Honda Racing aims for solid results at Thruxton
The 2025 Bennetts British Superbike Championship (BSB) will pass its halfway point this weekend at Thruxton circuit in Hampshire, with Honda Racing and its riders eager to put on a strong showing.
Former BSB champion Tommy Bridewell holds sixth in the 2025 standings after five rounds, having reached the podium on his Honda Fireblade at Snetterton in June and at Knockhill last month. Last time out at Brands Hatch, a crash in the second race curtailed his weekend, but thankfully Bridewell returns to action at Thruxton uninjured and determined to push hard in front of his home crowd.
It is also the adopted home race of Bridewell’s team-mate Andrew Irwin, who lives in Bristol. The Northern Irishman crashed out of Race 3 at Brands Hatch, but took strides over the course of the weekend that he is keen to build on at Thruxton.
Supporting BSB, the Quattro British Supersport Championship sees Honda Racing in action with two more stars of the sport, not least five-time Supersport champion Jack Kennedy, who aims to retain his crown in 2025.
Kennedy crashed out of the lead in the opening race at Brands Hatch, but fought back to leave the Kentish venue having climbed to third in the standings. The Irishman relishes the challenge of Thruxton’s fast sweeps on his Honda CBR600RR, and will be pushing hard to get further up the points table this weekend.
Alongside him in the garage is five-time Isle of Man TT winner Dean Harrison, who has been riding brilliantly in every discipline in 2025. On the roads, the Bradford-born racer has finished on the podium in every race, crowned by two TT wins, while in Supersport he has been close to - or even matched - Kennedy’s lap times throughout the year, and is eager to translate that pace into his first podium of the season.
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Tommy Bridewell
“I’ve had more x-rays and scans since my crash at Brands Hatch and seen a few consultants but it seems we got away unscathed. I feel lucky in that respect but also frustrated because I’m struggling to predict what the bike is doing, particularly with wheelspin. Thruxton for me last year, my first time on a Honda, was quite a pleasant surprise because I was never on a bike that worked there before. We’ll start off with that 2024 setup, and the flowing nature of the circuit should help us, but the tyre has hurt us everywhere this season for lack of grip and Thruxton is a very low grip circuit. So we will just have to see where we are. Obviously, it’s great to race just 25 minutes from home and have a lot of support. I’ll be pushing hard, just like I do like everywhere, and last year I felt good and had a strong weekend. So we’ll just have to find out where we are in practice on Friday and work from there.”
Andrew Irwin
“I was a little bit stiff after the crash at Brands Hatch but it was fine, I was more annoyed that we were in such a good position after a strong weekend and a small mistake had such a big price that destroyed the bike. At Thruxton we just have to keep working the same method, the same way of working, and make sure that this weekend is another positive step through the mid-part of this season. You have to be smart at Thruxton and look after the tyres, so it’s always a race of two halves where you’re managing things for the first half before a sprint to the finish. It should be a strong track for the Honda Fireblade but we just have to stay calm and continue on from where we got to at Brands Hatch. I feel good, healthy and happy, so I’m looking forward to a race that’s sort of become my home round since moving to Bristol!”
Jack Kennedy
“Brands Hatch threw a lot of challenges at us, so to go into the weekend fourth in the points, crash in one race and finish sixth in the second, but come out third in the points, was an unexpected positive! I’m looking forward to Thruxton, especially if it’s dry. I’m really excited for the weekend and going off last year’s results we had a second and a win and so we can feel pretty confident. We run a different tyre, the SCD, for safety so it doesn’t delaminate at high speed, which is the same as the Superbikes use. I love the speed of Thruxton, the fast corners and the commitment you have to give in fast, flowing corners that make it an exciting place to race round.”
Dean Harrison
“I’ll be glad if Thruxton brings us some consistent weather after a couple of difficult events. Coming out of a disappointing Knockhill, we needed a reset before Brands Hatch but then going to the grid for the first race the lads had to do a really big job to get the bike started. It just wouldn't start, and it was just a fault you couldn’t dream of, but we got there, we came through difficult weather conditions both days without a scratch on the bike and got a few points. I quite like Thruxton, it’s quite a good track to ride and definitely fast. I’m looking forward to the weekend.”
Team Manager Havier Beltran
“The 2025 season has presented us with challenges, but the team has continued to prove itself to be up to the job of meeting them. I think that all of our riders can also draw confidence from what they have achieved so far in two incredibly competitive series. Thruxton is a venue where the Fireblade and CBR600RR showed strongly last time we were here, and as we reach the halfway point of the year, we will be focusing on using the event as a launchpad towards the rest of the season.”