Podiums apiece for Dean Harrison and John McGuinness MBE
Glorious sunshine baked the picturesque north coast for an action-packed Saturday of racing at the Briggs Equipment North West 200. Honda Racing UK competed in three of the day’s races with their Superstock specification Fireblades in the hands of Dean Harrison, John McGuinness MBE and Nathan Harrison.
Coming into the day after a busy year of domestic championship racing and fresh from his debut Honda podium achieved earlier in the event, Dean Harrison was eager to continue delivering on his enormous road racing potential with a very fast motorcycle underneath him. In all three races of the day he displayed fantastic pace and speed to be right in the podium fight on each outing. He also clocked over 203 mph through the speed trap in two of the day’s races, with his speed trap figures in the final race of the day the quickest of the field, despite racing against full Superbike spec machines.
It was in this final Superbike race, the final outing of the meeting, Dean delivered a sensational ride to finish in third place hot on the heels of Irwin and Todd in front. He also achieved a new personal best lap time as he circulated the North West Triangle Circuit quicker than he has ever done before with a frighteningly quick 4:18.392.
Meanwhile, John McGuinness MBE, national treasure and road racing royalty made an emotional return to the North West 200 podium with a sublime, albeit somewhat fortunate, ride to third place in the days sole Superstock outing. Having made a brilliant getaway at the start of the race he battled hard with Hillier to maintain fourth place throughout much of the race, as the leading trio of Dean Harrison, Hickman and Todd battled for the podium positions ahead.
Benefitting from Dean’s unfortunate retirement from the race due to a technical problem, John found himself fighting for the final podium position as both he and Hillier rapidly caught one of the races backmarkers. Opting to dive either side of the backmarker, John’s direction of choice paid off and he crossed the line in a fantastic third, and in doing so made a long-awaited return to the North West 200 podium. He crossed the line to audibly the loudest cheer of the weekend and marked his first return to the podium since 2012.
Meanwhile, quietly going about his work throughout the event and with a clear target of getting through the event in one piece, Nathan Harrison too had a successful North West 200. Two twelfth place finishes, mileage under his belt and with all of his focus on simply getting through the event in once piece, he now focuses on some rest and recovery before heading to his home event, the Isle of Man TT Races.
Honda Racing now returns to its base in Louth to prepare for the next event in its busy calendar, round three of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Donington Park next weekend.
Team Manager Havier Beltran
First and foremost, I have to say an enormous thank you to everyone in the team for their unrelenting work ethic and never give up attitude. We came into this event off the back of a very busy schedule and there is not a single team member here who has not given their all to put us in a position to fight for podiums, I am extremely proud of everyone here. Our success is built on the hard work and long hours of the guys so credit to them.It is fantastic to see our potential beginning to come to fruition. To achieve podiums with both Dean and John is simply fantastic. To see Dean fighting so close with a Superstock Fireblade against full blown Superbikes, I take my hat off to him, he’s hungry and he’s motivated and he is a big part of this team. As for John, what can I say? He and Honda share such a rich history and to see him back on the podium at a road race is truly brilliant.I also need to give Nathan a mention, he’s come here and ridden a really mature few races. Focusing on building and just taking steps forward.
#5 Dean Harrison
It was a fast race from the start in that final Superbike race to be honest, I tried to hang on to the back of Davey and Glenn on the Stocker for as long as I could. And Honestly, I just rode as hard as I could to stick with them in case they made any mistakes. I rode as hard as I could everywhere and braked as hard as I could to try and make the difference against a Superbike.We’ve had a bit of a rough day in the other races and a bit of bad luck, I closed the front in the first race and had to open the throttle and then pick the bike up, and then a bit of bad luck in the next one, which was really unfortunate because I felt super fast in that one. I want to say a massive thank you to the team for working so hard all week. Little things have just been getting in the way but we have constantly moved forward and kept on working.I’m over the moon to put a brand new Superstock bike on the podium in a Superbike race. It’s a new bike and we are learning all the time so I look forward to getting off to Donington next week where we will learn a bit more in BSB and then on to the Isle of Man. We’ve shown that the bike is strong and we will keep moving forward and getting faster and faster.Superbike race - DNF Superstock race - DNF Superbike race - 3rd
#1 John McGuinness MBE
I honestly never thought that I would stand back on a podium, so I am absolutely over the moon. This takes a lot of work, and I’ve been going about my business, putting in the hours and the miles to prepare. I get a bit of stick and some people doubt me but it’s such a motivator for me. To still be here thirty years after making my debut and fighting with these young ones is something else. I just kept pushing and pushing in the race to get on the back of James, and yes I benefited from a bit of good luck but that’s racing. James just went the wrong side of a back marker and that sort of handed it to me. I fought and fought to be there on the back of him and at the front of that next group behind the front guys. I’m so happy, I’m happy for the team, for everyone really. There is so much that goes into this and the team have stuck by me throughout, they work so so hard to prepare everything, we had a problem in the race before and they turned the bike upside down to fix it and get me out in the race so to reward them like that just makes the job that little bit sweeter. This is the icing on the cake for me.Superbike race - DNF Superstock race - 3rd Superbike race - DNF
#25 Nathan Harrison
Under the circumstances and given the lead up to the North West with the small injury that I picked up earlier in the year I have to say that I am happy to get through the event. I’ve got down to the lap times that I was doing previously, which was a few seconds off the pace but that was understandable given where we are. I’ve got a load of bike time under my belt, I’m back road-racing and I’m building step by step. The objective was to get race finishes not lap records and we have done exactly that. I’ve now got two weeks off to carry on my physical preparations and get myself ready for the TT.Superbike race - DNF Superstock race - 12th Superbike race - 12th
