The Honda Racing British Superbike team completed its final test at Donington Park yesterday in preparation for the first round of the championship, which takes place next weekend at the Leicestershire circuit.
Due to damp and cold conditions in the morning the three-man Honda squad only took to the track for the final session in the afternoon. Although with reduced track-time it was a positive outing for the team who returned to UK soil after testing at Monteblanco in Spain a few weeks ago.
Once on-track Dan Linfoot, Jenny Tinmouth and Jason O’Halloran all made progress on the data collected from Spain and feel positive and ready for the first round. Unfortunately O’Halloran’s final stint on the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade was cut short due to a crash where the bike was left too damaged to continue – O’Halloran was uninjured from the fall.
The team will now make its final preparations ahead of the first round of the MCE British Superbike Championship next weekend 4-6 April.
Dan Linfoot:It was great to be at Donington before we head back next week for the first round of the year. Unfortunately the weather in the first few sessions wasn’t great so we didn’t do any laps, but we had a final one-hour session in the afternoon, where we managed to do about 20-25 laps. We’re in a positive place for next week and I’m feeling good with the bike and looking forward to round one and seeing what we can do.
Jenny Tinmouth:The test was really good and it was great to get out in the afternoon once it dried up a bit. It was great for me to ride the bike at a UK track compared to the test in Spain. I really enjoyed riding the bike again, it was a bit steady away but we were just working on different points and re-assessing my braking markers, as well as how the bike feels and everything else before next weekend.
Jason O’Halloran:Yesterday was good, we managed to get some laps in the afternoon and we were able to try a few different things. Unfortunately my session was cut short after I crashed and the bike was too damaged to re-start the session, so we only had half the amount of laps than the other boys. We can take some positives from the laps we completed during the session and maybe not loose too much time next weekend in practice.
