Honda Racing starts the weekend strongly at Knockhill

Tommy Bridewell

“Tough race for sure. I think, in the grand scheme of things, I’m happy. I didn’t feel too confident going into that race, because we didn’t do the test here, so we were unsure of the dry setup. It’s been unexpectedly dry today, which is nice after the torrential rain during practice, but in FP3 we put the bike back on the dry settings from Snetterton and then for qualifying we went dramatically different with our approach, which I wasn’t too happy with. That showed in the qualifying time that we got. For the race, we came back to a bit of a halfway house on the setup and the bike was a lot better. We just need to find a bit more in the weaker areas of the setup now. We can only work and keep doing what we do.”

Andrew Irwin

“Honestly, I just needed to finish a race - for myself as much as anything. For the team, too, because it’s been a difficult period. So 10th is something to build on. We have another two races tomorrow so hopefully we can do that. I lack race time, I think that’s part of the problem, but with these two more races tomorrow, we’ll give them a bit of a crack and try to close the gap to the riders ahead.”

Jack Kennedy

“In qualifying, we had a red flag incident to contend with, breaking up the session a bit, and the wind was quite hard to manage. I think it’s probably the closest pole position I’ve ever had in my life, by 0.001 seconds, but I’ll take it! The race conditions were treacherous and nobody knew the correct tyre choice. I wasn’t sure if my choice was right or not, but I got quite a good start, got into the lead, then tried to control the race. I could hear the other riders behind me so it was obviously quite a bit of a battle there, but I felt quite comfortable holding them off as long as I did. Then I started to feel the rear of the bike moving around quite a bit and a few people came by me, I dropped back to fourth place, and I could hear the guy in fifth closing up. I could see that the bikes ahead of me had gone for the same tyre choice, so I just said to myself that I needed to dig in and get my head back in the game. The track started to dry up a little bit as well, so I really started to push the limits and clawed my way up from fourth place to second. I’m happy. It was really treacherous conditions, a real gamble on the tyres, but we got some good points - so massive thanks to the team for giving me a bike that was exactly what I needed. Well done to the lads, and we’ve got another front-row start tomorrow to work from.”

Dean Harrison

“It was a good qualifying session. I got stuck in a little bit. I’d rather have been on Row 2 but it had to do - we didn’t have enough fuel in the bike for another run. My plan was to try and get a good start and go from there but it wasn’t a perfect tyre choice. Slightly wrong. So I had to start from the back. That was frustrating but we chipped our way through, there just weren't enough laps. So we’ll put that one down to experience and start again tomorrow.”

Team Manager Havier Beltran

“Knockhill is full of surprises, particularly with inconsistent weather, so I think that the team should be proud of the way that they have thought on their feet and adapted throughout the first two days. In Supersport, Dean got a little bit wrong-footed, but his recovery ride was impressive and congratulations to Jack on a hard-won podium, which I am sure will show its value as we carry on deeper into the championship battle. With the Superbikes, it was very heartening to see Andrew get straight through to the pole position shootout for the first time since the first round. He’s battled injury, and now he delivered exactly what he and the team needed in terms of a finish to build from this weekend. Tommy, meanwhile, really showed what a fine racer he is in a hard-fought pack, and will be back stronger tomorrow.”