Dean Harrison hopes Honda switch will provide missing link in bid for maiden NW200 Superbike success

The Bradford man has taken on a new challenge this season after relying on Kawasaki power in the feature class since 2016.

Harrison, who left the DAO Racing Team at the end of last season, has reached the top step in the Senior TT and was also a Superbike winner at the Ulster Grand Prix in 2017, but a win around the 8.9-mile ‘Triangle’ course has so far eluded the 35-year-old.

That is a statistic Harrison will be aiming to put right at the first major road race of 2024 (May 8-11) when he joins John McGuinness and Manx rider Nathan Harrison in the official Honda line-up in Portrush.

Harrison has been brought into the team to deliver on the big stage at the NW200 and TT and although eight-in-a-row Superbike winner Glenn Irwin will take some stopping on the PBM Ducati, the straight-talking English rider hopes his Honda move will provide the missing link.

“I will definitely be trying,” said Harrison, who finished third in both Superbike races in 2023.

“We were close last year, up in the top three, all fighting close together, so I know I have the pace to have a go and I will definitely be trying to win one.

“I suppose not winning at the North West has been down to my lack of commitment on the coast road on the last lap.

“I need to be more aggressive, to get myself into the right place at the right time because you can be part of a big train slipstreaming on the straights and you can go from first to sixth on that last lap,” he added.

“You could be sat there, head down, and the next thing five bikes have passed you.”

Harrison – now living in Laxey on the Isle of Man – said the opportunity to ride for Honda was a chance he simply could not refuse.

The 2019 Senior TT winner was also persuaded by the challenge of riding the latest CBR1000RR-R Fireblade Superbike and the new 600cc Honda.

“I can’t knock the DAO team in any way,” said Harrison.

“The bikes were good and the team was good but to be offered a Honda factory ride. Let’s say I stop racing in the next five to ten years and I look back and think I was offered the Honda ride and didn’t take it. I think I’d kick myself.

“It is an opportunity too good to pass on and I might never get an opportunity like it again so I’ll try to make the most of it.

“That there are new bikes was another reason to go to Honda,” he added.

“Two new bikes to start afresh with, to develop and make better. That is another challenge I am looking forward to.”

Harrison will continue in the British Superbike Championship this year with fellow new Honda recruit and reigning champion Tommy Bridewell, and Ulsterman Andrew Irwin.

Meanwhile, Paul Jordan will lead away the first race of the 2024 Isle of Man TT on the Jackson Racing Honda in the opening Supersport race on June 1.

The Magherafelt man has the honour of riding with the number one plate for the first time.

Michael Dunlop, who is on the brink of equalling his uncle Joey’s record of 26 wins, retains his familiar number six.