Brands Hatch - BSB 2025 Round 5
The Track
Circuit length: 2.433M / 3.916KM
Corners: 11
Lefthand: 3
Righthand: 8
BSB Lap Record : Tommy Bridewell - Honda 1:24.769 (2024) 103.34mph
Honda Racing in the thick of the action at Brands Hatch
Saturday 26th July 2025
Making its first appearance of the 2025 season on the Brands Hatch GP circuit in Kent, the Honda Racing team has enjoyed a competitive start to the weekend in both the Bennetts British Superbike Championship (BSB) and Quattro British Supersport Championship classes.
This weekend, the team’s four riders across the two classes have also been joined by 23-time Isle of Man TT winner John McGuinness MBE, who is racing a Honda Fireblade in the Superstock class under the Honda Racing UK banner.
The BSB team saw Tommy Bridewell and Andrew Irwin honing the performance of their Fireblades to the undulating Brands Hatch circuit through Friday’s Free Practice sessions. The fruits of these sessions were seen on Saturday morning, when Bridewell set the third fastest time with Irwin in fourth.
The Qualifying session saw light rain and a significant drop in temperatures confront the riders, with Bridewell taking a second row starting position for the first race, in sixth place, while Irwin qualified 11th.
These would also be the positions in which the riders took the chequered flag at the end of the first 20-lap encounter. Bridewell settled quickly into a rhythm and was able to maintain the gap to his nearest pursuer. Irwin meanwhile charged up to eighth by the mid-point of the race, but then fell back to 11th after a few minor issues took hold.
In Supersport, defending champion Jack Kennedy qualified his Honda CBR600RR in second place for the first race on Saturday afternoon. His five-time Isle of Man TT-winning team mate Dean Harrison claimed ninth place on the grid.
At the start of the race, Kennedy got away cleanly into the early lead, slipped back to second and then retook the lead before crashing out in the treacherous conditions. Harrison’s race was less dramatic, finishing in ninth place but securing sixth fastest lap time to start race 2 from the second row of the grid.
In his solo Superstock weekend, McGuinness ran strongly throughout the Free Practice sessions.
In qualifying for the race in 12th position, he comfortably beat his previous personal best ever lap time at the circuit, then rode a sensible race in damp but drying conditions to reach the finish in 14th place.
Brands Hatch serves up a stern test for Honda Racing
Sunday 26th July 2025
The closing day of Round 5 of this year’s Bennetts British Superbike Championship (BSB) and Quattro British Supersport Championship at Brands Hatch served up an array of challenges for Honda Racing.
Dry weather conditions before the weekend’s second BSB race gave cause for optimism, with Tommy Bridewell’s Honda Fireblade on the second row of the grid in sixth place and team-mate Andrew Irwin just one place behind.
However, Bridewell flicked into a high-side crash as he accelerated out of Clearways bend at the end of the third lap, leaving Irwin, who had been running close behind, to race onward to an eventual seventh place.
After a visit to the medical centre for a comprehensive check-up, Bridewell withdrew from the final race of the weekend as a precaution. This left Irwin to fly the flag for Honda Racing on a track which had damp patches, and it was the variable grip level that caught him out and triggered a violent crash, from which he emerged uninjured.
In the weekend’s second Supersport race, heavy rain fell before the start, making tyre choices a lottery. Dean Harrison, starting his Honda CBR600RR from the second row, opted to go with wet tyres front and rear but, soon after the start, the rain eased and forced him to maintain a slower pace than those on wet front/intermediate rear tyres.
Among those on the optimum combination was defending champion Jack Kennedy, who started 15th after crashing out of the lead in Race 1 on Saturday. He climbed to sixth by the chequered flag, followed by Harrison in 12th.
Finally, the Honda Racing UK entry of 23-time TT winner John McGuinness MBE enjoyed another strong performance in the Superstock race. Starting 19th, McGuinness was in the thick of several battles before crossing the line in 17th place.
#1 Tommy Bridewell
It was a painful end to a disappointing weekend. I’m taking a lot of chances on the bike at the moment because the gap between us and the fastest guys isn’t getting any smaller no matter what we do. It’s massively frustrating, there’s very little else to say about where we are currently, but we will keep working to find a solution.
#18 Andrew Irwin
The weekend was going entirely to plan, we were building off the back of finishing all three races at Knockhill and just chipping away at lap times and letting the lap times and the results come to us. In the third race, I felt completely comfortable in sixth place. I was in the lead pack and just looking to see what sort of opportunity might arise when out of nowhere, so it seemed, I was suddenly thrown quite a long way up off the bike, which was totally destroyed. It’s a big disappointment.
#1 Jack Kennedy
If you look at the progression from 15th on the grid to sixth it’s good in those tricky conditions. I had to ride within myself and not risk going down, because after crashing out yesterday we just had to bring it home. I certainly didn’t want to wreck another bike after the lads worked so hard to build me a new one last night and again replacing the frame today between warm-up and the race. Massive thanks to them for all their work. We’ve had such bad luck with the weather, it rained heavily immediately before each of our races, and made things very tricky. We’ll take the positives out of it and move on to Thruxton.
#5 Dean Harrison
The weekend as a whole hasn’t been too bad. We definitely had the worst of the weather conditions in Supersport, compared to every other class on the schedule this weekend. Still, I scored points in both races and while the positions haven’t been ideal it has been a bit of a lottery. Tyre choice was crucial today but the bike’s in one piece and it’s got to be onwards and upwards from here.
#5 John McGuinness MBE
I am in a really good place heading to TT 2024. I've done so much riding this year, from the launch of the road bike, to testing, racing a bit in British Championship, I’ve done some bits with my own bike too. So we’ve been putting in the hard yards behind the scenes and y’know I’ve been going quicker than I’ve ever gone in places. The bike is good, the team are good and it just feels great to be heading to the TT knowing I’m getting another go on a Factory Honda at the best event in the world. There is truly nowhere like it. We got a podium at the North West which I was over the moon for, if we can get one over the next two weeks it will truly be the icing on the cake for me.
The action resumes for Honda Racing at Thruxton on August 8th-10th.
| 1 | Bradley Ray (Raceways Yamaha) | 222pts |
| 2 | Kyle Ryde (OMG Nitrous Competitions Racing Yamaha) | 188pts |
| 3 | Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings Ducati) | 150pts |
| 4 | Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Ducati Racing ) | 138pts |
| 5 | Danny Kent (McAMS Racing Yamaha) | 118pts |
| 6 | Tommy Bridewell (Honda Racing UK) | 111pts |
| 7 | Josh Brookes (DAO Racing Honda) | 106pts |
| 8 | Christian Iddon (AJN Steelstock Kawasaki) | 104pts |
| 9 | Max Cook (AJN Steelstock Kawasaki) | 82pts |
| 10 | Storm Stacey (Bathams AJN Racing BMW) | 80pts |
| 15 | Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing UK) | 55pts |
| 1 | Rhys Irwin (Gearlink Bike Performance 15) | 181pts |
| 2 | Ben Currie (Moto Rapido Ducati Racing) | 170pts |
| 3 | Jack Kennedy (Honda Racing UK) | 142pts |
| 4 | Luke Stapleford (Macadam Triumph Racing) | 133pts |
| 5 | Joe Talbot (Binch Pro Ducati) | 120pts |
| 6 | Eugene Mcmanus (MMB Racing Ducati) | 92pts |
| 7 | Lee Johnston (Sencat by Swan Racing Triumph) | 73pts |
| 8 | Dean Harrison (Honda Racing UK) | 73pts |
| 9 | TJ Toms (G&S Racing Kawasaki) | 69pts |
| 10 | Ben Luxton (CFS Filtration Racing Triumph) | 62pts |
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