Honda Racing UK

Rollercoaster of a day for Honda Racing at Oulton Park

Race Report
Oulton Park has proved to be a frustrating round so far for Honda Racing and it's quartet of riders, as they work to optimise the set-up of the all-new CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP at the technical Cheshire circuit for the fourth instalment of the 2020 Bennetts British Superbike Championship. 

With Andrew and Glenn Irwin, Tom Neave and Davey Todd not having ridden the new Fireblade at the 2.7-mile circuit, track time has been vital to dial in settings for the weekend's five races across BSB and also the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship. 

During the first British Superbike race of the weekend Andrew and Glenn were in the mix from the start, after working through settings from practice and qualifying, which saw Glenn second and Andrew fourth on the grid. Throughout the 16-lap race both Honda men were in the mix and for well over half race distance a 2-3 podium finish was looking on the cards. 

However, dropping back in the closing stages the pair crossed the line fourth and fifth respectively, which gave Andrew his best finish since the opening round at Donington Park. The result sees Glenn maintain his lead in the championship standings with 168 points - 30 points ahead of second place. 

The Superstock team struggled to hone in settings for their opening 14-lap race and qualifying saw Tom 16th with Davey 21st, so both riders had their work cut out. However, during the race the duo made progress working their way up through the field with Tom taking the chequered flag 10th and Davey 16th. Tom's lap time from today's race sees him on the second row of the grid for tomorrow's second race in sixth place, with Davey starting 20th.

The Honda Racing team will be back in action tomorrow (Sunday 20th) with two more British Superbike races at 1315 and 1640, as well as the second Superstock 1000 race at 1510. 

Andrew Irwin

It was nice to battle again and be back to where I feel like we should be, we started the weekend steady I would say and we took steps throughout practice and qualifying. I think as the weekend progresses and with another two races hopefully we can keep taking some small steps. Fourth is a really good result for me at the minute, it was above my expectations so I’m happy with that, we’ll try to improve tomorrow and do a good job in the two races. 

Glenn Irwin

That result was probably our lot, at the halfway stage I had saved my rear tyre quite a lot and felt strong for a podium, I was behind Andrew and he was riding so well and proving difficult to pass, I made a move at passing but lost my rhythm. We have some things to improve on for tomorrow, it’s probably been our most frustrating race so far, but to come away with a fifth in a race where I wasn’t so content probably isn’t so bad. I’m aware there’s a group of guys who weren’t so far behind, so with two more races we need to do our homework tonight and come back stronger. 

Tom Neave

It’s been a testing weekend at Oulton Park up until now, we’ve not ridden the new Fireblade at this circuit before but each session although our results haven’t shown it, we have been getting faster. We made the best of a bad job in that race, I spent too many laps behind other riders but we went faster and managed to put a half decent time in for tomorrow to secure a second-row start. We need to take another step in the right direction and hopefully fight for a podium tomorrow. 

Davey Todd

Hats off to the guys who are working super-hard on the bike to try and give us a setting we’re comfortable with. It’s been difficult since we got here, Oulton Park is such a different track to everywhere we’ve ridden the new Fireblade so far. It’s certainly a unique place where we are at this weekend, so trying to find a setting that works for us is proving to be a task. But we’re working on it, the guys are working hard so big thanks to them and we’ll keep working tomorrow, see if we can make some improvements for warm-up and race two. 
The 2020 Honda Racing team merchandise is now available to purchase online, click here to check out the range. 
British Superbike 2020

Oulton Park, Round 10

Pos. Name No. Team Constructor Time/Gap Pts.
1 Jason O'Halloran 22 McAMS Yamaha Yamaha 25:34.442 25
2 Christian Iddon 21 Visiontrack Ducati Ducati +0.358 20
3 Danny Buchan 83 Rapid Fulfillment FS-3 Kawasaki Kawasaki +0.804 16
4 Andrew Irwin 18 Honda Racing UK Honda +3.959 13
5 Glenn Irwin – Honda Racing UK Honda +4.069 11
6 Lee Jackson 14 Rapid Fulfillment FS-3 Kawasaki Kawasaki +4.119 10
7 Bradley Ray 28 SYNETIQ BMW Motorrad BMW +4.359 9
8 Josh Brookes 25 Visiontrack Ducati Ducati +4.476 8
9 Tarran Mackenzie – McAMS Yamaha Yamaha +5.884 7
10 Gino Rea 44 Buildbase Suzuki Suzuki +14.324 6
11 Luke Mossey 12 Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW +14.773 5
12 Peter Hickman 60 Global Robots BMW BMW +15.806 4
13 Ryan Vickers 7 RAF Regular and Reserve Kawasaki +22.051 3
14 Tommy Bridewell – Oxford Products Racing Ducati Ducati +22.672 2
15 Keith Farmer 33 Buildbase Suzuki Suzuki +25.931 1
National Superstock 2020

Oulton Park, Round 5

Pos. Name No. Team Constructor Time/Gap Pts.
1 Lewis Rollo 6 IN Competition/Aprilia Aprilia 22:55.464 25
2 Chrissy Rouse 69 Crowe Performance BMW +4.838 20
3 Brayden Elliott 51 No Bull Racing CFS Filtration Suzuki Suzuki +5.627 16
4 Fraser Rogers 89 Morello IMR by CPD Kawasaki +6.115 13
5 Tim Neave 14 Hawk Racing Suzuki +6.518 11
6 Luke Hedger 12 CPD Kawasaki Kawasaki +7.430 10
7 Billy McConnell 3 OMG Racing Yamaha +10.507 9
8 Danny Kent 52 Morello IMR by CPD Kawasaki +11.072 8
9 Dan Linfoot 4 Bathams BMW Motorrad BMW +11.516 7
10 Tom Neave 68 Honda Racing UK Honda +12.877 6
11 Jordan Weaving 34 Jones Dorling Racing Honda +15.889 5
12 David Allingham 23 MD Racing Suzuki +24.484 4
13 Shane Richardson 28 Astro-JJR BMW BMW +24.568 3
14 Ian Hutchinson 44 Edwards Yamaha Yamaha +28.843 2
15 Luke Jones 82 Highsparks Aprilia Aprilia +29.044 1
16 Davey Todd 74 Honda Racing UK Honda +33.907 0