A welcome affirmation and a young Japanese to dream. With this combination is the Honda Racing UK team will compete at the start of the BSB British Superbike 2021 season with a single mission: to strive for the title that has been missing since 2013. Ryo Mizuno will be at Glenn Irwin’s side. a fair combination of experience and quality, in which both hope to be able to build on the good shape of the CBR 1000RR-R last year.
Forwarding of the form 2020
While it struggled a lot in World Superbike before making it onto the podium, the new Fireblade was a perfect fit for BSB’s technical prerogatives in the English Channel Championship. at with an impressive one-two in the opening round at Donington ‘National’. Despite a small flaw in the end, the additional working hours guarantee the team led by Havier Beltran the hope of building a successful year in 2021. After surprising goodbye to Andrew Irwin, it was decided to bet on the talented Ryo Mizuno alongside the confirmed Glenn Irwin.
BSB debut
The native Kiryu has been associated with the Tokyo manufacturer since the first steps in its promising career. Born in 1998, the rider who recently took part in the All Japan Superbike (he finished fourth) impressed in the Land of the Rising Sun with his successes in J-GP3 (Japanese Moto3) and J-GP2 (Moto2). For Mizuno it will be his absolute debut on the Old Continent. knowing that he can drive free from pressure. In addition to his personal maturity, the HRC protégé will have the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of another Japanese rider who made the history of the category: Ryuichi Kiyonari, three-time BSB champion with Honda Racing UK.
“I’m really looking forward to this new challenge and I’m signing a contract with the Honda Racing UK team to drive the new CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP in the British Championship – said Mizuno after testing in Portimao in December – I can’t wait to get started and I hope we will have a lot of success in front of our fans over the course of this year. “
Title hunt
After Glenn Irwin ended 2020 in fourth place after a long time at the top of the overall standings, he wants to pick up where he left off. As the top rider of the Honda Racing UK project, 2021 must be the year of the final assault on the British top-flight title for the 30-year-old from Carrickfergus, without neglecting the full development of the motorcycle. One win and five second places on his scoresheet certainly didn’t go unnoticed and the multiple North West 200 winner is well aware of that.
“I am very excited to continue with Honda Racing – said Glenn Irwin – 2020 has been a really refreshing year that may have been a success earlier than expected. We have extensive developments ahead of us in 2021, which will certainly further improve our package. From an outcome perspective, we’re not going to make bold predictions, but As a team that we know from our work over the winter, we have a strong basis to further develop the Fireblade. “