Donington Park - BSB 2025 Round 2
The Track
Circuit length: 2.49M / 4.02KM
Corners: 12
Lefthand: 5
Righthand: 7
BSB Lap Record : Glenn Irwin - Ducati 1:27.345 (2024) 102.51mph
BSB Round 2: Honda Racing opens its account at Donington Park
Saturday 17th May 2025
Round 2 of the 2025 Bennetts British Superbike Championship is well and truly underway, with the Honda Racing teams having completed Free Practice sessions on Friday in both Supersport and Superbike categories, then going straight into Qualifying and Race 1 for each class on Saturday.
In the Superbike category, Andrew Irwin was passed fit for duty as he continues to recover from the shoulder injury that precluded him from racing in the opening round at Oulton Park two weeks ago. Team-mate Tommy Bridewell, the 2024 vice-champion, worked hard with the team to optimise his Honda Fireblade for the demands of Donington Park and the warm, sunny conditions.
The final Free Practice times in the Superbike class placed Tommy Bridewell in 24th place, forcing him to take part in the first Qualifying session. However, the team and the 2023 BSB champion had turned a corner with the performance of his machine, allowing Bridewell to go fastest in the first session and go on to claim fifth on the grid after the second session.
Irwin meanwhile ended Free Practice in tenth place and avoided the Q1 shootout. He would go on to qualify in seventh on the grid for the first of three races this weekend.
At the start it was Irwin who got away faster, slotting into fifth place as Bridewell slipped back to ninth. Irwin also nailed a super-fast lap time early in the race, his time of 1m 27.504s ensuring that he will start Race 2 from the second row of the grid before crossing the line in ninth place at the chequered flag.
Unfortunately for Bridewell, his race ended early after crashing on the fifth lap of the race. Fortunately, however, he emerged uninjured.
In the Supersport class it was Dean Harrison who ended up setting the fastest lap of all in Free Practice. Harrison’s time of 1m 30.392s in the second session put him ahead of five-time Supersport champion Jack Kennedy, who ended the day sixth with a time of 1m 30.750s, as the pair of Honda CBR600RRs performed faultlessly throughout the day.
In the same race, Dean Harrison endured a bruising ten-lap scrap as hard-fought battles ultimately cost him time in his pursuit for a top-five finish. He completed the race in ninth.
Honda Racing delivers progress in all-action BSB Round 2 at Donington Park
Sunday 18th May 2025
Honda Racing was back at full strength at Donington Park to close out Round 2 of the 2025 Bennetts British Superbike Championship. Overnight, the team completely rebuilt the Honda Fireblade of 2024 vice-champion Tommy Bridewell after his crash in Saturday’s opening Superbike race before work began again during the morning warm-up to hone its performance to his needs.
Having played himself back into contention through Friday and Saturday, Irwin was eager for Sunday’s races. At the start of Race 2, both he and Bridewell got away cleanly and, in the opening laps, Irwin pushed up into the top four and ran convincingly in the lead pack before slipping back in a hard-fought race, with the two Honda Fireblades finishing in seventh and eighth place respectively.
Race 3 saw the Fireblades line up with Irwin on the outside of the third row in seventh place and Bridewell in the middle of the fourth row in 11th based on their fastest laps in race 2. In the end, the two Fireblades changed places, as Irwin slipped back down the order after a strong start and Bridewell overcame handling issues to finish in seventh at the chequered flag.
In the Supersport category, five-time champion Jack Kennedy was determined to reach the podium in a bid to kick-start his title defence. Having raced as high as second in a furious battle on Saturday, he took off from the start and entered another wild three-way battle for the lead.
After taking the lead at one-third distance, the Irishman looked comfortable but all too soon he began to suffer tyre degradation issues that left him powerless to defend against his pursuers. In the end, Kennedy crossed the line in fifth place, while team-mate Dean Harrison ended the race in seventh place - both of the Honda CBR600RRs having set the same fastest lap time to within one thousandth of a second of each other at 1m 30.469s.
#1 Jack Kennedy
We wanted more today, we wanted to stick it on the podium if we could and we made some changes to see if that would allow me to ride the bike even harder. I think we did a good job of that and we were in the fight for the win for two-thirds of the race but then the rear tyre just seemed to drop off a cliff edge so it turned into a bit of a salvage job at that point. Unfortunately I was a bit of a sitting duck, which is a shame because I was really comfortable in that lead fight and we had to settle for fifth place. It’s not really in my DNA to do that, but looking at the bigger picture and fighting for a sixth championship then a fourth and a fifth place will be helpful for the points. It was a strong points scoring weekend and massive thanks to my crew and Honda Racing UK because I felt that we were definitely where we needed to be for pace. We have a bit of time now and hopefully we will get on top of this tyre issue. I was riding it really hard down through the Craner Curves and Old Hairpin in particular, which is where we were making the most time on the leaders, just making up time on the brakes, which is risky. It’s no secret that I’ve had a few crashes in testing and at the first race weekend of the season, which was because the way we went on setup allowed me to ride hard but with no real indication of where the limit was. So we’ve found a setup now where I can still push but the bike will give me a little more warning on what the limit is. Meanwhile, I shall be watching how the team gets on at the TT and wish the boys well, and then we’ll maybe try a few things to put us in an even better position in Supersport when we get back at it at Snetterton next month.
#1 Tommy Bridewell
It was effectively a new bike today after my crash yesterday, which didn’t miss a beat - so thank you to Ryan and Tom and the whole team for building it. We even had people from the Supersport garage as well as our own guys getting the bike built overnight, everyone was chipping in. This morning’s times (20th place in Warm-Up) weren't really representative. We didn’t have a problem, it’s just that the tyre rules we have in BSB at the moment are just madness. Because of that, the morning sessions, FP3 on Saturday and Warm-Up on Sunday are just a waste of time. You make sure that everything’s bolted on and that’s it. The first race today, we went back to my 2024 setup to get a bit of an understanding. I think for me the crux of it is that we’ve got a new tyre, a bit grippier, and it certainly looks like it has benefitted Yamaha and Ducati more than us. My pace is very, very similar to last year, my times are almost identical to last year and I’m riding as hard as I can without crashing - and yesterday I went a bit harder than that and I crashed! Last year, I was riding that hard to fight for podiums. This year, I’m riding that hard for sixth or seventh and the only difference is how our bikes are responding to the new tyre. It’s certainly frustrating so we’ve all got a bit of work to do together to find that next step.
#18 Andrew Irwin
Honestly, if you had said before we started this weekend that I would come straight off the back of two weeks carrying an injury to score two top-10 finishes and an 11th I would have been happy. We have to take where I am, and I’m not fit, and take that as a positive because over one lap we’re really close to the pace so now we have a gap and I’ll be working really hard on my fitness to get it back to where it was before the injury. I’ll knuckle down and look forward to Snetterton, which will feel much more like a normal weekend. I really want to say thank you to my team, to Spider, Johnny, Dan, Simon and Cammy because it’s a busy period for them, the hospitality crew and everyone at Honda Racing when they’re competing with the road races at the North West 200 and of course the TT and still working hard on the British Superbike Championship all weekend from start to finish. Good luck to Dean and John (McGuinness) at the TT.
#5 Dean Harrison
As a whole, this weekend, I think the pace across the entire field in Supersport has been insanely fast. We’re getting a lot out of the bike now, I think we’re really almost at the maximum in terms of what both Jack and I are able to get out of it. We’re evenly matched for time now, which is good, because he’s the five-time champion in this class and the benchmark for me. We’re working really well together, it’s a great atmosphere in the garage and I’m really happy to now be taking this bike, as it is, to the TT for the next two weeks. When you’re riding well you feel better in yourself. This season has seen us go better and better from Oulton Park to the North West 200 and now to here so, really, I just want to take that momentum forward to the TT. Then we’ll come back fresh to carry on chipping away at the Supersport championship.
Honda Racing now prepares to take on the Isle of Man TT between May 26 and June 8, with the road racing team of Dean Harrison and John McGuinness MBE. The 2025 Bennetts British Superbike Championship will resume at Snetterton on June 20-22.
| 1 | Bradley Ray (Raceways Yamaha) | 86pts |
| 2 | Glenn Irwin (Hager PBM Ducati) | 74pts |
| 3 | Kyle Ryde (OMG Nitrous Competitions Racing Yamaha) | 66pts |
| 4 | Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Ducati Racing ) | 65pts |
| 5 | Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings Ducati) | 47pts |
| 6 | Josh Brookes (DAO Racing Honda) | 44pts |
| 7 | Danny Kent (McAMS Racing Yamaha) | 35pts |
| 8 | Tommy Bridewell (Honda Racing UK) | 33pts |
| 9 | Christian Iddon (AJN Steelstock Kawasaki) | 24pts |
| 10 | Storm Stacey (Bathams AJN Racing BMW) | 23pts |
| 11 | Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing UK) | 22pts |
| 1 | Ben Currie (Moto Rapido Ducati Racing) | 68pts |
| 2 | Luke Stapleford (Macadam Triumph Racing) | 67pts |
| 3 | Rhys Irwin (Gearlink Bike Performance 15) | 58pts |
| 4 | Jack Kennedy (Honda Racing UK) | 56pts |
| 5 | Eugene Mcmanus (MMB Racing Ducati) | 54pts |
| 6 | Joe Talbot (Binch Pro Ducati) | 42pts |
| 7 | Dean Harrison (Honda Racing UK) | 36pts |
| 8 | Zak Corderoy (Dan Cooper Motorsport Honda) | 24pts |
| 9 | TJ Toms (G&S Racing Kawasaki) | 24pts |
| 10 | Lee Johnston (IN Competition SENCAT Triumph) | 17pts |
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