Honda Racing back on track at Cadwell Park
The Honda Racing team were back in action yesterday (Monday 13 July) for the first time since March, as Andrew Irwin, Glenn Irwin, Tom Neave and Davey Todd headed out on track at Cadwell Park aboard the all-new Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP.
The shakedown test was a welcomed return to the track for both the Honda Racing crew and riders, after an enforced period of no riding due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and with less than a month to go until the 2020 Bennetts British Superbike Championship leaps into action, it was a chance for the riders to get reacquainted with the Fireblade before the official BSB test later this month at Donington Park.
Completing a total of 279 laps of the Lincolnshire circuit and despite some intermittent weather conditions, it was a positive and productive day for Honda’s British Superbike and National Superstock 1000 contenders.
The Honda Racing team will return to the track at Snetterton in just over a week’s time for another private test, before wrapping up testing at the official BSB test on 28 July, ahead of the first round of the 2020 season at Donington Park on 7/8/9 August.
Andrew Irwin
It was nice to finally ride the bike at Cadwell! It has been a while since we last rode so I was definitely rusty for the first few laps, but once I got back into the swing of things it felt natural again. The team really made big steps today, it's only really our second test with the all-new Fireblade since we tested in Spain in March, we took it step-by-step and the bike just keeps getting better and better and the team is working really hard to give us a competitive package. I am looking forward to the next test and continuing the development with the bike to be ready for Round 1 - I can't wait to get there!
Glenn Irwin
It was good to get out on the new bike yesterday at Cadwell Park, I was really rusty in the first session, I don't know if it's down to riding so much motocross and playing on our mini-bikes, but it was hard even to get the knee down at the beginning! No, all joking aside, it came nice and we did lots of work throughout the day testing new components and we had a lot of things to try, it was good to dive back in. I enjoyed myself and enjoyed riding my motorcycle again, and I look forward to our next test and getting back to working on the new Honda Fireblade.
Tom Neave
Yesterday was such a good day! After four months off the bike I thought I might have forgotten which way the throttle went but turns out it wasn't so bad! It was great to get out at Cadwell Park, it's the first time I have ridden the all-new Fireblade at a circuit I know, and I wasn't disappointed! Everything was working well, and I am looking forward to continuing to learn the new machine before we get to Round 1 at Donington Park.
Davey Todd
I think we've all said the same about the test, we all spoke with each other after the first session and we couldn't believe how slow we were going and how fast the bike is! We've all been used to cycling, pit-biking and motocross so, getting back to those speeds on the Fireblade is nuts! The first few sessions did take some getting used to, but we found a good base in Spain and we were just building from there really. I'm really happy with the bike and at the moment it's more me, I need to get back up to speed! My team is working really well and I am looking forward to completing the next few tests and getting to Round 1.
