Honda in the thick of the action at stormy Oulton Park
The arrival of Storm Amy in the north west of England has presented schedule challenges and produced wild weather at Oulton Park for the penultimate round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship (BSB) and its supporting classes.
With factory entries for Tommy Bridewell and Dean Harrison in BSB, defending champion Jack Kennedy in the Quattro British Supersport Championship and John McGuinness MBE in the British Superstock Championship, the team has maintained a strong performance in all conditions.
For Harrison, the five-time Isle of Man TT winner, it was a baptism of fire for his return to BSB action, having competed alongside Kennedy in Supersport so far this season.
Standing in for injured Andrew Irwin, the Yorkshireman and his regular Supersport crew had to work hard in Friday’s two Free Practice sessions, and did so commendably - only just missing out on the final Pre-Qualifying session for the top 12 fastest riders.
There would be drama to follow, however, as Harrison crashed in Saturday morning’s weather-delayed warm-up. While he received a precautionary check-up at the Medical Centre, his team hastened to repair the Fireblade with just 15 minutes available before the start of qualifying.
In the end, Harrison returned from his check-up just in time to complete one lap, and qualified in 23rd place on the grid for Race 1.
On the other side of the garage it was business as usual for Bridewell, however, who maintained a top-five presence in every session through Friday and Saturday, and would qualify in fifth place.
Race 1 was started but then abandoned due to heavy rain. The restart was declared to be a wet race and was held in blustery and squally conditions that ended dry. Bridewell, on wet tyres, went on to finish sixth, while Harrison charged up through the field to claim 11th place.
In Supersport, Kennedy was not unduly hampered by the absence of Harrison alongside him in the garage, working through a methodical programme in Friday’s sessions despite heavy wind and rain. On Saturday morning, after another weather delay, he qualified in fourth place, and duly took his place in the lead group through the early laps of the race.
Soon, Kennedy had picked his way through and in a daring move slid through into the lead on the brakes with his rear wheel hovering fractionally above the track surface. After building a tiny cushion to the pursuing pack, he was eventually hunted down on the CBR600RR and would finish on the podium in a fine third place.
Meanwhile in Superstock, McGuinness did not set a flying lap time in Friday’s opening Free Practice session and was classified 40th. He then pressed on in the second Free Practice to set the 12th fastest time in the capacity field, qualifying in 13th position on aggregate.
A promising start to the race was then truncated by engine problems, with the team working hard to find a solution that will see the 23-time TT winner back on the grid for Sunday.
Tommy Bridewell
“I was happy enough for sure in the race. I think ultimately the position we were in on the grid was impossible to know what the right position was to take on tyres. For sure the safer option was to go with the wets, and hindsight is a wonderful thing, because I think all of us would go for intermediates if we were to run that race again. I think under the pressure we made the correct decision, the bike was good, I really enjoyed riding it and we had strong pace. I maybe tried to conserve a bit of tyre at the start because I knew the tyre would drop fairly dramatically when it started to dry out. We ended up with a three-second deficit and although I caught a lot of that up, I used up a lot of the rear tyre. I think we were maybe lacking a bit of punch off the corners but hopefully we can have two strong races tomorrow.”
Dean Harrison
“Eleventh at the end of my first race back in BSB isn’t too bad. From the back of the grid there it was something of a race of attrition and tyre wear and choices. I went steady the first couple of laps and then tried to pick my way forward and figure out who had what tyres on and where to make a pass and things like that. I’ve got a lot to learn and now I’ve had a bit of wet time and a bit of dry time and a bit of halfway in between time out there on the track I’m having to learn it all pretty quickly. Massive thanks and apologies again for the little excursion earlier in the day today, it’s not what we want to be doing but the lads put it back together perfectly.”
Jack Kennedy
“Supersport put on a good show again and I’m really happy with my performance again. I think I got the most out of the bike, rode it as hard as I possibly could, my last lap plan just got messed up when the pack got shuffled again and we all let Rhys Irwin get away. It was hard to stay on the back of him, but I feel if I’d had a really good run I could have tried something in the slipstream or make something happen. It was unfortunate not to have a go for the win but it was a good race, we’ll see if we can make some changes for tomorrow to push it a bit more, but we really needed to take some points off Rhys in the championship.”
John McGuinness MBE
“Qualifying was good, we were 13th, so in the right area to come away with some points. We’ve had a good weekend, really, Free Practice was alright, we qualified alright, the race was looking alright for some more points and then the bike broke. We’ve had a technical issue, which sent me back through the field before it gave out completely. For me personally, I think I’m riding okay when it’s been a really tricky weekend for everybody with the weather. There are plenty of positives to come out of it. We’ll just have to see if we can get out again for the second race tomorrow.”
Team Principal Neil Fletcher
“Holding a race meeting in the midst of Storm Amy has made things lively, and I think that the organisers should be commended for being flexible enough to get all the classes through with all their races complete. We can certainly be pleased with the way Tommy and Dean have performed so far; they and the team are all on top of their game in these difficult conditions. Jack was unlucky to lose after making one of the best passes of the season, but he’s still in there fighting for that sixth Supersport title. John’s performance has been exactly what we would have expected, and he was unfortunate to record Honda’s first mechanical retirement from any session of this entire season of BSB and road racing season for Honda.”
Bennetts British Superbike Championship 2025
Round 10, Qualifying
Bennetts British Superbike Championship 2025
Round 10, Race 1
