The seventh round of the MCE British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch has been an eventful meeting for the Honda Racing team, but the second race saw its fortunes turn as Jason O’Halloran placed his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade machine on the podium in third place.
In the mix throughout the whole weekend, The O’Show started the second 20-lap race of the day from the fourth spot on the grid, where he finished the first race. A blinding start off the line saw O’Halloran rocket to the front of the pack and by Surtees his Fireblade machine was leading the way.
The next 13 laps saw the Aussie strong and leading the pack and a second BSB race win was looking on the cards. On the 17th lap the safety car was deployed and the group behind closed the lead gap – the next lap saw the race resume and two more laps added following the safety car.
A three-way-battle then erupted between O’Halloran, Leon Haslam and Shane Byrne for the win and at Paddock Hill the riders were three-by-three deep in battle. Losing the top spot to Byrne, O’Halloran crossed the line third, with nothing in it, just 0.006 seconds behind Haslam in second place. The results from today keep O’Halloran third in the championship standings.
Meanwhile team-mate Dan Linfoot, although struggling slightly at the 3.916km Kent circuit, has shown strong race pace all weekend aboard his CBR machine. Race one saw the Yorkshireman start from 16th on the grid and he knew he had some work to do to get through the field and into the front positions.
By the 14th lap Linfoot had masterfully made his way through the pack and the top-ten was firmly in his sights, he eventually crossed the line seventh. Race two saw the Honda rider line up in ninth place, but at the end of the first lap had dropped back to tenth position.
Fighting hard over the remainder of the race, Linfoot pushed on and never left the top-ten in each rotation of the Brands Hatch GP circuit. Eventually crossing the line in eighth place he remains fifth in the overall standings – 40 points behind his Honda team-mate.
The team’s third rider Jenny Tinmouth was unfortunately absent from the races after substantial damage to her Fireblade during a crash in warm up ruled her out. Tinmouth was unhurt from the fall and will be back on track at the team’s home race in three weeks time (27-29 August) at Cadwell Park.
I’m happy to be on the podium again after the first race, to come back and finish third was much better. We had a strong pace all weekend, unfortunately I messed up Superpole yesterday, which made the first race hard for us but coming back here this afternoon I lead most of the race and felt pretty comfortable – the Fireblade was working well after we made a few tweaks from the first race. Haslam came past and we had a bit of tussle, then after that the safety car was deployed, after that Shakey got us both in the first corner. I came into the next lap and I thought the flag was going to come out but then I saw a board saying an extra two laps to go, so I thought ‘right lets have another push and see if I can get second’. I tried really hard and it was one of my best laps of the race and I just missed out, but to be third is another podium credit, another good chunk of points towards the showdown and I’m happy to be back up on the podium. I now can’t wait to get to Cadwell Park – I missed last year’s race through injury, but I absolutely love the place, it’s the team’s home race and mine. We had a great test there a few weeks ago and found a good setting on the CBR so I cant wait to get stuck in there - Jason O'Halloran / #22
You know this weekend has been a hard one for us, I definitely have the race pace and the potential but it wasn’t meant to be this weekend. Race one I was pleased with the progress from my start position. 16th to seventh isn’t as far as I’d have like to have gone, but we went forward and that’s the main thing. Race two again I’m not particularly happy with eighth place, we’ve got some things to have a look at now back at the workshop as I felt like I was pushing hard, but don’t really know why I didn’t seem to have the pace today. However, we need to take the positives away with us, we did beat some of my championship rivals so I’m still fifth in the championship. We need to refocus and regroup now ahead of Cadwell and improve these positions - .Dan Linfoot / #4
From qualifying to the races I always said we have the race pace and we certainly have and Jason has shown it – he’s turned it around on race day and what a fantastic finish to a Sunday! Battling and leading from the front there, unfortunately the safety car came out, I understand oil was on the track and it needed to be dealt with, but what a great finish for Jason and Honda Racing.Dan, unfortunately we know he had a few problems but he’s been battling through and he showed signs of progression within the race. I think he got duffed up once or twice – I need to have a chat to him and see what went on there, but again it was a finish to consolidate some points and keep us in the top-six. Overall it’s a good finish for Honda Racing at Brands Hatch. - Havier Beltran - Honda Racing team manager
Race one (20 laps)
Pos Rider Number Time Team Constructor1 Shane Byrne 67 29:19.348 Be Wiser Ducati Ducati2 Leon Haslam 91 +0.518 JG Speedfit Kawasaki Kawasaki3 Luke Mossey 12 +2.078 Quattro Plant Kawasaki Kawasaki4 Jason O'Halloran 22 +4.079 Honda Racing Honda5 Lee Jackson 14 +7.417 Buildbase BMW BMW6 Broc Parkes 32 +7.605 ePayMe Yamaha Yamaha7 Dan Linfoot 4 +7.876 Honda Racing Honda8 Richard Cooper 47 +9.017 Buildbase BMW BMW9 Christian Iddon 24 +9.635 Tyco BMW BMW10 James Ellison 77 +12.654 JG Speedfit Kawasaki KawasakiRace two (22 laps)
Pos Rider Number Time Team Constructor1 Shane Byrne 67 32:16.000 Be Wiser Ducati Ducati2 Leon Haslam 91 +1.490 JG Speedfit Kawasaki Kawasaki3 Jason O'Halloran 22 +1.496 Honda Racing Honda4 Glenn Irwin 2 +3.794 Be Wiser Ducati Ducati5 Richard Cooper 47 +3.859 Buildbase BMW BMW6 Lee Jackson 14 +3.903 Buildbase BMW BMW7 Luke Mossey 12 +4.252 Quattro Plant Kawasaki Kawasaki8 Dan Linfoot 4 +5.549 Honda Racing Honda9 James Ellison 77 +5.963 JG Speedfit Kawasaki Kawasaki10 Christian Iddon 24 +6.149 Tyco BMW BMWStandings
Pos Rider Number Points Team Constructor1 Shane Byrne 67 231 Be Wiser Ducati Ducati2 Leon Haslam 91 206 JG Speedfit Kawasaki Kawasaki3 Jason O'Halloran 22 175 Honda Racing Honda4 Michael Laverty 7 137 Tyco BMW BMW5 Dan Linfoot 4 135 Honda Racing Honda6 Richard Cooper 47 125 Buildbase BMW BMW7 James Ellison 77 122 JG Speedfit Kawasaki Kawasaki8 Luke Mossey 12 122 Quattro Plant Kawasaki Kawasaki9 Christian Iddon 24 120 Tyco BMW BMW10 Peter Hickman 60 106 JG Speedfit Kawasaki Kawasaki
