Honda Racing open its account at the BSB Brands Hatch finale

The final weekend of the 2025 Bennetts British Superbike Championship (BSB) and its supporting categories is underway at Brands Hatch, with Honda Racing UK aiming high at the end of the season.

Jack Kennedy can win the Quattro British Supersport Championship at Brands Hatch after a valiant season, and the five-time champion has been in sparkling form aboard the Honda CBR600RR.

Holding third place in the standings, with a 23-point gap to the championship leader, Kennedy broke his own lap record in the second of Friday’s two Free Practice sessions. Then on Saturday morning, the Irishman was able to secure a front row grid position with the third fastest time.

Slotting into fourth place off the line, Kennedy worked his way up into third and the three title rivals circulated together until the final lap. When the two leaders almost collided, the Honda man pounced to claim second place and draw level with the leader as they crossed the finish line, missing out on victory by barely the width of a front wheel.

Championship titles may be out of the question in BSB, but the Honda Fireblades of former champion Tommy Bridewell and team-mate Dean Harrison have plenty to aim for.

A second row grid position resulted from Bridewell’s qualifying effort, with Harrison in 17th. A strong start from the 2023 BSB champion put Bridewell in the thick of the lead group in the early laps, but he slid back through the pack and would crash out on Lap 6. Harrison was meanwhile involved in a mighty scrap further down the field, and crossed the finish line in an eventual 15th place.

Completing the Honda Racing UK garage at Brands Hatch, and making his third competitive outing of the 2025 season, is the inimitable John McGuinness MBE, 23-time Isle of Man TT winner.

McGuinness has relished another appearance on the Honda Fireblade in Superstock trim, running consistently throughout the Free Practice and Qualifying sessions. He claimed an eventual 19th place finish in the first race of the weekend and 20th in the second race. There will be one further outing for the Superstock machines on Sunday afternoon.

Jack Kennedy

“Crazy race – the pace was ridiculous! When you see 1m 27.2s on your dashboard, tenths under the lap record, I came in and asked if I had set a new lap record and they said: ‘no – and you’re not even on the front row of the grid for tomorrow!’ So, it was a tough race, a tough battle, but I rode the wheels off the Honda CBR600RR. The bike really kept telling me that it was on the limit but I had to keep pushing hard. I could see that my championship rivals were shaping up to have a go at each other on the last lap and I managed to get past one, but although I braked super-late into the last corner and then got on the gas so early and so hard, but we missed out by 0.30 seconds. It can still go any way tomorrow. A lot can happen and we’re all pushing so hard.”

Tommy Bridewell

“Qualifying was good: 1m 24.8s in those temperatures was strong for the bike, and it felt good. I was happy with that. In the race, I was just a little bit out of my depth, to be honest. It’s become quite apparent that the front group in the championship this year have got something more than us. But the racer in me just can’t accept that, so I just tried to push beyond the limit to keep in that lead group. It didn’t feel too bad out there, and sometimes you can get away with doing that, but on this occasion I just pushed the front too hard. We’re losing a lot of time coming off the corners which meant that I was trying to make up for it on the entry and couldn’t make it stick on that lap. It is what it is. It’s frustrating but we’ve just got to accept it. Being the top Honda at that point shows that we’re extracting the most out of the package, and if it is wet tomorrow that can be a bit more of a leveller. It can slow our competitors down and reduce the gap, which would be an interesting race for sure.”

Dean Harrison

“I’ve been enjoying it to be honest with you. Qualifying was a little bit frustrating, really, after just missing out on the Q2 session but the race wasn’t too bad. I was a bit frustrated that the group in front of us was able to get away a little bit and I feel like we had the pace that they had but we couldn’t reel them back in. But it’s a few more points on the board. The bike’s in one piece, so we’ll just keep learning as we go. It was nice to spend a whole race actually racing with people, passing each other, and now we’ll see what the weather holds tomorrow.”

John McGuinness MBE

“It’s been a busy weekend, a busy day today with two races and qualifying, I’m not normally used to that but it’s okay. In qualifying I had some space and it went okay. I feel like I’ve gone a bit backwards as the day’s gone on. I’m not aggressive enough at the start and let myself get beaten up a bit and drop back. We’re on points-scoring pace, so we just have to get stuck in a bit because you can’t afford to give these lads any time. Everybody’s fighting for something, so we’ll just go again tomorrow.”

Team Principal Neil Fletcher

“We’ve got just one day remaining in the 2025 season and once again the team has dug deep throughout this final weekend. We had some repairs to make, some puzzles to solve, and as ever the guys have got on top of them. Jack’s race was sensational and we are still in there for the championship. If it goes our way it will be an incredible achievement but if not I think it’s clear that every ounce of effort has been put into the attempt.”

Honda Racing claims trophies at BSB season finale

The 11th and final weekend of the 2025 racing season has come to a close at Brands Hatch, with Honda Racing UK claiming honours in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship (BSB) and Quattro British Supersport Championship.

In Supersport, after claiming second place on Saturday, Jack Kennedy retained an outside chance of retaining the title that he has won five times previously. He needed to take victory with neither of his nearest rivals finishing the race in the points but, in the end, the top three riders in the series filled the top three positions, with Kennedy claiming second place on the road and third place in the season’s standings.

However, the season-long performance of Kennedy and, in the first nine rounds, that of his team-mate Dean Harrison, was sufficient for Honda Racing UK to claim the teams’ championship crown as a testament to the performance and reliability of the Honda CBR600RR.

Pride was at stake for the factory Honda Fireblades in the final round of the season as Honda Racing sought to end the season on a high note. Tommy Bridewell recovered well from crashing out of the first race of the weekend on Saturday, by riding to seventh place in the first of two races on Sunday, with Harrison finishing 17th.

The final race of the weekend was held in treacherous wet conditions, in which several riders retired – not least Harrison, who fell back after being caught up in an incident early on and withdrawing from the race. Bridewell meanwhile continued to chip away at the leading group, and as the race grew more attritional, he picked his way through to reach the podium in third place overall.

The third and final Superstock race of the weekend was held in the worst of the weather conditions throughout the weekend. As a result, making only his third appearance of the season in the class, John McGuinness MBE was among the riders who elected to withdraw from the race with the backing of the team.

Honda Racing UK will return to action at the start of the 2026 season. The full schedule of its activities and rider line-up will be announced in due course.

Jack Kennedy

“I gave it everything this weekend. I’m quite happy with my performance in the dry yesterday, I rode the absolute wheels off it and couldn’t have done any more. I beat my own lap record by four tenths in yesterday’s race, then I rode as hard as I could in the wet today – and stayed on it! That was obviously the main goal. We needed DNFs from the other riders, really, this weekend to win the championship, and that didn’t happen. We can all be happy with our performances and the job we’ve done this weekend as a team. The guys gave me a fantastic bike in the Honda CBR600RR both in the wet and in the dry. I think we did a good job. It’s been a way more competitive season this year, really hard-fought, and with us as the only 600cc bike there were between six and eight riders who could win every round. I feel like we’re doing a great job with what we have, we’ve had some real stand-out wins and stand-out moments. I’ve got a couple of DNFs there at races I maybe could have won but there’s nothing we can do about that now and we won the teams’ championship. It’s a testament to the whole team and Dean and his crew deserve every credit for that too.”

Tommy Bridewell

“What a year, what a last race! Honestly, to sum up the whole season would be difficult. It’s been a rollercoaster… I think that’s the best way to describe it. I’m obviously really chuffed to sign it off with a podium, because, honestly, we’ve been on the ropes this whole year and only once in a while have we come out and landed a few blows. Today was one of those days, though. The team built a great bike, it was really, really strong. It just took me a few laps to find my bearings and get going, because it was really tricky out there, but we ended up on the podium.”

Dean Harrison

“Well, we can add the Supersport teams’ championship to my TT wins this year, I’ll take that happily and the team certainly deserves it. It was an up-and-down day today on the Superbike. We ran strongly and had a good battle in Race 2, but I got caught up in the melee at the start of Race 3. My pace was okay, but then two riders crashed right in front of me which wasn’t ideal and it set us back so far that we were just in no man’s land, riding around for the sake of riding around. That’s frustrating as an end to the year, but we’ll just start afresh next season. Overall, this year had a lot more positives than anything else, so let’s hope to build on that for next year.”

John McGuinness MBE

“It’s been a positive weekend, really, adding to lots of things from this season that were good that we can take into the winter. The boss said that there was no problem bringing the bike into the pits today if I wasn’t feeling it, and both Michael Dunlop and myself came in together and parked up because we’ve got bigger fish to fry next year. You don’t want to slip off here and do some damage, and it’s been a good weekend, running in the top half of a competitive field. I’ve set a lot of personal bests over this year, I’ve really enjoyed working with the team and there’s nothing to sulk about. I’m still proud to pull a Honda shirt on and to be there or thereabouts at the end of the day. Everyone works so hard, from the hospitality guys to the engineers to the riders, so that all makes it a real pleasure to be here.”