The Honda Racing duo of Dan Linfoot and Jason O’Halloran are both looking forward to the second round of the 2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch this weekend.
Linfoot heads to Brands Hatch’s Indy Circuit third in the championship after a strong opening round at Donington Park. The 29-year-old finished fourth in race one before taking the final podium spot in race two.
Happy with his results in the tricky conditions last time out, Linfoot is now focused on improving even more this weekend. He said:
“I’m really looking forward to this weekend; we’ve come away from Donington in a really good position and I’m happy with the results, and to score my first podium of the year during the opening round puts us in a good place. Hopefully the weather will be on our side at Brands, so to be able to ride the Fireblade in more ‘normal’ conditions will be nice and also get the ball rolling properly, where we can push for further podiums.
“I’m happy with our pace and how the CBR is feeling on track, so we need to make sure that we’re working in the right direction across Friday and Saturday, to be strong on race day and bring in more strong results. I’m sure everyone will be pushing hard this weekend, especially if we have dry weather, so with the shorter Indy circuit I think everyone will be getting stuck in, which is exactly what I plan to do! We’re sitting third in the championship at the moment and I don’t want to let that go, so it’s head down and full gas this weekend to work at improving that spot in the standings.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the garage, O’Halloran managed to secure a pair of top 10 finishes in round one, taking seventh spot in the opening race and ninth in race two. The Australian is keen to make progress in round two and build-on the team’s positive results at Brands Hatch last season. He commented:
“I can’t wait to get going at round two this weekend, it’s nice to have the first round out the way, the conditions weren’t great for anyone, but we came away in one piece and I’m pleased to have grabbed a handful of points to start the season off. I always enjoy Brands Hatch and the Indy circuit is intense and so is the racing there, even though it’s 30 laps, it is the shortest race in distance with no rest; but it’s a race I really enjoy and think the CBR will work well there.
“Last year we had a decent result, with a top-five and we’re in a much better place this year, so looking forward to seeing what we can do. The score sheets from Donington doesn’t really reflect our speed and where we were over the weekend, so I’m keen to now get to Brands and get some top results.”
This weekend’s races are scheduled to take place on Sunday afternoon (April 15). Race one is due to begin at 13:30, with the second race scheduled to get underway at 16:30.
