Honda Racing UK - Oulton Park race report - Supersport class
Honda Racing UK continued its strong Quattro Group British Supersport Championship campaign at Oulton Park, with Jack Kennedy taking two podium finishes aboard the CBR600RR, while Dean Harrison demonstrated front-running pace before a fall ended his feature race early.
The sixth round of the season began with a strong collective effort from Kennedy, Harrison and the Honda Racing UK crew during practice and qualifying. With the CBR600RR competing against a number of larger-capacity machines, the two riders worked closely together throughout the sessions, riding together on track to extract the maximum possible qualifying performance from the Honda.
That teamwork paid dividends, putting both CBR600RRs firmly in contention for Saturday’s ten-lap Sprint Race.
Kennedy started fourth and immediately put himself into the podium battle. The Irishman rode a strong race to finish third, recording a best lap of 1:36.993 and collecting another valuable haul of championship points.
Harrison was equally competitive. Starting third, he remained close to his teammate throughout and brought the second Honda Racing UK machine home fourth, just 0.572 seconds behind Kennedy. The result gave Honda Racing UK an excellent third and fourth at the flag.
Sunday’s 14-lap Feature Race saw Kennedy make another step forward. Starting from third, the multiple British Supersport champion produced another outstanding performance to take second place, finishing 2.342 seconds behind race winner Oli Bayliss and adding another 22 points to his championship tally.
Kennedy's approach continues to reflect the season-long strategy for his championship challenge. With six rounds now completed, the focus remains on maximising the potential of the CBR600RR at every circuit and, crucially, scoring points wherever possible. His third and second-place finishes at Oulton Park added another 40 points to his campaign and leave him second in the championship on 212 points, 44 behind leader with the second half of the season still to come.
For Harrison, Sunday brought an early end to what had otherwise been another competitive weekend. Starting sixth, Dean was pushing to make progress when he went down on the brakes on the approach to Shell Oils on lap three, resulting in a DNF.
Despite the disappointment, his Sprint Race fourth place added 18 points to his championship total. Harrison leaves Oulton Park fifth in the standings with 172 points, continuing a strong debut Supersport season alongside his road racing commitments.
The last thing I wanted was my weekend to finish the way it did and didn’t feel that me or the team deserved to finish the feature race on the sidelines. I had good pace up until then. working with Jack in qualifying is important for a good qualifying position but I could run strong lap times on my own in the first race and felt good. I'm not going to dwell on Sunday, I'll be ready for Thruxton.
There were plenty of positives for Honda Racing UK to take from the weekend. The collaboration between Kennedy and Harrison once again demonstrated the strength of the team's approach, while two podiums for Jack and competitive pace from both CBR600RRs underline the progress being made against the larger-capacity machinery in the championship.
For Kennedy, the priority remains the bigger championship picture: continuing to score heavily, maximising every opportunity and maintaining pressure as the season develops. Harrison will put Sunday's incident behind him and will be ready to fight again when the championship resumes at Thruxton on 14–16 August.
