Bridewell and Kennedy win at a challenging Knockhill

Race Report Sunday 16th June 2024

Team Honda Racing’s Tommy Bridewell and Andrew Irwin raced to outstanding podium finishes at Knockhill today, with a commanding win for Tommy and a fantastic third place for Andrew, both brushing aside the incessant challenges of Fife’s notorious weather.

Although Friday’s Free Practice sessions brought mixed outcomes for the Honda Racing UK team, the results were enough to put Bridwell and Irwin through to Saturday’s Qualifying 2, whilst Yorkshireman Dean Harrison did battle in Qualifying 1, finishing the session in 10th and a frustrating 22nd on the start grid. In Q2 Tommy topped the charts with Andrew in 6th, putting Tommy on Pole Position for Race 1 and Andrew in 6th.

With teams gearing up to do battle, the rain rolled in from the hills and ruined what was dry and sunny first half of the day. A new race schedule was issued and BSB Race 1 screamed off the grid at 16:50 for 25 laps of Bridewell mastery on the CBR1000RR Fireblade SP. With early lap times often a full second faster than anyone on track Tommy settle into a commanding advantage and crossed the line with 2.572 second lead. Meanwhile Andrew Irwin set about a determined battle in fourth, pushing his Fireblade up to third and then second. He would eventually cross the line in third place and join teammate Tommy on the podium for some well-earned celebrations.

Struggling to fine his true-form in Race 1 Dean Harrison worked hard to make up some valuable places towards the end of the race, eventually crossing the line in 19th place.

Race wins continued to rain down on the Honda Racing UK as proud Dubliner Jack Kennedy fired his CBR600RR into an early race lead and set a pace that no-one could match. Kennedy crossed the line with a 3.153 lead and took the top step of the podium as a delighted team cheered on.

With Sunday’s forecast threatening to repeat today’s uncertainty the team will be digging deep to maintain consistency and build upon Saturday’s successes.

#1 Tommy Bridewell

Yeah, it’s been a rollercoaster so far at Knockhill this weekend. More so because of the weather in all honesty.

We've been limited with time in the dry to be able to do too much with the bike, but ultimately we've not needed to do too much because bike’s worked so well straight out the crate here; wet and dry. And I've just felt comfortable on the bike. Qualifying was crucial for me because I knew we needed to be as high up as possible, so to put it on Pole Position was a massive massive tick and and half of the work done. I then also then knew that going into that race it was crucial really for me to get there the lead straight away into turn one. It’s also my first Superbike win at Knockhill and just another testament of the bike.

Really-really happy for Honda. Really happy for this new Fireblade and for the whole project that we're doing. It's amazing. Yeah, just looking forward to the future.

Race 1 - P1

#18 Andrew Irwin

This weekend for sure has not been easy with the weather, but we've always been quite fast; no matter what the weather's been. So that's always important.

Friday we made good progress. I went straight through to Q2 and in the wet and dry I was in and around the top 10, but I knew if we made a few changes for the dry, we'd be competitive. I qualified 6th, which is good, because you want to be on the front two rows to have a chance of being on the podium or to win the race.

Then in the race, I started 6th, I got to 3rd, dropped back to 4th, and then went back to 2nd, then back to 3rd, but I felt good. The team's done a fantastic job. The bike was absolutely fantastic, and lots of credit to everyone at Honda, they've done a really good job with what we have. I'm really happy with that and I'm absolutely excited to be back on the podium again.

Thank you to absolutely everyone at Honda and everyone back at Honda UK. Neil Fletcher, Havier Beltran, my crew chief Spider, my mechanics. Everybody

Race 1 - P3

#5 Dean Harrison

It's the first time I've actually rode the bike in the rain, to be honest. The bike's good though. The bike's brilliant. It's just I'm having a bit of an off weekend in myself.

I don't feel the best and I said to the lads there's not really a lot to change with the bike. It's maybe a couple of little things to make it a bit better to suit me, but there's more to come from me than the actual bike itself.

I just need to get into it a little bit more. But I think we'll be all right.

Race 1 - P19

#4 Jack Kennedy

We've had a very positive round here. We've been quickest in the wet with all the rain yesterday and then straight into a dry qualifying with no previous data for this track. So the team made very good calculated decisions on the settings for the qualifying and we managed to qualify on pole position which was our first one of the year which is a great boost for me and the team.

I just tried to stay focused, to stay consistent and I managed to put enough of a gap in that I had a comfortable lead on the last lap to bring home our first win, which is absolutely amazing.

This just proves how hard all the lads are working to be working and for nothing to miss a beat is credit to the team, so a massive thanks to Honda and we look forward to tomorrow.

Race 1 - P1