Pre-season draws to a conclusion with the completion of the final Official BSB Test
The 2025 pre-season preparations draw to a close for Honda Racing following the completion of the final two-day Bennetts British Superbike Championship Official Test at Oulton Park. Attention now turns to round one at the same venue in just over a week.
Almost two full days of dry weather afforded the team maximum track time at the undulating Cheshire circuit to glean as much information as possible about the 2025 specification Fireblade and CBR600RR. With one eye on the championship's opening round, the team carried out their final evaluations of parts and settings while also carrying out some of the early groundwork in identifying the best race setup for Oulton Park.
On the Superbike side of the garage riders Tommy Bridewell and Andrew Irwin rounded out the test in tenth and twelfth on combined times respectively. Although not occupying the desired positions on the timing screen towards the top of the sheet, both riders completed a comprehensive pre-season testing programme and have some clear direction on where improvements can be made come race day.
Meanwhile in Supersport, Jack Kennedy and Dean Harrison both leave the test eager to go racing having found significant steps with the CBR600RR. Jack Kennedy was one of three riders to lap under the race lap record, he ended the test third on combined times. Dean Harrison was not far behind his five times title winning teammate in fifth.
The team will next be back on track at Oulton Park for the 2025 Bennetts British Superbike Championship opening round, taking place over the early May bank holiday weekend, 3rd - 5th May.
#1 Tommy Bridewell
Look, this pre-season has been tougher than expected and we are not where we want to be at the moment. Tenth on the times isn’t where we should be and we are all working hard to find some solutions in the areas that we are missing, and to tell the truth it is tough. But we will not give up and come round one we will come out swinging. Let's get our heads down and get on with the job.
#18 Andrew Irwin
I feel pretty good to be honest, my body is feeling good and I am riding in a decent way. We are working really well as a team, methodically making improvements and we have made big steps from yesterday through to today. We eventually hit a bit of a wall with lap time and couldn’t improve, but the good thing is we can achieve that lap time with various different bikes and on new and used tyres, so I think if we can work in FP1 next weekend on making a bit of a step with the new tyre then we will be in a good place. We have lots of new guys in the team this year and they are working really well so shout out to Jonny, my new data engineer, he is doing a really good job, along with Konah on the tyres, Dan and Si my mechanics.
#4 Jack Kennedy
I think we are ready to race now, we can do the lap time consistently lap after lap and now we understand this bike better, especially with the new chassis parts. So again it has been another successful test, lots of clear track time, plenty of laps and working really well with the team to analyse the new settings compared to last year. Although we are P3 overall there is nothing in it at all, under a tenth of a second. The atmosphere in the team is in such a good place and we are all working so well together it feels like a bunch of mates going racing. Although we have a good craic whenever we can and get through plenty of cups of tea we also know when we need to knuckle down and get serious and there is no one more capable of delivering or more organised when it matters.
#3 Dean Harrison
I’m ready to get racing now to be honest! After doing so many laps in testing you can start to get dizzy so I just want to get going. I feel like testing has gone really well and we’ve got through a lot of things, stayed out of trouble as best we can and made some good steps forward with the 600. I’ve got a five-time British Champion as a teammate which isn’t a bad benchmark is it? Whatever he can do with the bike is going to be the ceiling of what the bike is capable of, and I feel like we are able to get pretty close to that limit. I’m looking forward to coming back here in a week or so and kicking the season off.
