Honda Racing duo Dan Linfoot and Jason O’Halloran have been getting to grips with the all-new CBR1000RR, getting used to the new ride-by-wire system which has replaced throttle cables for the first time this year.

The pair have never used a ride-by-wire system in competition before but the riders and team manager Havier Beltran believe they are making good progress. During the Oulton Park MCE British Superbike test the crew were mainly focusing on the new system, they did very little with suspension during Thursday’s sessions and spent the three outings trying to further their understand of the new Blade.

“First of all we come from Brands Hatch which is a tight and very short circuit and on the back of that the work that Paul and the guys have been doing with the fly-by-wire is definitely helping and we are moving in the right direction, and we come here to Oulton park and it highlights a few other issues again,” said Beltran, speaking to bikesportnews.com.

“But what I am trying to get across is that it is a new bike for us and new technology with the fly-by-wire that we have got to get our understanding with, but we are making progress which is a nice thing.

“I have got a feeling we are going to have a lot of issues at every round that is new to us and we have to respond to them quickly, understand and move forward, and I am confident we can do that. We just need to get in the top six and stay there so we have got all year to work it out.

“They have done very little with suspension we have tried a few things with pivot point and headstock but I think Dan and Jason’s main issues are to do with connection and throttle blip, and what they does to you going into a corner and what you can get out of it coming out of the corner.”

The Honda team have already undertaken some test sessions, before the one at the Cheshire track which included one at Cadwell, which the riders labelled as a ‘disaster’ and a more successful one at Mallory. The team were able to also bag two top ten finishes at the Brands Hatch Indy track for both O’Halloran and Linfoot.

Beltran added: “The directions we were going in at Cadwell Park were not right. Dan and Jason were not happy so we had to respond in a way to get the riders confidence and feeling back and that is what we did and credit to the team with all the work they have been doing and it is starting to pay off. But we realise we have a long way to go and lots to do.”