Thrilling third for Neave and Honda Racing UK at Donington Park
Donington Park GPTom Neave brought his Honda Racing UK CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP machine home in third place, after a thrilling battle in today's Pirelli National Superstock race.
Tom Neave brought his Honda Racing UK CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP machine home in third place, after a thrilling battle in today's Pirelli National Superstock race. Starting from 12th on the grid, Tom had his work cut out across the 14 laps in order to keep his championship hopes alive, but getting his head down and riding a smart race he made light work of cutting through the pack to get into the group battling for fourth.
Once he had shaken off challenges from Chrissy Rouse and Fraser Rogers, Tom was fourth and started the hunt to third place, where with just three laps remaining, he made his move on Davey Todd and slotted into the final podium spot. With the championship clear in his mind, title rival Billy McConnell was in second and despite giving it his best shot, Tom crossed the line third, 1.757 seconds shy of Billy. Tom still remains the man to beat as the title fight now goes to the final round at Brands Hatch, where Tom has a 22-point lead ahead of Billy, and 23 points ahead of Alex Olsen, with one race to decide who will become the 2021 Pirelli National Superstock Champion.
The team's Superbike riders again had a day of mixed conditions with Race 2 taking place in glorious sunshine, while Race 3 was disrupted by a heavy rain shower and shortened to 15 laps. Glenn Irwin had a solid ride in the opening race of the day finishing tenth, but it was in the final race of the day in terrible conditions, where he put in his best performance of the weekend. Having to start from pit lane after suffering a technical issue with his quickshifter during the warm up lap, Glenn had 26 riders in front of him. Quickly and carefully making his way through, Glenn came home in 10th place having made up an incredible 17 places across the 15 laps.
Keen to improve after yesterday's crash in Race 1, Ryo Mizuno collected further BSB points finishing 14th. However with wet conditions for the final race and struggling with surface grip, he wasn't able to match the 14th position in the earlier race and came home 21st. Meanwhile Takumi Takahashi took on a development role for the weekends' action, using the races to test and develop new parts for the Fireblade, he came home 18th and 20th in both of today's outings.
There's now a two-week break for the Honda Racing UK team, before the season finale takes place at Brands Hatch on 15-17 October.
Race 2 today was fun, the Fireblade was working well but physically I was beat and couldn’t give anymore. We made a change for the last race, and it felt good in the dry, but in the end, it didn’t matter as we had the issue with the quickshifter and it was a wet race. Losing the warm-up lap and initial heat in the tyres wasn’t ideal, but fair play to the team, they had to make another quick change and they were faultless. During the race and seeing the likes of Josh [Brookes] and Danny [Buchan] go out, I thought to myself we’re not able to win the championship, but we can beat those guys and fight! It has been a weekend of frustrations at times, but the positives have outweighed those frustrations, and we’re coming away having learnt a lot and I can tick off gaining confidence riding in the wet.
Race 2 today was fun, the Fireblade was working well but physically I was beat and couldn’t give anymore. We made a change for the last race, and it felt good in the dry, but in the end, it didn’t matter as we had the issue with the quickshifter and it was a wet race. Losing the warm-up lap and initial heat in the tyres wasn’t ideal, but fair play to the team, they had to make another quick change and they were faultless. During the race and seeing the likes of Josh [Brookes] and Danny [Buchan] go out, I thought to myself we’re not able to win the championship, but we can beat those guys and fight! It has been a weekend of frustrations at times, but the positives have outweighed those frustrations, and we’re coming away having learnt a lot and I can tick off gaining confidence riding in the wet.
It was not a good day for us. We had a good qualifying session and we tried to improve the set-up, but in Race 2 it was worse and we had nothing to do with the bike. For Race 3 we went back to the set-up and in the warm-up we got the feeling right away and I was looking forward to it, but then it started to rain and the wet conditions were very bad, so we finished in a bad way. It's a shame about the result but we have made a lot of progress in the dry and I'm looking forward to the next round, which will be the last one. We will work hard as a team to end the season on a high note!
It was not a good day for us. We had a good qualifying session and we tried to improve the set-up, but in Race 2 it was worse and we had nothing to do with the bike. For Race 3 we went back to the set-up and in the warm-up we got the feeling right away and I was looking forward to it, but then it started to rain and the wet conditions were very bad, so we finished in a bad way. It's a shame about the result but we have made a lot of progress in the dry and I'm looking forward to the next round, which will be the last one. We will work hard as a team to end the season on a high note!
I worked a lot this weekend trying to find a good feeling with a development swingarm. My feeling in the dry was getting a little better feeling, but it was a difficult weekend for me because I didn't have much time in the wet, and when we did and I didn't have a good feeling. There is only the final round left, so whether we cry or laugh, we will be ready to finish with a smile on our faces.
I worked a lot this weekend trying to find a good feeling with a development swingarm. My feeling in the dry was getting a little better feeling, but it was a difficult weekend for me because I didn't have much time in the wet, and when we did and I didn't have a good feeling. There is only the final round left, so whether we cry or laugh, we will be ready to finish with a smile on our faces.
After yesterday's result it's good to turn it around to have a solid result and an awesome battle! When you have a race like that it does't always matter where you finish, it's just a fun position to be in. I gave it all I could today and left nothing on the table, we were so close to being able to wrap the championship up if we had finished second we'd have won today, but after yesterday's performance it was just good to put a good race together again. I probably spent too long battling for fourth/fifth place, so to break free and come back at the end showed I had my head on today and I wanted it. Although we're taking the championship to Brands, we don't have much to do, so fingers crossed we can do the business there!
After yesterday's result it's good to turn it around to have a solid result and an awesome battle! When you have a race like that it does't always matter where you finish, it's just a fun position to be in. I gave it all I could today and left nothing on the table, we were so close to being able to wrap the championship up if we had finished second we'd have won today, but after yesterday's performance it was just good to put a good race together again. I probably spent too long battling for fourth/fifth place, so to break free and come back at the end showed I had my head on today and I wanted it. Although we're taking the championship to Brands, we don't have much to do, so fingers crossed we can do the business there!