Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran failed to make it on to the podium during the Dutch double-header at Assen and his MCE British Superbike dreams have been dealt a blow after he was hampered by grip problems with the Fireblade.

In the opening race, the Australian was locked in a battle for a top ten finish with his team-mate Dan Linfoot, with O’Halloran having the edge in race one to cross the line in tenth.

In the final race the Honda man fared a little worse as the track temperatures increased and he finished just outside the top ten in 13^th. These results were not ideal for O’Halloran who remains sixth in the overall standings and is now a massive 86 points adrift of current series leader, JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam.

“Well we’re coming away from Assen with a tenth and 13th place in both races, which isn’t ideal for us. Unfortunately the crash on Friday in practice left us a little on the back foot in certain areas. During the races I was able to push on from the group I was in, but with the grip issues we experienced I wasn’t able to maintain the progress we made,” said the Fireblade rider.

“All in all it has been a tough couple of races and a tough weekend from the crash onwards and it’s disappointing not to come away with more points. But we’ve got to keep our heads high, keeping working and improving, we have some work to do going into the final round and I hope we can have a good end to the season.”

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