Jason O’Halloran continued his strong pre-season form for McAMS Yamaha to top the final test at Silverstone.
The Australian posted a fastest lap-time of 54’372 to end the one-day test at the top of the timing sheets. O’Halloran completed 56 laps around the 1.6-mile Silverstone National Circuit.
O’Halloran has topped two of the three official Bennetts British Superbike tests while placing second fastest in the other test. Reflecting on a strong pre-season, O’Halloran said:
“We’ve had a really good pre-season. All the guys in the McAMS Yamaha team have done a great job. From Monteblanco to Portimao and now today, the first time I’ve ridden the bike in the UK, everything has gone really well.
“It was nice to get back on to a UK circuit and confirm our pace as sometimes European tracks in high temperatures can be a little misleading when you come back to the cold British tracks! It’s nice to leave here on top heading into next weekend, now it gets serious!”
Tarran Mackenzie ended the day +0.478s behind his Yamaha teammate, in eighth. Mackenzie acknowledges that there is still work to do, but he’s still looking forward to the season opener. He said:
“It was nice to get a few dry laps in this afternoon. The bike is very different in terms of set-up to what it was when we raced here last year, but it still seemed to work here too. There’s still some work we can do, but I’m confident heading into next weekend.
“It’s not the strongest pre-season I’ve ever had, but I feel really good on the bike and really good in myself so I’m looking forward to getting into next weekend and finally getting the season started as it feels like it’s been a long time coming.”
Meanwhile, Matt Truelove ended the test in 17th place for the Raceways Yamaha satellite team, and was pleased to continue his development on the Superbike spec YZF-R1. He said:
“It’s been another good day and we built on what we did at Portimao. Each time I go out on the bike I’m trying to make improvements in myself more than anything, with Taz and Jase you can see the bike is in a good spot so I need to work on myself and keep learning how to ride a superbike!
“All in all it’s been really good so I’m hoping we can have a good go next week. BSB is tough, it’s one of the toughest race series in the world but that’s why we do it! I really can’t wait to get started properly now.”
The BSB season opener takes place at Silverstone on 19-21 April 2019.
