BSB: Alex Olsen and Bourne to race with new Pathway specification Honda

Alex Olsen and Franco Bourne will join the British Superbike grid at Donington Park on a Pathway specification machine.

The BSB Pathway regulations will be introduced in 2024 with the hope of creating a better transition from Superstock to Superbike. It will be for riders for their first year of BSB competition only. They will have to use MoTeC ECU and have some lower regulation requirements on certain cycle and mechanical parts.

After the return of Andrew Irwin this weekend at Donington Park, Franco Bourne will return to the Marvel HCL Motorsport team. He returns to the team with which he has experienced great success in the Superstock Championship. 

At the start of the season, Bourne claimed a victory at Silverstone, and three podiums in the Superstock class. He later was called up to ride in the Superbike class with Honda Racing UK as Andrew Irwin was injured during the Knockhill test. His best result in the Superbike class was a 12th-place finish at Oulton Park.

Bourne said: “Firstly, I would like to thank Harv and everyone at Honda Racing UK for giving me the opportunity to cover for Andrew Irwin while he recovered from his injury, those opportunities don’t come around very often to ride for a Factory team, and I think we started to show some of the potential on the Superbike. 

“Now Andrew is recovered and back on the bike, I am looking forward to continuing my Superbike experience for the last two rounds with Marvel HCL Motorsport, on a Pathway spec Superbike to see what we can do against the established teams on their full-blown Superbikes. 

“We were very successful together on the Superstock bike at the beginning of the season, with three podiums from the first four rounds so I am looking forward to showing what we can do in Superbikes too.”

Alex Olsen will return to the Superbike class with Team IWR, as they also use the Honda in the new BSB Pathway specifications. Olsen has spent the season in the highly competitive National Superstock class.

So far this season, Alex Olsen has claimed five podiums in the National Superstock class onboard the Honda CBR 1000 RR. The highlight of his season came at the opening race of the season where he would win and start his title campaign. 

Alex Olsen has previously raced in the Superbike class in 2020, riding for Smith Racing and finished in 20th in the standings.

Olsen said: “I am really excited to be stepping up to Superbikes in the new Pathway class for the final two rounds. It will be nice to be back on the Superbike grid as I haven’t been back in BSB since 2020 and my big crash at Silverstone, so I am looking forward to being back in the premier class. 

“We know that there is a lot of work that needs to be done with the bike, so we have realistic expectations and for myself to get back up to speed in Superbikes, but I am looking forward to it.

“We just need to take each session as it comes, work on the bike and continue to learn. I am really looking forward to it and I need to thank IWR for giving me this opportunity to step up for the final two rounds and hopefully we can then get everything together to step up full-time together next year.”

Image credit: Honda Racing