It’s been a weekend of mixed fortunes for Honda Racing and its trio of riders, but the team are keen to take the positives from the third British Superbike round at Brands Hatch, which included top-ten finishes and a terrific display of teamwork all-round.
Dan Linfoot, Jenny Tinmouth and Jason O’Halloran all made good progress aboard their Honda CBR1000RR Fireblades with Linfoot and O’Halloran in the mix in both races. Race one saw Linfoot struggle with feel at the Indy circuit where he finished tenth. But after making some changes for the second race and after a few laps, the Yorkshireman found confidence and was soon on a mission and chasing down the front group.
Moving up the pack from his starting position in tenth place, Linfoot made his way through the pack at an impressive pace and crossed the line fifth, picking up some important championship points along the way. Linfoot is just outside the top-ten standings in 11th place. Team-mate O’Halloran struggled with grip in both races but collected points finishing race one in eighth place and race two sixth. O’Halloran is sitting sixth in the championship standings.
Honda’s third rider Tinmouth continued her good form with consistent lap times and found confidence at the Kent circuit, improving her times from last year. Unfortunately the Cheshire-rider suffered two DNF’s after crashing out in both races, unhurt, but progress was definitely made and she was in the mix with the rest of the field.
The Honda Racing squad will now return to the workshop and prepare all three Fireblades for an official BSB test at Snetterton (15-16 June), ahead of the fourth round of the championship at Knockhill in Scotland on 24-26 June.
It’s been a bit of a tough weekend for us here at Brands Hatch, with mixed results and crashes, but I am happy with the progress made in race two and how that worked out in the end. For Dan race one was a little disappointing and it got to a point where he wasn’t able to push on and didn’t have the confidence, feel or grip. Race two was much better, he took a small risk with the front tyre choice and I’m pleased the changes made worked out for him. For Jenny crashing out of both races wasn’t ideal as I felt that she had more to give as was producing some great lap times and the consistency is definitely improving. She just pushed a little too hard into Graham Hill and lost the front, it doesn’t help her leaving here with two DNF’s, but I don’t think her confidence has been harmed! Jason had two solid finishes this weekend and it keeps him up there in the points and still in the game, we do have some work to do before the next round at Knockhill, but we have a test coming up in a few weeks at Snetterton so hopefully we have a few things we can throw in there to pick us up for Knockhill.
Havier Beltran – Honda Racing team manager
Race one I’m not particularly happy with, I finished tenth, which isn’t where I want to be and the reason I wasn’t happy was that I didn’t have a great feel with the CBR. When I entered corners I felt like I was closing the front and couldn’t ride in a normal way, so we made some changes and tried something new and I felt really happy with race two. I finished fifth in the end, it’s not a podium, it’s not champagne but it’s progress and another step closer! I felt I could ride the Fireblade in a much better way and felt a lot more aggressive, and had some good overtakes. While the points aren’t a massive handful it’s more than Oulton and now we have a good direction to continue with. I could see I was catching the lead group, which is motivating when you’re out there and riding in a manner that you’re able to catch, so credit to my team for building a bike that’s able to do that. I’m a lot happier now and felt I was riding well and was consistent; I’m now looking forward to the Snetterton test and then getting to the next round.
Dan Linfoot / #4
Considering I crashed out of both races I’ve had a really good day today, my lap times have been so much better than last year and I am chuffed to bits with my progress! We made some changes to the Fireblade and I think I’m riding a lot better, so all in all it has been a good weekend and positive. We’ve come away with quite a bit to work on ready for the test at Snetterton, I am disappointed to crash and sorry to my crew having to rebuild the bike, ready for me to crash again in race two. The first crash I went for a gap, as you do, and couldn’t see anybody in my peripheral and we didn’t see each other, so we came together. But it is one of those racing incidents. In race two I was pushing on and enjoying Graham Hill and found a good pace through there, but it’s one of those things you push too hard on your best and try to chip away, and I unfortunately lost the front and that was that! But overall I’m so happy and it’s been so much better than last year with my lap times, I’m so much closer to the rest of the field and pretty much in the mix now.
Jenny Tinmouth / #20
Race day finished here at Brands with an eighth and a sixth, not the best day but not the worst day and we’ve gathered some more points to keep us up there. I struggled with grip today and felt like I was managing the tyre really early in the race and felt in the second half of the race I was similar to the leaders but I’d lost too much in the first half. We now have a little bit of work to do on rear grip, but I am back in the top-six in the championship, which is a positive and in the second race I was only 3.5 seconds off the winner so it’s not the end of the world. We definitely have potential to push hard and be in the front mix, we just need a little rethink with the feeling and hope to come back stronger at Knockhill.
Jason O’Halloran / #2
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Race one – 30 laps
Race two – 30 laps
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Standings
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