Sunday

It’s been another blistering hot day at Thruxton with two races at the 2.3-mile Hampshire circuit for the final day of the sixth round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, where the Honda Racing UK team wrapped up the weekend in the points and Glenn Irwin moved up the series standings where, with the Showdown looming he’s now sitting fifth.

Glenn finished the day with a sixth and fourth aboard the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP, making an impressive comeback in the final race. Lining up ninth on the grid, he was down in 13th by the end of the first lap, however with tyre management key at Thruxton, Glenn once again preserved his tyres to come through strong by half race distance.

Lapping faster than his BSB rivals ahead, he was up to eighth place, but it wasn’t long before he’d made up further places and was sitting fourth. It was then a battle to the line with Leon Haslam and Lee Jackson, with the trio trading places until lap 18, when Glenn and the Fireblade pushed ahead to claim fourth, crossing the line 1.273s ahead of Lee [Jackson]. With a total of 36 points collected across the weekend, Glenn has moved into fifth place in the overall standings with a total 192 points.

For teammate Ryo Mizuno it’s been a weekend of progress, with points scored in all three races, and Ryo scoring his highest finish so far this season. Making his way through the field and managing his tyres for the final 20-lap race, he started 21st and crossed the line just outside the top 10 in 12th place.

Coming fresh from the Suzuka 8 Hours, Takumi Takahashi also made improvements throughout the weekend and impressed in the final race where he came through from his starting position of 27th to finish in the points in 14th place aboard the Fireblade.

However for BSB rookie Tom Neave it’s been a bittersweet weekend, as he’s struggled with a shoulder injury. Finishing 16th in yesterday’s Sprint Race, an issue with the rear shock forced him to retire from today’s second race. Starting 28th for Race 3, Tom showed good early pace and had made his way into 17th, but fell back to 20th during the closing stages where he crossed the line.

The Honda Racing UK team now have a weekend between races, before Round 7 of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship takes place at their home round in Lincolnshire at Cadwell Park.

#2 Glenn Irwin

“Overall it’s been a good weekend, we’ve had a 4th, 6th and another 4th, so in terms of points it has been good. The second race today was a strange one, the bike didn’t change from yesterday but for some reason we struggled throughout the whole of the race. We made some changes for the final race and it was better, at the start there were some riders being over eager, which stopped me from getting closer to the front guys and getting away with them. I then had to plan the race, be smart and work out a realistic position, which I thought was fifth, then Pete [Hickman] went out and it was fourth. I was pleased with how the Fireblade was in the final race and to rebound and pass so many people is enjoyable and makes our Showdown challenge much stronger, which is always the goal. We’re now heading to the teams’ home round, which is nearly mine as we don’t have one at home, so I’ll take Cadwell Park as mine! ”

#88 Ryo Mizuno

“It was a very good weekend. This time we were able to solve the problems session by session and the process to the final race was very good. It was also the first Q2 of the season, we scored points in every race, and the fact that we were able to improve our position race by race. I would like to look again at what has changed from the previous round and work towards the next so that we can improve more consistently. I would like to thank the team staff for their hard work across the weekend.”

#13 Takumi Takahashi

“We tried a different set-up in the morning warm up, which improved my feeling a little, but in Race 2 I didn’t have a good pace right from the start and couldn’t improve my place. We tried something different for race three and got the best feeling of the weekend and I think we made progress to finish in the points, so we’ll be aiming for even higher positions in the next race at Cadwell Park.”

#68 Tom Neave

“It’s been an extremely difficult weekend, and I’m disappointed. I came into the weekend with high expectations and we just couldn’t achieve those. I’ve been struggling with a shoulder injury and it’s really hampered our progress across the weekend. I need to get it looked at ahead of the next round and come back fitter, stronger and ready to fight at Cadwell Park. It’s my home round and favourite on the calendar, we’re only at the halfway point of the season and I’m positive we can build and come back from this. The lads have proved what the Fireblade is capable of here at Thruxton, so this weekend is one of those; we move on and come back stronger.”