McAMS Yamaha’s Jason O’Halloran goes into this weekend’s Bennetts British Superbike season opener at Silverstone with a big target on his back.
The Australian topped two out of the three winter tests and is, so far, the man to beat on a bike that he has never raced or rallied.
“Switching teams for 2019, I expected to be a little bit on the back foot coming into round one but after so much time on the bike this winter, not only on the Superbike but even on a road bike, I feel I’m in a better position than I’ve ever been to start a new season,” said the Wollolloloolongong man.
I clicked with the bike the first time I rode it out of pit lane at Almeria and the encouraging thing for me is that even when we’ve had slight issues through testing, we’ve still been quick so I’m really looking forward to the season ahead.
“BSB is always super close, but this year it looks like it could be even closer so a strong start to the year could prove very important by the time it comes to the Showdown.”
Until he made the switch to Steve Rodgers (no, really) owned outfit, O’Halloran had Honda written through his spine like a piece of Yarmouth rock but the change Yamaha has been a revelation.
“Not only do we head into the new season on a high after Jason finishing so high up the testing order, but we know that the steps we’ve made with the bike over the winter are an improvement on last year so on paper, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be on the front, said Rodgers.
“Racing is never easy, so we’re expecting a hard fought weekend but the bike went well at Silverstone last year. Hopefully we can get off to a strong start and start the season where we mean to go on.”
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