Silverstone Round-Up
5th September 2020
The Track
Circuit length: 1.604m
Corners: 6
Lefthand: 2
Righthand: 4
BSB Lap Record : Jake Dixon – Kawasaki - 54.109 (2018)
Another win for Tom Neave and Honda Racing at Silverstone
It's been a successful day in the Silverstone office for the Honda Racing team as Tom Neave added another race win to his 2020 tally aboard the all-new CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP, further extending his lead in the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship.
With near-perfect conditions at the 1.6-mile circuit, Tom has been on the pace throughout practice sessions and qualified fourth for today's opening race. Getting a good start off the line, Tom remained in the leading group and set about tracking down a podium spot.
Eventually taking the lead, Tom's race wasn't made easy as championship rival Chrissy Rouse was hot on his heels and the pair enjoyed a good battle to the chequered flag. Tom finished 0.650s ahead of Chrissy, to take his third win of the season and increasing his championship lead by 10 points. He also set a new Superstock 1000 lap record on the second lap, and will start tomorrow's race from pole.
Teammate Davey Todd rode a heroic race after a technical issue off the start line pushed him back to 23rd place. Pushing lap by lap, Davey made his way though the pack to finish 11th, just missing out on a place in the top-10 by only 0.130s.
Andrew and Glenn Irwin enjoyed a solid first race, where they finished fourth and fifth respectively in the opening Bennetts British Superbike Championship race. At the start of the 25-lap race, the brothers launched off the line and it was Andrew leading with Glenn in second. By the fourth lap, Glenn had snatched the lead from Andrew and the Honda duo had some work to do holding off the chasing pack.
On the eighth lap Andrew ran wide and dropped back into eighth place, but dug deep and set about making up the lost places to eventually cross the line fifth. Glenn fought hard to protect his lead, but during the closing stages of the race dropped back due to tyre degradation, to cross the line fourth and further extended his championship lead by 30 points.
The team will now look forward to the next round of the 2020 Bennetts British Superbike Championship, which takes place in two weekends time at Silverstone National on 4/5/6 September.
#18 Andrew Irwin
I have to take today's race as a positive, the past three races we've had, the results weren't fantastic so it's better than those. I led a race again which was a nice feeling after a difficult period, unfortunately I made a mistake around lap ten, which lost me a couple of seconds and I lost touch with the leaders. I think all in all it was a good race and we can take the positives from it and come back stronger for tomorrow's two longer races.
When we arrived this weekend we knew we needed three finishes and
we're leaving with that. Yesterday was quite good, but I made a mistake and if I hadn't then I think we'd have been a lot closer to the podium than we were. This morning I wrecked a tyre in the opening race to cross the line ninth and in the final race we finished again ninth; I had consistent rhythm but it wasn't as consistent as the riders in front of me. It's frustrating, but we have to keep our heads up, keep positive and try to turn it around, and I'm sure we'll be back on track in no time.
#2 Glenn Irwin
Today in terms of the championship it was a really good race, I'm happy with that side of things and also happy with the fourth. I'm a little disappointed having led the race, but we have something to work on for tomorrow's longer races. It's a positive day, no trophy for this one but we extend our championship lead by 30 points and as I keep saying, if we take it race by race and can extend the points lead each time we're doing a good job. So 30 is good and we'll try and increase it more tomorrow.
#68 Tom Neave
I've not found myself in this position before so it's all a bit surreal! We've got some really good momentum going now and I'm really enjoying riding the new Fireblade, the whole team is working together really well and we're just going to keep our head down, feet on the floor and keep doing what we're doing. We have another race tomorrow, but I'm just treating each race as a fresh start and thinking race by race, and trying not to think about the championship too much and just keep enjoying it.
#74 Davey Todd
It was a real shame we had a small issue at the start, I was so far back in the pack and it just made the job pretty hard from 23rd. I made a strong charge back through and showed we have the race-long pace to be running at the front. Tomorrow we still have our work cut out starting 11th, trying to do a lap in traffic also isn't the easiest thing in the world, but it'll be easier than today! We'll see what we can do tomorrow, we'll be stronger, we don't need to do a huge amount of changes to the bike so we'll be ready to go and try again.
Team Manager Havier Beltran
We had another win with Tom in the Superstock championship today, I'm really pleased with him as he used his head and came though from fourth to take the win and won comfortably, and in control which is a real testament to the effort and work he's putting in. Davey had an issue off the start, which we're looking into and will get resolved for the morning, it was difficult for him coming through the field in the traffic, but we'll move on for tomorrow. Andrew and Glenn had a great result, it was good to see Andrew finish a race, pushing and making moves on people with confidence and drive, and it's going to start to come back together for him. Glenn still leads the series, but we do have some work to do and improve the settings ahead of tomorrow's two races.
Podium and points for Honda Racing at Silverstone
5th September 2020
The 2020 Bennetts British Superbike Championship continued today with Rounds 8 and 9 at Silverstone, where Honda Racing leave the Northamptonshire circuit still at the top of the BSB standings, as well as the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship, having enjoyed a solid point scoring weekend, as well as celebrating a win and a podium in the Superstock class, with the all-new CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP.
For Glenn Irwin it's been a positive day at the 1.6-mile circuit extending his championship lead by 35 points and finishing fourth in both races. The shorter national Silverstone circuit throws a challenge to the riders and teams where tyre management is vital over the 30 laps. Keeping in touch with the leading group during both races, the series leader maintained consistency and found his rhythm across the race distances, to bring home points and stay ahead of his title rivals in the standings.
Meanwhile teammate and brother Andrew also had a positive weekend finishing both races in the top-10 with two ninth place finishes, and putting the difficulties of previous rounds behind him. Leading the way in the morning warm-up session, Andrew had consistent lap times throughout both races, but suffered with grip issues and despite hanging onto the front group in the early stages, he dropped back to the chasing middle pack. His results from the weekend see him eighth overall in the championship standings.
It's also been a strong day for the team's National Superstock 1000 Championship contenders with Tom Neave placing third in the second race of the weekend and protecting his championship lead, where he's currently six points ahead of title challenger Chrissy Rouse. The 24-lap race was full of on-track battles for both Tom and teammate Davey Todd.
Tom was away from pole position, but the pack wasn't going to make it easy for him and from the start he was in a fight for the podium. By half race distance the Lincolnshire-lad was third, with his twin brother Tim leading and Chrissy second. Pushing hard aboard the Superstock Fireblade, Tom did all he could and crossed the line third, just 0.7 seconds from the win.
Davey got a strong start as the lights went out and was well in the mix with the front runners but pushing hard early on, he too suffered with tyre wear during the later stages of the race and dropped back to 10th place where he crossed the line.
The Honda Racing team will back in action in two weekends' time, as the championship heads north to Oulton Park in Cheshire for Rounds 10/11/12 on 18/19/20 September.
#18 Andrew Irwin
When we arrived this weekend we knew we needed three finishes and we're leaving with that. Yesterday was quite good, but I made a mistake and if I hadn't then I think we'd have been a lot closer to the podium than we were. This morning I wrecked a tyre in the opening race to cross the line ninth and in the final race we finished again ninth; I had consistent rhythm but it wasn't as consistent as the riders in front of me. It's frustrating, but we have to keep our heads up, keep positive and try to turn it around, and I'm sure we'll be back on track in no time.
#2 Glenn Irwin
I'm content with this weekend, we said coming in that the Yamaha and Suzuki's would be strong, and hats off to Kyle, a debut double-win is a fantastic achievement. Looking at our rivals we were in similar positions, we could all go fast as qualifying showed, but doing what those leading guys were doing over the 30 laps, that was difficult. After yesterday we worked really hard for today and made improvements so we could hang in there to be best of the rest and being realistic, finishing fourth was the most we could achieve safely this weekend. I'm happy to have extended the championship lead, which is all that matters to be truthfully honest. Thanks to my crew who worked so hard this weekend, the boss man Harv will be happy, he's extended the lead without having to pay a win bonus!
#68 Tom Neave
I'll take third today but it wasn't the best race; we had a few issues with oil coming from a bike in front throughout most of the race and we had some small issues towards the end, which meant I struggled to build on the pace I was able to do at the start. But if third place is a bad race, then I'll take that any day! I also don't mind losing a win when it's to my twin brother! We leave Silverstone with another win in the bag, a third place finish, we're still leading the championship and we didn't lose too many points in that final race. We head to the next round in a really strong position and all in all, it's not been a bad weekend at Silverstone.
#74 Davey Todd
Today's race was so much better, we got a really good start and I was away with that front group which was nice to be in that mix at the front and learning a lot. But in all honesty I got a bit excited, and pushed super hard to make some passes but just used my tyre, it's a silly mistake when people are trying to manage tyres but that went out of my head. I knew it would come down to tyre management, but I thought I'd push anyway and see what I could do and during the second half the tyre just dropped. But we can take so many positives from it and I've learnt so much this weekend, so looking back it's been a positive weekend.
Team Manager Havier Beltran
All in all it's been a positive weekend for Honda Racing at Silverstone, we had a few issues which highlighted a few areas we need to be stronger in, some of those areas are Silverstone specific and I'm sure once we are at Oulton Park we'll drop back into the rhythm we have been in at the previous two rounds. Although we head to the next rounds leading both BSB and the Superstock 1000 Championships, we know that the rest of the season won't be easy, we can see our competition getting stronger, so we cannot get complacent being at the front and we still have to work hard.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship standings
Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing) 157
Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati) 122
Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) 122
Kyle Ryde (Buildbase Suzuki) 114
Jason O'Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) 113
Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati) 106
Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) 101
Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing) 83
Lee Jackson (Massingberd-Mundy Kawasaki) 78
Bradley Ray (SYNETIQ BMW Motorrad ) 48
Farrer wins a tale of two duels in Race 1 at Silverstone
Right at the line, the number 71 beats Claridge by 0.021 as O’Shea and Bourne battle it out for third
Saturday, 05 September 2020
The first race of Round 3 for the Honda British Talent Cup certainly didn’t disappoint, with a photo finish once again deciding the winner. That winner, for the first time, was Charlie Farrer (Victoria House Academy/Mortimer Racing) as the number 71 struck to perfection and beat Harvey Claridge (City Lifting/SP125 Racing) to the line by just 0.021, with another duel deciding third as Eddie O’Shea (WAM) came out on top against points leader Franco Bourne (Franco Bourne Racing/SP125). Casey O’Gorman (Microlise Cresswell Racing) crashed out, seemingly suffering a problem and getting thrown off his Honda – rider ok.
It was O’Gorman who took the holeshot with another signature lightning start, with Claridge initially into second but then heading wide soon after; that allowing poleman Farrer to move up into P2. Next time over the line though Claridge hit back, giving us a preview of the duel that would define the fight for the win.
First though, the drama hit for O’Gorman. The number 72 hasn’t had much luck at times in the 2020 Honda BTC, and Silverstone saw him take home another zero after a strange crash took him out of the lead and out of contention only a few laps in. It also drops him 33 points of the top of the standings, but rider ok and ready to bounce back on Sunday.
That left Claridge with the lead, but Farrer remained close to the number 16 and the two had quite a gap back to the duel for third. O’Shea and Bourne were still locked together and that’s how it would remain as the laps ticked down, with the race becoming a tale of two duels todecide the podium.
As the final lap approached, Farrer had cut down some lost ground to stick himself right on the rear of the number 16 machine in the lead once again, and the plan was simple: wait. The plan also worked to perfection as the number 71 stayed glued in place and then struck at the final corner, sweeping round the outside and ahead over the line by just 0.021 to take his first Honda BTC victory. The duel just behind saw O’Shea fend off Bourne and keep third, moving himself up even closer to the leader in the standings despite some impressive moves from the number 17 – including a round-the-outside impressive sweep at Luffield.
Fifth was a solid but lonelier ride for Evan Belford (City Lifting by RS Racing), ahead of an almighty battle for sixth. Two or three abreast even round the final corner, it was James Cook (Wilson Racing) who came out on top, ahead of Jonathan Garness (Microlise Cresswell Racing), Ryan Hitchcock (Wilson Racing), Elliot Dufton (D&D Racing), Harrison Crosby (Banks Racing), Corey Tinker (GR Motosport Brent Gladwin) and Ollie Walker (Moto Rapido/SP125) as sixth to 12th was split by just seven tenths.
Lucas Hill (Ashcourt Racing), Jamie Lyons (Jamie Lyons Racing) and Annabel Thomas (Microlise Cresswell Racing) completed the points.
That’s it for Race 1, with Bourne remaining ahead in the standings but just 13 points covering the top four. O’Shea is in second five points off Bourne, with Claridge third and only another point in arrears. Farrer is the man 13 points adrift, but he’ll be aiming to cut that once again on Sunday…
O’Gorman victorious in shortened Race 2, O’Shea takes the points lead
Another pretty dramatic showdown for the Honda BTC sees the standings shuffle and the number 72 back on the top step
Sunday, 06 September 2020
Casey O’Gorman (Microlise Cresswell Racing) was in the perfect place at the perfect time in Race 2 at Silverstone – in the lead – as a Red Flag called a slightly early end to proceedings. Once again there was plenty of drama for the Honda British Talent Cup, but O’Gorman was consistent at the front and keeps his incredible record of winning all the races he’s finished so far. Eddie O’Shea (WAM), the man starting to hunt down O’Gorman as the race was stopped, takes second and with it the points lead, with Race 1 winner Charlie Farrer (Victoria House Academy/Mortimer Racing) taking third.
O’Gorman took the holeshot as per often usual for the lightning starter, but Harvey Claridge (City Lifting/SP125 Racing) hit back quick as he swooped around the outside to take the lead. That lasted just as long as the number 72 forced his way back through though, and the two remained locked together at the front. O’Shea was in third being shadowed by Race 1 winner Farrer, with Franco Bourne (Franco Bourne Racing/SP125) the man to lose out on Lap 1 as the former points leader was shuffled down to sixth.
Claridge was quick to regain the lead and O’Shea quick to pounce for second, but it wasn’t long before all-out war broke out at the front. Coming out on top in the squabble and able to make themselves a gap were Claridge and O’Gorman, however, with O’Shea emerging with a little clear air in third as the melee became the fight for fourth: Farrer vs Evan Belford (City Lifting by RS Racing) vs James Cook (Wilson Racing) vs Bourne.
Disaster then hit for Elliot Dufton (D&D Racing) as he crashed out, and not long after, Claridge took the lead... also slamming in fastest lap. However, the replay showed the number 16 had made the move under yellow flags, and he was given a Long Lap Penalty for it in a sudden twist of fortune at the front.
That created some drama as the young Brit missed the chance once, then didn’t quite get it right the second time. He had dropped out the lead duel with O’Gorman as he tried to take the penalty, but by the time he’d gone for it a third time it was too late – and the Long Lap became a Ride Through.
That left O’Gorman almost lonely in the lead, but as the drama for Claridge rolled on, O’Shea was cutting the gap. With only a handful to go it was a definite duel for the win, but then another incident further down the pack suddenly brought out the Red Flag – and that was that. With most of the race run, the result was counted back a lap and stands, keeping O’Gorman’s 100% winning record – when finishing – intact. O’Shea lost the chance to fight it out but the second place puts him into the lead in the standings as he makes consistency his calling card, with Farrer was the man on top in the melee for third when the race was stopped.
Belford was just 0.022 off the number 71 over the line at that point and he’s classified an impressive fourth after a big step forward following Race 1, with Bourne completing the top five and leaving Silverstone looking for more in Round 4. James Cook takes home a notable sixth place after battling it out in the podium group for much of the race.
Ryan Hitchcock (Wilson Racing) won the battle for seventh by a tenth and a half over Harrison Crosby (Banks Racing), who was the same gap ahead of Ollie Walker (Moto Rapido/SP125 Racing), and Corey Tinker (Stauff Fluid Power Academy) continued that trend as he took tenth with the same deficit. Only just though, as Jonathan Garness (Microlise Cresswell Racing) had been only 0.058 behind over the line and is classified 11th.
Alexander Rowan (Alexander Rowan Racing), Jamie Lyons (Jamie Lyons Racing), Lucas Hill (Ashcourt Racing) and Annabel Thomas (Microlise Cresswell Racing) completed the points.
Claridge, in the end, was classified P16. He pulled in to take his Ride Through just as the flag came out, and therefore had the time added to his race instead. He'll certainly be on the march in Round 4, as he's now fourth overall and 21 off the top. Farrer is third, with Bourne shuffled down to second as O'Shea leaves Silverstone with a four-point lead.
That's it from Silverstone! The Honda BTC now have a short break before they return to action, with Round 4 getting in gear from the 2nd to the 4th of October back at Donington Park... but this time on the Grand Prix layout. Join us again then!
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