SMT Honda face uncertain future

SMT Honda team owner Robin Croft has admitted that he may be forced to close his race team unless he can unearth a major backer to help with the costs of running Aussie prospect Jason O’Halloran in BSB and Adam Jenkinson in National Supersport for the rest of this season. 

Ironically, this weekend saw both SMT riders in the points of their respective classes but Croft said: “This could well be our last meeting of the year. We’re desperate to find a main sponsor that will see us through the second half of the season.

“In my heart of hearts I want to be at the next round at Mallory but I don’t want to get in to a position of debt to be there so if anyone can help us financially, in whatever shape or form please contact me. As a team, we know what we’re capable of achieving and we’re desperate to keep our season going so, hopefully, we’ll get the finance we need.”

Riding at the short 1.3-mile circuit for the first time, O’Halloran found the going tough in qualifying and, with the bike developing a fault, he found himself down in 20th on the grid.

However, he again showed his racer’s instinct with two excellent rides in the two races. In the first 30-lap affair he fought his way through the pack for a superb tenth, no mean feat given how difficult it is to pass around the Knockhill venue, and he backed this up with 12th in the second race.

Jenkinson was hoping to build upon his recent top six results but struggled all weekend with the gearing on his Superstock Fireblade and finished12th and 13th and is now seventh in the points.

Croft added: “I’m delighted with our race results in the Superbike class given our qualifying position and we’ve got to be happy going from 20th to 10th and 20th to 12th in the two races.

“Jason struggled to find a good set-up with the suspension whilst he’d never even seen the circuit before Friday so there was a lot to contend with. The bike then developed a misfire in qualifying so we were pretty disappointed on Saturday night but we got stuck in on race day and gave it a good go so 10th and 12th is pretty pleasing. In the Superstock class, Adam struggled but we all know he’s a better rider than that.”