Kennedy claims victory and Bridewell is back on the box
As the dust settles after a day of superb Bennetts British Superbike racing, Honda Racing UK and Jack Kennedy celebrate winning by the finest of margins, whilst Tommy Bridewell scores a second-place finish.
Cold but dry conditions remained throughout the day at Donington Park for the first day of racing in this, the tenth round of the championship. Aboard their respective Fireblades, Tommy Bridewell and Andrew Irwin qualified well within the top ten positions in fifth and ninth places as less than a second covered the top twelve.
Despite the close nature of qualifying however, the opening twenty-lap superbike race of the weekend was a two-horse affair as the leading championship duo rocketed away to the front of the field and left their competitors in their wake. Kyle Ryde from pole made a clean getaway at the start whilst Bridewell had work to do early on from fifth. But get to work he most certainly did, as he made bold decisive overtakes quickly to reach second by the end of the first lap.
From here on in he stalked his championship rival and ramped up the pressure lap after lap as he sat right on the rear wheel of his competitor. A move for the lead however just didn’t materialise as the two lapped at an incredibly similar pace. Nonetheless, by crossing the line in second, Tommy maintains his championship lead and has gained vital information from which to make overnight progress with his setup, and having achieved the fastest lap of the race he starts the sprint tomorrow in pole position.
Andrew Irwin meanwhile had a strong race from ninth on the grid to a fighting fourth at the flag. Mastering his early race aggression to make hard clean moves through the field, this result marked a welcome return to the podium fight as he finished just two-tenths behind elder brother Glenn in third.
For Honda Racing UK though it was in British Supersport that the loudest cheers would come. Jack Kennedy delivered a gutsy and determined ride to victory number eight of the season with a stunning last-lap move on his championship rival to win by just 0.05 seconds. In the same race, Dean Harrison endured a bruising ten-lap scrap as hard-fought battles ultimately cost him time in his pursuit for a top-five finish. He completed the race in ninth.
#1 Tommy Bridewell
It’s strange to say that today was ‘tough’ because for me typically a ‘tough’ race is a really physically hard race, whereas today I felt like I could ride around at that pace till the sun came down. We are struggling in a few areas and I can’t quite ride how I want to ride but I am happy that we are still doing what we are doing. We are working really hard to find something with the setup to help us improve in a few areas. Kyle is riding really well and I tried to put him under as much pressure as possible but I knew fairly early on I was relying on a mistake, credit to him, he rode mega and handled the pressure. We have to box smart and pick our battles, if we concede three points today but learn from the twenty-lap race how we can improve for tomorrow then so be it. One thing’s for sure though, we will come back fighting tomorrow for sure.Race 1 - 2nd
#18 Andrew Irwin
Honestly, fourth today is quite a good ride, you know I started from ninth and came through and was quite aggressive when I needed to be to make the progress. I came through the pack to be right on the back of Glenn, and at that stage I thought that he was going to pull us away from those behind, so I wanted to use his pace to create a gap. Then late in the race when I wanted to try and make a pass I just didn’t have the grip in the places that I needed it to pull the move off. It’s frustrating to come forth, but it’s a good result compared to Oulton and after we missed Cadwell, so I am happy in some ways but frustrated in others. I’m looking forward to tomorrow because I think we have the potential to make another step and get ourselves another decent result.Race 1 - 4th
#4 Jack Kennedy
I don’t know where to start! I can’t get my head around that I won that race! I was trying to line something up to pass Ben for the lead but then TJ was coming at me too which I knew was the last thing that I needed. When TJ came past on the last lap I needed to focus on keeping him behind me to keep second place and get the points, but then as the lap went on I kept edging Ben in closer and closer. I knew that if I didn’t have a go for the wing then I wouldn’t sleep tonight so I knew that Melbourne Loop was my only opportunity even though Ben was super strong on the brakes there. I just broke later than he did and went for it, managed to get it stopped, got it turned and then defended like crazy to the line and got the win. I want to dedicate this win to the whole Fitzsimons family who have been a massive part of my racing and have sadly lost someone special recently, so this win is for them.Race 1 - 1st
#5 Dean Harrison
I got a good start to be fair and managed to settle in quickly which was the target, to be more aggressive early on and position ourselves where we needed to be. Then we had a bit of a coming together with a few people and everyone got their elbows out and it got a tad scrappy. I ended up having a bit of a big excursion at the Melbourne Loop and we had some contact when another rider closed their line across me which cost me a load of time again but I managed to nick a position off Rhys Irwin on the last lap to get ninth. So all in all, a bit of a chaotic race to be fair, but I’m confident that tomorrow we can get stuck in again.Race 1 - 9th
Bennetts British Superbike Championship 2024
Donington Park, Qualifying
Bennetts British Superbike Championship 2024
Donington Park, Race 1
