Podium and points for Honda Racing at Silverstone
The 2020 Bennetts British Superbike Championship continued today with Rounds 8 and 9 at Silverstone, where Honda Racing leave the Northamptonshire circuit still at the top of the BSB standings, as well as the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship, having enjoyed a solid point scoring weekend, as well as celebrating a win and a podium in the Superstock class, with the all-new CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP.
For Glenn Irwin it's been a positive day at the 1.6-mile circuit extending his championship lead by 35 points and finishing fourth in both races. The shorter national Silverstone circuit throws a challenge to the riders and teams where tyre management is vital over the 30 laps. Keeping in touch with the leading group during both races, the series leader maintained consistency and found his rhythm across the race distances, to bring home points and stay ahead of his title rivals in the standings.
Meanwhile teammate and brother Andrew also had a positive weekend finishing both races in the top-10 with two ninth place finishes, and putting the difficulties of previous rounds behind him. Leading the way in the morning warm-up session, Andrew had consistent lap times throughout both races, but suffered with grip issues and despite hanging onto the front group in the early stages, he dropped back to the chasing middle pack. His results from the weekend see him eighth overall in the championship standings.
It's also been a strong day for the team's National Superstock 1000 Championship contenders with Tom Neave placing third in the second race of the weekend and protecting his championship lead, where he's currently six points ahead of title challenger Chrissy Rouse. The 24-lap race was full of on-track battles for both Tom and teammate Davey Todd.
Tom was away from pole position, but the pack wasn't going to make it easy for him and from the start he was in a fight for the podium. By half race distance the Lincolnshire-lad was third, with his twin brother Tim leading and Chrissy second. Pushing hard aboard the Superstock Fireblade, Tom did all he could and crossed the line third, just 0.7 seconds from the win.
Davey got a strong start as the lights went out and was well in the mix with the front runners but pushing hard early on, he too suffered with tyre wear during the later stages of the race and dropped back to 10th place where he crossed the line.
The Honda Racing team will back in action in two weekends' time, as the championship heads north to Oulton Park in Cheshire for Rounds 10/11/12 on 18/19/20 September.
For Glenn Irwin it's been a positive day at the 1.6-mile circuit extending his championship lead by 35 points and finishing fourth in both races. The shorter national Silverstone circuit throws a challenge to the riders and teams where tyre management is vital over the 30 laps. Keeping in touch with the leading group during both races, the series leader maintained consistency and found his rhythm across the race distances, to bring home points and stay ahead of his title rivals in the standings.
Meanwhile teammate and brother Andrew also had a positive weekend finishing both races in the top-10 with two ninth place finishes, and putting the difficulties of previous rounds behind him. Leading the way in the morning warm-up session, Andrew had consistent lap times throughout both races, but suffered with grip issues and despite hanging onto the front group in the early stages, he dropped back to the chasing middle pack. His results from the weekend see him eighth overall in the championship standings.
It's also been a strong day for the team's National Superstock 1000 Championship contenders with Tom Neave placing third in the second race of the weekend and protecting his championship lead, where he's currently six points ahead of title challenger Chrissy Rouse. The 24-lap race was full of on-track battles for both Tom and teammate Davey Todd.
Tom was away from pole position, but the pack wasn't going to make it easy for him and from the start he was in a fight for the podium. By half race distance the Lincolnshire-lad was third, with his twin brother Tim leading and Chrissy second. Pushing hard aboard the Superstock Fireblade, Tom did all he could and crossed the line third, just 0.7 seconds from the win.
Davey got a strong start as the lights went out and was well in the mix with the front runners but pushing hard early on, he too suffered with tyre wear during the later stages of the race and dropped back to 10th place where he crossed the line.
The Honda Racing team will back in action in two weekends' time, as the championship heads north to Oulton Park in Cheshire for Rounds 10/11/12 on 18/19/20 September.
Andrew Irwin
When we arrived this weekend we knew we needed three finishes and we're leaving with that. Yesterday was quite good, but I made a mistake and if I hadn't then I think we'd have been a lot closer to the podium than we were. This morning I wrecked a tyre in the opening race to cross the line ninth and in the final race we finished again ninth; I had consistent rhythm but it wasn't as consistent as the riders in front of me. It's frustrating, but we have to keep our heads up, keep positive and try to turn it around, and I'm sure we'll be back on track in no time.
Glenn Irwin
I'm content with this weekend, we said coming in that the Yamaha and Suzuki's would be strong, and hats off to Kyle, a debut double-win is a fantastic achievement. Looking at our rivals we were in similar positions, we could all go fast as qualifying showed, but doing what those leading guys were doing over the 30 laps, that was difficult. After yesterday we worked really hard for today and made improvements so we could hang in there to be best of the rest and being realistic, finishing fourth was the most we could achieve safely this weekend. I'm happy to have extended the championship lead, which is all that matters to be truthfully honest. Thanks to my crew who worked so hard this weekend, the boss man Harv will be happy, he's extended the lead without having to pay a win bonus!
Tom Neave
I'll take third today but it wasn't the best race; we had a few issues with oil coming from a bike in front throughout most of the race and we had some small issues towards the end, which meant I struggled to build on the pace I was able to do at the start. But if third place is a bad race, then I'll take that any day! I also don't mind losing a win when it's to my twin brother! We leave Silverstone with another win in the bag, a third place finish, we're still leading the championship and we didn't lose too many points in that final race. We head to the next round in a really strong position and all in all, it's not been a bad weekend at Silverstone.
Davey Todd
Today's race was so much better, we got a really good start and I was away with that front group which was nice to be in that mix at the front and learning a lot. But in all honesty I got a bit excited, and pushed super hard to make some passes but just used my tyre, it's a silly mistake when people are trying to manage tyres but that went out of my head. I knew it would come down to tyre management, but I thought I'd push anyway and see what I could do and during the second half the tyre just dropped. But we can take so many positives from it and I've learnt so much this weekend, so looking back it's been a positive weekend.
Team Manager Havier Beltran
All in all it's been a positive weekend for Honda Racing at Silverstone, we had a few issues which highlighted a few areas we need to be stronger in, some of those areas are Silverstone specific and I'm sure once we are at Oulton Park we'll drop back into the rhythm we have been in at the previous two rounds. Although we head to the next rounds leading both BSB and the Superstock 1000 Championships, we know that the rest of the season won't be easy, we can see our competition getting stronger, so we cannot get complacent being at the front and we still have to work hard.
British Superbike 2020
Silverstone National, Round 8
| Pos. | Name | No. | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kyle Ryde | 77 | Buildbase Suzuki | Suzuki | 26:55.209 | 25 |
| 2 | Josh Brookes | 25 | Visiontrack Ducati | Ducati | +1.686 | 20 |
| 3 | Jason O'Halloran | 22 | McAMS Yamaha | Yamaha | +1.760 | 16 |
| 4 | Glenn Irwin | – | Honda Racing UK | Honda | +3.383 | 13 |
| 5 | Bradley Ray | 28 | SYNETIQ BMW Motorrad | BMW | +10.592 | 11 |
| 6 | Tommy Bridewell | – | Oxford Products Racing Ducati | Ducati | +10.984 | 10 |
| 7 | Lee Jackson | 14 | Rapid Fulfillment FS-3 Kawasaki | Kawasaki | +11.183 | 9 |
| 8 | Danny Buchan | 83 | Rapid Fulfillment FS-3 Kawasaki | Kawasaki | +13.279 | 8 |
| 9 | Andrew Irwin | 18 | Honda Racing UK | Honda | – | 7 |
| 10 | Hector Barbera | 80 | Rich Energy OMG Racing | BMW | 13.416 | 6 |
| 11 | Peter Hickman | 60 | Global Robots BMW | BMW | +13.848 | 5 |
| 12 | Gino Rea | 44 | Buildbase Suzuki | Suzuki | +19.450 | 4 |
| 13 | Christian Iddon | 21 | Visiontrack Ducati | Ducati | +20.523 | 3 |
| 14 | Joe Francis | 40 | Lloyd and Jones Bowker Motorrad | BMW | +21.286 | 2 |
| 15 | Storm Stacey | 79 | GR Motorsport Kawasaki | Kawasaki | +25.045 | 1 |
British Superbike 2020
Silverstone National, Round 9
| Pos. | Name | No. | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kyle Ryde | 77 | Buildbase Suzuki | Suzuki | 26:52.360 | 25 |
| 2 | Tarran Mackenzie | – | McAMS Yamaha | Yamaha | +1.549 | 20 |
| 3 | Jason O'Halloran | 22 | McAMS Yamaha | Yamaha | +1.649 | 16 |
| 4 | Glenn Irwin | – | Honda Racing UK | Honda | +3.421 | 13 |
| 5 | Tommy Bridewell | – | Oxford Products Racing Ducati | Ducati | +4.911 | 11 |
| 6 | Josh Brookes | 25 | Visiontrack Ducati | Ducati | +5.329 | 10 |
| 7 | Christian Iddon | 21 | Visiontrack Ducati | Ducati | +5.373 | 9 |
| 8 | Lee Jackson | 14 | Rapid Fulfillment FS-3 Kawasaki | Kawasaki | +5.481 | 8 |
| 9 | Andrew Irwin | 18 | Honda Racing UK | Honda | +9.614 | 7 |
| 10 | Luke Mossey | 12 | Rich Energy OMG Racing | BMW | +10.144 | 6 |
| 11 | Danny Buchan | 83 | Rapid Fulfillment FS-3 Kawasaki | Kawasaki | +10.827 | 5 |
| 12 | Hector Barbera | 80 | Rich Energy OMG Racing | BMW | +12.511 | 4 |
| 13 | Bradley Ray | 28 | SYNETIQ BMW Motorrad | BMW | +15.734 | 3 |
| 14 | Gino Rea | 44 | Buildbase Suzuki | Suzuki | +15.898 | 2 |
| 15 | Peter Hickman | 60 | Global Robots BMW | BMW | +16.009 | 1 |
National Superstock 2020
Silverstone National, Round 4
| Pos. | Name | No. | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tim Neave | 14 | Hawk Racing | Suzuki | 22:04.808 | 25 |
| 2 | Chrissy Rouse | 69 | Crowe Performance | BMW | +0.062 | 20 |
| 3 | Tom Neave | 68 | Honda Racing UK | Honda | +0.720 | 16 |
| 4 | Billy McConnell | 3 | OMG Racing | Yamaha | +1.445 | 13 |
| 5 | Damon Rees | 92 | Astro-JJR BMW | BMW | +1.827 | 11 |
| 6 | Lewis Rollo | 6 | IN Competition/Aprilia | Aprilia | +3.294 | 10 |
| 7 | Ian Hutchinson | 44 | Edwards Yamaha | Yamaha | +5.820 | 9 |
| 8 | Danny Kent | 52 | Morello IMR by CPD | Kawasaki | +6.080 | 8 |
| 9 | Dan Linfoot | 4 | Bathams BMW Motorrad | BMW | +6.222 | 7 |
| 10 | Davey Todd | 74 | Honda Racing UK | Honda | +7.002 | 6 |
| 11 | Fraser Rogers | 89 | Morello IMR by CPD | Kawasaki | +8.554 | 5 |
| 12 | Jordan Weaving | 34 | Jones Dorling Racing | Honda | +14.610 | 4 |
| 13 | Shane Richardson | 28 | Astro-JJR BMW | BMW | +14.979 | 3 |
| 14 | Joe Sheldon-Shaw | 10 | Protect My Income | Suzuki | +22.035 | 2 |
| 15 | Shaun Winfield | 81 | TAG Racing | Honda | +22.077 | 1 |