POSITIVE DAY FOR HONDA RACING AT OULTON PARK

It’s been a busy day for Honda Racing and its trio of riders as the MCE British Superbike Championship reached its ninth round and the all-important Showdown decider at Oulton Park in Cheshire. With a practice, qualifying and race one taking place all eyes were on the remaining Showdown places.

Honda’s Jason O’Halloran, already confirmed in the Showdown after his performance at Cadwell Park, had his sights on the podium for the weekend’s first race. Starting from fourth place a bad start off the line saw the Australian drop back to ninth by the end of the first lap and he knew that he had a battle on his hands to get back into the front group.

Pushing aboard his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade and moving up into the front group, he had his sights set on a podium finish. Unable to close the gap in the final stages, he crossed the line in fourth place, just 0.255 seconds away from third.

Bad luck struck team-mate Dan Linfoot in qualifying who narrowly missed out on Q3 by 0.041 seconds. Starting the race from tenth place and with the Showdown firmly on his mind, he knew that a move up the pack was required. Dropping a place in the early stages of the race the Yorkshireman wasn’t giving up and started making his move on the front-runners.

Halfway through the race Linfoot had caught his Honda team-mate and the pair traded places fighting for sixth place. Eventually dropping back behind O’Halloran, Linfoot crossed the line in fifth place, keeping his fifth place spot in the championship standings.

The team’s third rider Jenny Tinmouth has enjoyed a good weekend so far at her home circuit with further personal bests collected. Although not making it into the day’s qualifying, Tinmouth started the race from 31st and dug deep from the start moving her Fireblade up the pack. Crossing the line eventually 22nd, the local rider was consistently faster than in previous races at Oulton Park.

Tomorrow (Sunday 11 September) will see the six Showdown places confirmed and tensions will be high as the contenders’ battle to secure the final three places. Honda’s trio will line up on the grid for the day’s first race with Linfoot sixth, O’Halloran ninth and Tinmouth 30th.

Race one was a little frustrating, finishing fourth and just missing out on a podium credit. I messed up the start, it was probably the worst of the year, and it’s annoying as that’s always a strong point, but not today! The start then made the race difficult as I dropped a lot of places and was pushed into a slower group, which meant I wasn’t able to ride in the way I needed to, to get past and into the higher group. By the time I was able to get through I’d probably used the best of the tyre, but I managed to stay in the 1:34’s for most and the pace was good. Taking the positives from the race I managed to pass some people I hadn’t previously been able to, but I’m happy enough with the fourth place, but you’re always looking to improve. We have some small things to work on now ahead of tomorrow, but I’m looking forward to both races.
Jason O’Halloran / #22

Well, today has been difficult qualifying didn’t really go to plan and I just missed out on Q3. In the race I didn’t get too bad a start; coming into the first corner I tried to go round the outside but in front of me Jason and Michael (Laverty) touched and I had to roll off, which resulted in a few riders coming past. So to finish fifth and recover those places was good and I was happy enough with my pace, but struggled a little in the closing stages with tyre management. I beat some important guys, but also some important guys beat me, so we have some work to do now before tomorrow. I’m still fifth in the Showdown and I need to make sure that tomorrow we have two good races and get that place confirmed.
Dan Linfoot / #4

It’s been a good weekend so far; I have collected some more personal bests with my lap times and have been making progress. In the race I got a good start and managed to get past a few of the group, I didn’t get the lap time I wanted, but I was close! Overall I’m happy with the race, I got stuck in and managed to hold on to the guys in front, it’s another race finish under our belt and it’s all consistent. I’m looking forward to the two races tomorrow, Oulton is a fab circuit and I can’t wait to get going again.
Jenny Tinmouth / #20

We had a bit of a mixed qualifying earlier today, both the guys showed good pace and Jason progressed through into the final stage. It was so close in Q3 with the weather conditions and the session changed from Superpole to an eight-minute session, where he finished fourth. Dan just missed out on the final session in tenth place. At the start of the race, both Jason and Dan didn’t get the best of starts off the line, but we showed that we have the pace as we had to fight back from tenth and 11th places in the early stages. To have the result in the race after the starts I’m pleased with, but we do have some work to do – Jason is confirmed in the Showdown so can’t be knocked out, but we now need to make sure that Dan has two good races tomorrow and get his place confirmed. Jenny has been enjoying a good weekend with personal best times and laps, so I’m happy and we just need to keep working and making sure she’s consistent. Tomorrow will be interesting with the remaining two races, but I’m confident we can do what needs to be done.
Havier Beltran – Honda Racing team manager

Race one (18 laps)

Qualifying

STANDINGS