This weekend (17-19 June) the Honda Racing UK team returns to its Bennetts British Superbike Championship duties after being in action at the Isle of Man TT Races, with the fourth round of the British Superbike series taking place at Scotland’s Knockhill circuit.
Glenn Irwin heads into the weekend having enjoyed his debut at the TT Races aboard the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP, where he secured himself as the fastest-ever TT newcomer. Now with his Isle of Man debut behind him, the focus is back to BSB where he’s currently sixth in the overall standings and will be looking to return his winning form, which saw him storm to victory in all three races at the Silverstone season opener.
For BSB rookie Tom Neave, Knockhill is one of his favourite circuits, however this weekend will be the first time he’s ridden the Superbike-spec Fireblade at the 1.27-mile track. Having sat out of the final race last time out, suffering with concussion side effects and with some time off between rounds, Tom will be looking for some point scoring finishes to add to his championship tally.
Having enjoyed a few weeks home in Japan Ryo Mizuno and Takumi Takahashi arrive in Scotland looking towards the top-15, having scored their first points of the 2022 season at the last round.
Superbike first practice gets underway on Friday (17 June) at 13.00, with Race 1 on Saturday (18 June). Race 2 and Race 3 will take place on Sunday (19 June).
#2 Glenn Irwin
“I’m looking forward to going back to Knockhill off the back of our TT debut. I think we’ve had a great season so far; we’ve had the wins in BSB, we did what we set out to do at the North West 200, and took a newcomer record at the TT, all of which takes us into the weekend in good form. I’m personally looking forward to riding the Fireblade to the limit that BSB requires, rather than road racing style, getting the front of the bike moving a bit more and being at that limit we enjoy riding to. Knockhill was difficult last year, but as a team we understand why, and this weekend we expect us to be more competitive with the package we have.”
#88 Ryo Mizuno
“I’m happy to be back racing in BSB after a short interval. Knockhill is one of my favourite tracks, even though I only raced there once last year. We scored our first points of the season at Donington Park at the last round and made progress overall, so I’m looking forward to continuing to work with the team to make further progress this weekend.”
#13 Takumi Takahashi
“Knockhill isn’t an easy circuit for me, it has lot of ups and downs, but I’ll use the track time we have throughout practice sessions and qualifying to learn and prepare myself as best as possible for the three races. I hope to continue from the last round and pick up further points to leave the weekend with a smile.”
#68 Tom Neave
“After the last round I had another concussion assessment and was advised to take a further two weeks off. Concussion isn’t something I’ve had before, but I now have more respect for the injury and understand it a lot more. Since Donington I have got back into training, I went to the Isle of Man TT to support the guys there, as well as getting back out on the MX bike, everything is feeling good, and I’ve built back into it. Knockhill is a fresh start and I’m going into it with a similar attitude to the first round, where I’m going to enjoy riding and get back to feeling comfortable. It’s a circuit I enjoy riding at, it’s a tight little track so it will be elbows out! We unfortunately missed the test, so I haven’t ridden the Superbike there before, but there’s no pressure and we’re going to take it session by session and the main thing is to enjoy the weekend.”
Posted on Friday, June 17th, 2022 in News
