Honda Racing completes successful North West 200 week

Race Report Sunday 11th May 2025

Three days of track action in Northern Ireland have paid dividends for Honda Racing at the start of the 2025 road racing season at the North West 200. Riders Dean Harrison and John McGuinness MBE have performed strongly in all three classes contested - Superstock, Supersport and Superbike - bringing home five trophies from an encouraging campaign.

Travelling direct from Oulton Park circuit on the previous Bank Holiday weekend, Honda Racing settled into its stride during Wednesday and Thursday’s qualifying sessions, highlighted by pole position for Harrison in the second Supersport encounter.

Thursday evening’s races then delivered two podium finishes for Harrison, while McGuinness played himself into his first competitive outing of 2025 strongly, racing as high as fifth place in the Superstock class.

After a rest day on Friday, dominated by a huge crowd in Coleraine for the Meet the Riders sessions outside the historic Town Hall, the team returned to the 8.97-mile (14.44 km) Triangle circuit of public roads that lie between Portstewart, Coleraine and Portrush for another four races.

Superbikes started the action and Harrison’s lightning start on the Honda Fireblade from second on the grid was encouraging. However, the Yorkshireman was among several riders to be caught out at the Metropole corner and had to battle back into contention throughout the remaining laps.

This drama allowed McGuinness his moment in the abundant sunshine which bathed the Causeway coastline on each day of the event, as the six-time North West 200 winner powered his Honda Fireblade through into third place. The action was fast and furious from that point on, with Harrison recovering brilliantly to finish fifth at the flag while McGuinness was hard on his heels in seventh place.

Harrison alone campaigned the Honda CBR600RR in the Supersport category - the machine that he rides at every round of the British Superbike Championship and has been developing with the Louth-based team for road racing. After finishing fourth in the first race on Thursday evening, Harrison launched away from pole position into a torrid five-bike battle that appeared set to last all six laps.

A red flag at the beginning of the third lap, with Harrison in the lead, brought a halt to proceedings. The field then restarted for four laps, with the battle at the front remaining as fierce as it had been before the break and ending with Harrison claiming second place.

McGuinness remounted alongside Harrison as they took their Honda Fireblades out for the final Superstock race of the event. Once again it was a lively affair at the front in which Harrison did his share of leading, but would finish second at the chequered flag with McGuinness in ninth.

The North West 200 closed with the Superbike variant Fireblades rolling out for their third and final contest in front of a huge crowd all around the circuit. The fans were treated to another epic battle between Harrison and his rivals for the lead, with McGuinness well and truly on the pace, setting his fastest-ever lap of the Triangle circuit in almost 100 race appearances.

Ultimately Harrison collected another second place trophy, while McGuinness ended the North West 200 on a high with his best finish of the event in sixth place. The Honda Racing team heads back to its base in Louth, Lincolnshire overnight where a quick turnaround will ensure that it is in place at the heart of the British Superbike Championship paddock at Donington Park in time for next weekend’s second round.

The Honda Racing team’s road racing campaign will continue at the 2025 Isle of Man TT, starting on May 26th.

John McGuinness MBE

“I always love racing here but I’ve never been the greatest North West rider in the world. You’ve got British Superbike riders, you’ve got the best road racing riders in the world, it’s hard out there, so to run as competitively as we have and to set my best ever lap time on this circuit has to be positive. I’ve enjoyed every session, the bikes have never missed a beat and a huge shout out to my team mate. He didn’t get his first North West 200 win, but it wasn’t for the want of trying. For me, finishing all five races that I started was a big positive - not many riders managed that this weekend. Being sixth of seventh in this crowd is no disappointment at all, and it’s all building momentum towards the TT. The bike feels better and I’m bike-fit, I didn’t feel my strength fading. The TT is different gravy but it’s always a pleasure to be at the North West.”

Dean Harrison

“I’m equally pleased and frustrated, really, because we managed to get on top of a lot of the issues from Thursday - I was much better able to stay in the slipstream and get up to the front in the Supersport race for example. But then that makes coming so close to a win all the more painful in some ways. But overall five podiums in seven races at this event, looking at the strength of the competition and the quality of the riders around me, has to be a positive. The team has built a fantastic set of road racing bikes, both the Superbike and stock Fireblades are a pleasure to hustle round a big course like this, and the CBR600RR is really coming on in leaps and bounds. We’re in among those few teams with a real chance to win at road racing and we can now look forward to the TT with a fair bit of confidence in ourselves and in the bikes.”

Team Manager Havier Beltran

“I am incredibly proud and grateful to every member of the team for the jobs that they have done for us - not only in the three days on track at the North West 200, but also in the preparation that got us here. I think that the reliability of all five motorcycles on the fleet at the North West 200 has really been the sign of how well the team is working. A lot of that responsibility belongs to Dean, who has shown his calibre as a racer but also for his hard work in developing the road racing bikes which has added to the programme enormously. And then there’s John, who was going faster and faster in every session and gives so much of himself to the team and to Honda. We’ve got five new trophies and that reflects well upon everyone involved.”