Donington Park awaits for round ten
This weekend, Honda Racing UK returns to Donington Park for the penultimate round of the 2024 Bennetts British Superbike Championship and the second of three showdown rounds.
The 2.48-mile Derbyshire circuit has historically always proved a happy hunting ground for Honda and earlier in the year a brace of second-place finishes and a third earnt Tommy Bridewell the rider of the round award. He heads into the weekend sitting atop the championship standings with a lead of six points thanks to a haul of fourteen podiums so far this season.
Andrew Irwin, meanwhile has shown flashes of his raw speed frequently in recent rounds and hopes to continue the swell of momentum he has built. A previous winner at Donington Park in seasons past indicates a return to the podium once more could well be on the cards.
In British Supersport, Jack Kennedy returned to winning ways last time out to return to the top of the championship standings on countback. Now, with significant developments to his CBR600RR and with multiple lap records achieved in recent rounds he returns to Donington Park keen to showcase the progress since his last visit.
For teammate Dean Harrison, this visit to Donington Park will mark his first outing at the venue on his supersport machine. Two top-ten finishes last time out belied the front-running pace Dean displayed earlier in the weekend as changeable conditions hampered his progress in the races. He enters round ten hungry for more.
For a full weekend schedule please click here.
#1 Tommy Bridewell
I’m looking forward to getting back to BSB and racing at Donington again this weekend. Since we last visited, we’ve made some big inroads into the development of the Fireblade and learnt a lot about how to extract the most performance, which puts us in a good place for sure. Cremona was another big learning opportunity and we came away having identified a few areas that we can improve. It’s the business end of the season now and we have to keep our focus and keep working hard as a team to make sure we maximise the points we score against our rivals.
#18 Andrew Irwin
I can't wait to get back to a circuit we've raced at already and show the progress that we have made since earlier in the year. It's another opportunity to go out and race my bike and try to realise our potential. Donington has always been good to me over the years and it's a circuit that I enjoy racing at and certainly suits the characteristics of the Fireblade. We have shown great speed lately but just missed out on a few opportunities, so I’m hoping to be in a position to capitalise this weekend when we get going. It looks like the weather could be a factor but we’ve been fast in all conditions this year which bodes well.
#4 Jack Kennedy
I’m really excited to go back to Donington to see what we can do compared to earlier in the year because we have a much stronger CBR600RR and a much more well-rounded package that we are familiar with now. So I’m looking to see how much we can improve, just like at Oulton Park, where I was very happy with the step that we made in performance. I’m keen to make that step again as that is what we are going to need if we are going to fight for wins, which is what we need to be doing sitting level at the top of the championship. I’m also looking forward to getting back with my crew and spending the weekend together, I am ready for battle and I can’t wait to roll out of pitlane for FP1 and get going.
#5 Dean Harrison
I feel like we didn't quite get to realise our potential last time out after having such strong pace early in the weekend, so I’m keen to go to Donington and try to deliver. We’ve had really decent pace on the 600 so I think provided we keep our heads down and work hard throughout the weekend and keep building we can be on for a good result. Donington is always a great track to ride so I’m looking forward to getting a run out there this weekend for the first time on the CBR600RR.