle but lost some points to Glenn. I'll take it at the moment. Then in race three we just didn't have the pace to go with the Yamahas. It's frustrating for sure but it could have been much worse. We've lost the championship lead but now all the pressure is on Kyle. We go to Brands with it all to play for.
I think it was a solid weekend after a difficult couple of rounds with a fourth and two sixth place finishes. We used Oulton as a building weekend after missing Cadwell, and here at Donington we have shown some of that progress. I always enjoy coming to Donington, I know we shouldn't look forward to certain tracks, but it is a circuit that I always love racing at and I knew that I could kick into gear heading towards the end of the season. It's nice to get three strong rides and not be too far away from the win, we are working really well as a team and the momentum is building as we head to Brands. We were on the podium there earlier in the year and there is no reason why we cant be there once more.
I think it was a solid weekend after a difficult couple of rounds with a fourth and two sixth place finishes. We used Oulton as a building weekend after missing Cadwell, and here at Donington we have shown some of that progress. I always enjoy coming to Donington, I know we shouldn't look forward to certain tracks, but it is a circuit that I always love racing at and I knew that I could kick into gear heading towards the end of the season. It's nice to get three strong rides and not be too far away from the win, we are working really well as a team and the momentum is building as we head to Brands. We were on the podium there earlier in the year and there is no reason why we cant be there once more.
