Honda Racing riders firmly in contention after Oulton Park Day 1

Race Report Sunday 4th May 2025

Honda Racing weathered a dramatic first competitive day of the 2025 Bennetts British Superbike Championship season at Oulton Park in both Supersport and Superbike classes.

Defending Supersport class champion Jack Kennedy had set his personal best lap time at Oulton Park on Friday, contributing to his seeding straight into Saturday’s second Qualifying session. However, despite setting strong times early in the final session, he crashed and was forced to sit on the sidelines as he was pushed back to second on the starting order.

Team-mate Dean Harrison also made it through the seeding process to final Qualifying, ending the session in sixth place on the grid. Both of the Honda CBR600RR machines performed faultlessly through the race and the riders reached the chequered flag with Kennedy in second place and Harrison in seventh.

In qualifying for the first of three races in the senior Superbike category, last year’s vice-champion Tommy Bridewell qualified his Honda Fireblade in 11th place. Bridewell would take the start alone for Honda Racing, after an accident befell team-mate Andrew Irwin during Qualifying 2, which resulted in a shoulder injury that has precluded any further participation in the Oulton Park weekend.

Despite this setback, Bridewell produced a crowd-pleasing performance in the race, climbing from 11th at the start to finish in sixth overall. He and the team continue to hone the Fireblade’s handling at the bumpy parkland venue in readiness for a renewed assault in races 2 and 3.

Tommy Bridewell

“I don’t analyse just today, I’m looking at our whole journey to this point, and I’m aware of what I need in order to be in contention for a win and we just need to keep chipping away to find it. I knew that getting 18 laps in the race under our belt would be crucial and I’m surprisingly happy with where we finished because I’m still not riding the way that I know I can. We’ve now got a lot more data to work with and I’ve got very high expectations based upon what we were able to achieve together last year. It’s days like today that you dig in and maximise what you’ve got which is how you win championships. I like to drive everyone as hard as I drive myself and with that in mind I'm not disappointed.”

Qualifying: 11th, Race 1: 6th

Jack Kennedy

“Qualifying started really well, I got a really good time within a couple of laps but then crashed when pushing too hard to improve on it and unfortunately gave my lads a lot of work to do with very little time to do it. I had a few little niggles from the crash as well because it was a very fast one in fourth gear at Druids. The boys did a great job to get the bike ready for the race, I got a good start and the pace was just crazy. We were running seven tenths under the old lap record every lap, and they were closing the gap behind us as well so I tried to pass for the lead on the second to last lap but he just had a bit more drive out of the corner.”

Qualifying: 2nd, Race 1: 2nd

Dean Harrison

“Qualifying was good, I was pleased with my laptime, but I could probably have been more aggressive at the start of the race. I let myself get held up a bit, but after that we were in the mix and certainly my lap times were comparable with the guys up at the front. I get faster as the race goes on, so with the longer race tomorrow I feel pretty confident in what we can achieve.”

Qualifying: 6th, Race 1: 7th

Team Manager Havier Beltran

“There are many old adages about motorsport and it feels like many of them have been borne out today. It is deeply disappointing to have lost Andrew for the remainder of the weekend, when his performance was improving in every session. Tommy has dug deep for the team in today’s race and we are working on getting the handling of the bike even closer to its optimum for him. Jack recovered well from his fall this morning to deliver exactly the performance of a five-time champion. Dean did all that we could have asked, bagged some good points and is in a strong position to carry on in that manner in tomorrow’s race. We have learned a lot that will be of value to the rest of the weekend.”