Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran showed he was back on form as the seventh round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship took place at Thruxton in Hampshire, with blistering temperatures across race day.

‘The O’Show’ started race one in tenth place, but it wasn’t long until he was carving through the pack aboard the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade. Over the 20 laps the Aussie continually made up places and demonstrated superb tyre-life management at the abrasive and fast 2.3-mile circuit.

On the final lap the podium was calling as the Honda rider had made his way into third position. However, coming into Club Chicane O’Halloran was run wide and off-track by another rider and as a result lost places, crossing the line to take sixth place.

With the bit between his teeth for the second race, and getting a good start from eighth, he again made his way up through the front pack into third place. A near coming together into the final chicane on lap six caused the Aussie to take evasive action to avoid contact with another rider, and in the drama O’Halloran cut the corner of the chicane.

Suffering a time penalty and dropping back places after the move, he crossed the line again in sixth place and picked up a further ten points towards his championship challenge. After the weekend O’Halloran is tenth in the overall championship standings with 86 points and is 25 points adrift of the top-six.

Meanwhile teammate Tom Neave had a steep learning curve as he made his BSB debut. Showing good pace and impressing with his attitude, Neave made solid progress in both races from his starting positions. Unfortunately the 23-year old had both races end prematurely after crashing out while trying to make further progress, he was unhurt from the falls.

The Honda Racing team will now turn their focus to the next round of the series, which takes place in their back yard at Cadwell Park on 17-19 August.


#68 -  Tom Neave

I’ve really enjoyed this weekend and loved every minute and every lap. The team has been so welcoming and everyone has made me feel at home, I’ve progressed and got faster and faster and my confidence has grown. Sadly the races didn’t end too well for me and I am sorry to the team for the crashes, they worked so hard to get me back out for the second race and I crashed again; so sorry to Spider and the boys. In the first race I was settling in nicely, Mackenzie came past me and in hindsight, I should have sat behind him and learnt, but instead I tried to take too much out of him in one hit. I went in too hot and almost ran into the back of him, so I had to avoid and run off at one of the fastest corners, which wasn’t ideal. The second race, I was more cautious of what had happened earlier in the day. I took it nice and steady, settled into it, the CBR felt awesome and I tried to take a lunge on Cooper. It was a hotheaded moment and I ran into his back wheel, I’m just thankful I didn’t take him out as well! I’m gutted as I’ve been given a golden opportunity and I’m frustrated the weekend has ended with two crashes. I’ve learnt a hell of a lot from it today and thanks again to Harv, Honda and the boys for all their support and hard work!


#22 -  Jason O'Halloran

It’s been a really positive weekend for us and although the results say two sixth places, in the first race we were up into third and coming into the final chicane we had a coming together with another rider and I ended up finishing sixth. We then got another strong sixth in race two. It’s a massive step forward from Brands, it’s only two weeks, but it’s been two weeks of hard work to improve, get fitter, stronger and get the ankle better to be able to do more laps on a Friday, which we managed here and what has helped us today. The boys have worked fantastic all weekend and the Fireblade has been great - we showed that in the first race by entering the last chicane with the leaders, where at Brands I didn’t see which way they went! We’ve made a good step and I’m pleased with today’s effort, although we want more than sixth I think from where we’ve come from in such a short time, we should all be happy with what we’ve achieved.

Havier Beltran - Team Manager

We’ve made progress this weekend with Jason; he’s fitter, stronger and more determined than ever. The situation in race one is a difficult one as that was a clear podium for Jason. But these things do happen on track and we see one perspective from the TV and I know the riders will have their perspective, but it’s a real shame as it would have been a podium. But we have positives to take from this weekend as we have shown that Jason can do it and he can fight for podiums, also we have come away with a good points haul and mathematically we can still be in with a chance of a spot in the Showdown.

It’s been a pleasure having Tom on board with us; I’m pleased with what he’s achieved but also disappointed for him that he’s not finished both races today, as I feel he’d have learnt so much from it with the level and riders around him. He’s shown a lot of progress across the weekend, and it’s been refreshing to have him in the garage and see him taking on the feedback and learning every time he’s been out. It’s now onwards and upwards as we head to our home round at Cadwell Park in a few weeks’ time.