Honda Racing on the rise at Cadwell Park

Race Report Sunday 24th August 2025

Honda Racing UK has made an extremely confident start to its home round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship (BSB) and Quattro British Supersport Championship at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire, just five miles from the team’s base in Louth.

From the brief evening test session on Friday, both Tommy Bridewell and Andrew Irwin have been much closer to the ultimate pace in BSB. Both of the Honda riders then came through the Free Practice sessions fast enough to avoid the first knock-out Qualifying session and go straight into the pole position Shootout.

This was to the team’s advantage after both of the Honda Fireblades suffered damage in the final 10-minute practice before qualifying began. A big effort by the team ensured that both of the bikes were back together and ready for their flying laps, with Bridewell qualifying third and Irwin 11th.

The first race of the weekend followed swiftly afterwards, with Bridewell getting up to second place and looking ready to reel in the leader until he crashed out of the race. Irwin, meanwhile, got a lightning start and was soon up to sixth place, which became fourth with attrition, and then with two laps to go he made a decisive pass to take his first podium finish of the 2025 BSB campaign.

In the Supersport class, defending champion Jack Kennedy ended Friday’s first Free Practice session at the top of the timesheets, then set the second fastest lap in the second session before qualifying in third place. His team-mate Dean Harrison, fresh from running at the Classic TT earlier in the week, claimed sixth place on the grid, lining up immediately behind Kennedy.

After dropping back to fifth on the first lap of the race, Kennedy battled through into third place and was chasing down the leaders when he overshot and briefly dropped to 12th place. A tremendous fightback ride ensued, seeing the five-time Supersport champion use all his experience to finish in an eventual eighth place, two spots behind Harrison.

However, Kennedy also set a new lap record in the race, clocking 1m 28.267s for the 2.2-mile (3.54 km) Full Circuit, which merits pole position for Monday’s Feature Race.

Tommy Bridewell

“We have been stronger this weekend, the bike is working better for definite and we are extracting absolutely every ounce and more out of the package. It was a silly little crash in FP3, but to bounce back on the front row of the grid meant that we hit our target. I’m riding at 110 per cent. The support here is fantastic, as ever, and I’m disappointed to have crashed out of the race but I’d sooner pull the handlebars off the bike, and give every ounce out of me, and sleep well knowing there was nothing more I could do. If I knock it back slightly we’ve still got podium pace but I had a go, I went all in, and I caught a kerb and that was that. So we’ll go again tomorrow, but I’m proud to have pushed as hard as I did today, pushed my rivals to lap record pace, so let’s see tomorrow.”

Andrew Irwin

“I got a mega start and felt really comfortable running at that pace early on. Then Charlie (Nesbitt) crashed and Tommy crashed and I thought ‘hang on, we could be on for a podium here,’ and I had to keep going, I just can’t give up on this one. And I just sat behind Christian (Iddon) and with two laps to go I thought maybe he won’t defend as much and I’m delighted to get here. I haven’t raced at Cadwell Park for two years, so to get on the podium here at what’s been my worst track ever - if someone ever asks me if I have a bad track I always think of here - so it’s nice to change that! A massive thank you to Honda and everybody who’s supported me and stuck behind me. Everyone knows it’s not been the easiest road, but I’m keeping the faith and let’s keep going.”

Jack Kennedy

“It was a frustrating end to a promising race. I got a good start, sitting in fourth place, then pulled a neutral and dropped back to fifth so I said to myself that I need to regroup here and get myself back into this race. I managed to get back to third place, I had a good pace and felt really comfortable and was making inroads to the two leaders and I had the pace and the feeling but unfortunately the rear wheel picked up into Mansfield corner and when it landed it snapped a little bit and my foot touched the gear selector again and got another neutral. That was a shame, I had to run off the track and back down, then managed to salvage eighth place in the last four laps. To be honest I’m not all that bothered about setting a new lap record right now, I’d rather have been on the podium tasting the champagne.”

Dean Harrison

“Practice went okay to be fair, the times were good, I was just a bit frustrated in FP2 because I didn’t have space on the track. We found that space in Qualifying, though, so that was okay. Outright overall lap time is okay. In the race, I’m struggling to pass people a little bit. I think that’s what we need to focus on tomorrow. We were sixth today, the first Honda home, and only one place off my best result of the season, so not too bad. Unfortunately my lap times weren’t great, I was struggling a bit, so I’m 11th on the grid for the Feature race, but I’m looking forward to it.”

Team Manager Havier Beltran

“We’ve had everything thrown at us on Saturday - it almost feels like an entire season in one day - but I think that we arrived at Cadwell with confidence and that has been our strength. We’ve run strongly from the first track session and the pace is clearly there in both BSB and Supersport. The team had a big job to do in rebuilding both Fireblades in the minimal time available between FP3 and Qualifying, and they rose to the challenge. Obviously, it’s disappointing for Jack and Tommy not to have reached the podium when they had the performance to do so, but equally there are very few people in the paddock who haven’t been pulling for Andrew to reach the podium this year and I’m delighted by his success.”