It’s been a difficult weekend for Honda Racing at Cadwell Park for the eighth round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, as the team struggled to find form across all sessions at the challenging and technical 2.18-mile circuit.

However there are positives to take away from the weekend with Jason O’Halloran fighting in the top-ten in race one, still recovering from his ankle injury, and Superbike newbie Tom Neave showing huge progress finishing both 18-lap races aboard the CBR1000RR Fireblade.

Not able to find pace in qualifying ‘The O’Show’ made up places in the opening race of the day quickly moving from 12th into seventh. The Aussie was looking strong until he was run off-track at Hall Bends and re-joined the group in 13th place, where he eventually took the chequered flag.

Starting the second race 13th on the grid, O’Halloran dropped places early on but over the race distance fought back aboard the CBR to finish 11th. He leaves Cadwell having collected a handful of points and remains tenth in the overall championship standings – 32 points adrift from the all-important Showdown top six.

Meanwhile deputy Neave continued to impress at his local circuit during both races where he finished 15th and 12th. Collecting his first-ever British Superbike points, the 23-year olds pace improved throughout the weekend and with strong form improved and shaved a second off his fastest lap time.

The whole team would like to thank Tom for all his hard work and it’s been a pleasure working with and watching him progress from Thruxton to Cadwell.

Honda Racing will now look forward to the ninth round of the championship, which takes place on 7-9 September at Silverstone where Dan Linfoot will be making his return to the number 4 Fireblade having been side-lined with injury.

#22 -  Jason O'Halloran

It’s been a really tough weekend for us here at Cadwell and I have never struggled so much here in my whole racing career, I don’t know what we were missing or where it went wrong but it’s just been really, really tough all weekend. We missed the mark with it and it’s a hard place to ride when you’re not struggling and to ride with things not 100% it’s even tougher. I’m devastated with today, normally this is a really good track for me and I was just riding around then, I wasn’t even racing, we’ve got to leave here, pick our heads up and look towards Silverstone which is a completely different track and should hopefully suit us a little bit better.

#68 -  Tom Neave

After Thruxton looking back now I was at such a disadvantage not having finished those races. Coming into this weekend I didn’t think it would affect me as much as it did, now having finished I’m in a different mind set. We made progress in the races having struggled at the start of the weekend but we’ve come away with two finishes and I got my first Superbike points! A few crashed in front of me, but to finish the race you’ve got to stop on and they’ve got the same chances stopping on as I have. I felt I could have been more aggressive, but having only figured it out in the races that’s not the time to be aggressive, if I felt like I did in a qualifying session then I would have pushed on and would have been even faster – but given the circumstances I just wanted to finish both races and we went faster anyway! My legs are sore; I know I’ll feel those two races tomorrow! I have really enjoyed riding the Fireblade and working with the Honda team, I feel like part of the family; it’s mega, I love it! So a huge thanks to Havier and Honda UK for giving me this opportunity, I have learnt so much and loved every minute.

Havier Beltran -  Team Manager

It’s been a difficult weekend if I’m honest and not the result I thought we were going to get with Jason, we know he can be a lot stronger here and believe there is a lot more to come from him, but for whatever reason we didn’t have that this weekend. I am disappointed as it makes it even harder for the Showdown and at the end of the day that’s where to need to be.

I am so pleased with Tom he’s finished two races and it’s been great to see him progress. I had a long chat with him after Thruxton and before arriving here and I’m pleased that he’s got two race results under his belt and he knows what is needed to be at this level, I really wish him all the best in his career and for the rest of this season. The lad has potential and I look forward to hopefully working with him again in the future.