Honda Racing is Ready for the 2025 British Superbike Blast-Off
The countdown to the opening race weekend of the 2025 Bennetts British Superbike Championship (BSB) is almost over. This weekend, May 3-5, Honda Racing UK riders Tommy Bridewell and Andrew Irwin will mount their Honda Fireblades as this year’s BSB title battle commences at the picturesque Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire, the first of 11 all-action events on the schedule.
A comprehensive pre-season testing programme has been completed by the accomplished Honda Racing team under its manager Havier Beltran, supported by its industry-leading roster of technical partners. It has been an extensive period of development in which every member of the highly motivated team has worked towards realising the full potential of the latest specification Honda Fireblade.
In 2024, Wiltshire man Bridewell came within one point of taking the BSB title in his first season with the Honda Racing team. Aiming to go one better in 2025 and reclaim the title that he won two years ago, the number 46 rider is aware that a strong start to the season is going to be paramount on a circuit that he relishes.
Alongside him, four-time BSB race winner Irwin is equally keen to get on the front foot early on in this year’s campaign. A positive pre-season on track has been matched with a rigorous physical fitness campaign that will be sure to pay dividends through the season,
In addition to the factory team, a total of seven customer operations will be on-track in the 2025 BSB season, fielding 11 riders between them, underlining the Honda Fireblade’s status as the privateer rider’s first choice at this elite level of motorcycle competition.
Honda Racing also looks forward with confidence to the start of the supporting Supersport season, with riders Jack Kennedy and Dean Harrison eager to show how their 2025-specification CBR600RR machines will fare in competition.
Defending Supersport champion Kennedy, whose five titles in the category mark him as its most successful rider, was buoyed by his Honda’s competitiveness in every test session of the pre-season schedule.
Riding alongside Kennedy once again will be Bradford-born road racing specialist Dean Harrison, starting his second season as a works Honda rider in the Supersport category. He too is in a positive frame of mind as the season gets underway, having worked his way up towards the front of the field in 2024.
Tommy Bridewell
“Oulton Park is one of our more challenging circuits but the team has got some good ideas that will give a step forward from last year’s setup and it’s been a good circuit for me in the past. We’ve been experimenting with the bike in pre-season testing so we’ve reverted back to my 2024 setup and I’m a lot happier. I’m quietly confident but, really, we won’t know until the Free Practice sessions are complete. I’ve got a new personal trainer and we’ve been flat-out training twice a day, six days a week. Sometimes I’ve questioned that decision, but it’s part of the game and I’m probably fitter than I have been for many a year so I’m happy.”
Andrew Irwin
“I’ve had some good races at Oulton Park, but I haven’t yet reached the podium so that’s a great way to focus my motivation for this weekend. We need to find the right balance to be able to qualify on the front two rows, that’s probably my biggest objective for this year, and then find a bit more consistency. I’ve had one of the best off-seasons in my career, testing has gone well and I was based in Spain at the start of the year in order to get a lot more training done - not just physically but also mentally. I’ve been working with a great team, and fingers crossed we’re going to reap the benefits from that as we go through the season.”
Jack Kennedy
“I’m ready to race and to defend my championship. Oulton Park is a track I really enjoy riding, I’ve had a lot of success there and it really seems to suit the bike. The atmosphere’s always amazing and I’m as excited as ever for it all: the drive and the fight are still inside me to do well for myself, for the team and everyone who supports me. Hopefully we can win more than nine races this year - the Honda CBR600RR is really working well and it’s good to see that there are going to be a few more of them on the Supersport entry list. I can’t wait to get going.”
Dean Harrison
“This year, testing’s gone really well and I’m looking forward to the weekend. I like Oulton Park as a track and the bike was working well when we tested there. Once you get into a rhythm it’s really good to ride there. I feel good, I’ve done a lot more physical preparation this year than any season before so I feel sharp, the team’s working really well and the bike’s there or thereabouts. We can be confident going into the start of the season - we’ll just see where everyone else is.”
Team Manager Havier Beltran
“It’s been a long off-season this year and I think that we are all itching to go racing again after a very productive testing programme. The team is working well and we have made some good progress while the riders are, as always, incredibly motivated. All the ingredients are in place for a successful year ahead, and there’s no better place to kick off the new season than Oulton Park: a challenging circuit which draws a big crowd and is always full of atmosphere.”