Round three of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship was a point-scoring weekend for Honda Racing UK at Brands Hatch across both the Superbike and Superstock classes.
Glenn Irwin completed the weekend with two top-ten finishes in today’s races, after coming home 11th in yesterday’s opening race aboard the Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP. The final race of the day turned into a thrilling seven-lap dash, after the original 20-lap race was restarted due to a red flag.
Before the restart the race had been declared wet, but with a dry-line appearing on track Glenn opted for a full-wet front and an intermediate rear. Proving to be the right choice he soon made up places from his 12th-place grid position and by the fourth lap he was running in podium contention, but as the race was flagged he was fourth.
The restart was declared dry and with a tyre change allowed the team set about getting ready for the restart, where Glenn lined up fourth. Off the line he was away and into second place, but with his BSB rivals all wanting those podium places a fierce battle commenced. Equalling his best position of the year Glenn crossed the line in sixth place and moved up a place in the overall standings into 11th with 55 points.
Meanwhile Glenn’s BSB teammates Ryo Mizuno and Takumi Takahashi also had a mixed weekend. Ryo’s Brands Hatch experience ended early after a crash in FP1 on his second flying lap where he sustained swelling to his right hand. After a few laps in FP2 it was decided Ryo would sit out the rest of the weekend in order for his hand to heal before the next round at Thruxton.
For Takumi, today was his first time riding in tricky conditions at Brands Hatch, coming home 19th in Race 3 was his first race finish over the weekend after two DNF’s in Race 1 and Race 2.
For Tom Neave in the Pirelli National Superstock Championship, although not reflected in the results it was a positive weekend in terms of race pace and progression. During today’s race Tom had a bad start off the line and dropped to 16th place, however pushing hard aboard the Fireblade he quickly progressed and started reeling in his Superstock rivals making up nine places to eventually cross the line seventh.
The team now has a super-quick turn around, with round four of the championship taking place next weekend, 31 July – 2 August at Thruxton, where Honda Racing UK hope to be fighting once again at the sharp end.
#2 Glenn Irwin
It was a positive weekend in terms of points, especially today where we narrowed the Showdown gap a bit and moved up a position in the championship. I’m satisfied and today I think we overachieved, right now we don’t have the package underneath us to fight in the top-eight in normal conditions over a race distance. The boys deserved the points we got, we are having some problems with chatter and my feeling is if we can get to the bottom of this we’ll be back in the hunt and at the front again. But whilst we have it we’re restricted with our progress. I’m feeling so much better physically, which is another positive to take away.
#88 Ryo Mizuno
It was my first time at Brands Hatch and although I was careful, I crashed early in FP1 and hurt my hand, which ended my weekend early. It was a shame because it was the worst thing I could have done. Fortunately, there was no serious injury and I am hoping I will be able to compete at Thruxton next weekend. This week will be full focus for the next race and doing all I can to prepare and be ready.
#13 Takumi Takahashi
It’s been a difficult race week this week, with it being my first time at Brands Hatch. In Race 1, I crashed out on the first lap after a collision with another rider and during Race 2, I had trouble when the pace improved. Race 3 for me was the first time racing in unstable weather and I struggled a little with steering. However, my shoulder is getting better day by day, so I will prepare for next weekend at Thruxton .
#68 Tom Neave
It’s been a weird weekend where the progress we made really didn’t reflect in the end results. The bike was great and the team helped me to get comfortable and improve after struggling with set-up earlier in the weekend. However, the limiting factor was in myself. The races have highlighted that I really need to work on my qualifying lap to give me a better start position. I made it so difficult for myself qualifying 12th, and after being hit on lap one I was pushed down to 16th place and fought through to finish seventh. On paper I had the pace to fight for the podium in today’s race. We will work on this next week at Thruxton and I’m positive we can be back at the front.
