Double wins for Honda Racing at Donington Park

Andrew Irwin

This weekend has been a little up and down, but we won another race and it was something I needed to lift my spirits. In the second race unfortunately I got hit on the first lap and took out. It’s one of those things, I have been on both ends of it before, it’s racing and we will just move on from it. In race three it took me far too long to get going, I got a good start but kind of got beat up in the first turn, which upset my rhythm a bit. It then took me about four or five laps to get into it again but once I did we had quite good pace, we should have been fighting for the podium I feel but we didn’t and I came seventh. However the Fireblade felt good and I’ve built some confidence going into Brands, I think we can do a good job and I’m looking forward it.

Glenn Irwin

If you summarise this weekend from a points view it was really disappointing because we have come away 18 points behind after starting the weekend in front, so to gain back some points in the last race was so important. In the final race I knew immediately from the warm-up lap that the Fireblade was working well, so hats off to the team, they deserved this second place position backing up Andy’s win. Again it’s an all-new Fireblade and over three races this weekend we have grabbed a first and a second place finish, Tom has also done a mega job again in Superstock. So looking ahead, it’s a big ask at Brands, I would rather be the one with the target on my back because if nothing changes you are the champion, but we won’t give up. The team never give up and neither will I.

Tom Neave

I don’t know where to start really! It’s so good to be back in the hunt again, this weekend I was up against it and I knew all I could do was my best, try and stay out in front and beat Chrissy in every race, which is what I have done. We have clawed the championship back to ten points so anything can happen at Brands Hatch and you never know what the weather is going to throw at you in the middle of October! I have just got to keep playing my cards right and doing everything I can. I have ten days to prepare, tick all the boxes, get plenty of training in, ready to go to Brands with a fresh open mind and do the same again.

Davey Todd

It’s been a crazy weekend for us, it was the first time with the new Fireblade in wet conditions, which was difficult for us all and learning curve for sure. In FP2 I ended up throwing it down the road where we could have got some wet time under our belts, but I knew I’d be strong in the wet which showed in warm-up on Saturday, where we finished second. We made a few changes to the bike ahead of the first race, where we had some mixed conditions, which threw us a little bit as we were fully set for wet conditions so struggled towards the end of the race. I felt like I had the pace in race two, the bike felt good, but I suffered a bit with a brake issue and dropped down the order towards the end. It was a bit of a disappointing weekend, but we'll move on to Brands and see if we can finish the season on a good note.

Team Manager Havier Beltran

It's been a weekend full of emotions with Glenn crashing out in race one, finishing second in the final race, Andrew back on the top step and Tom claiming another podium and a race win! We're back in the fight for both the British Superbike and Superstock 1000 championships, so really heading to Brands Hatch it's all to play for. I'm really pleased with the progress we've made this weekend, the guys have once again shown the potential of the all-new Fireblade and it was great to see Andrew back up there. We have some work to do ahead of the final round, but it's not over just yet for us.