BSB: O'Halloran: 'We're getting close now'

Published: 15 June 2017 Updated: 15 June 2017

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Jason O’Halloran is confident he can make serious inroads with the 2017 Honda Fireblade as the MCE British Superbike Championship resumes at Knockhill this weekend.

After a six week break, the Aussie star is raring to go after two positive tests with the new CBR1000RR SP2, which has proven to be a difficult beast to tame so far this year.

O’Halloran wrestled the bike into submission to take his first podium of the year last time out at Oulton, but a step forward after tests at Knockhill and Snetterton leave him feeling confident ahead of the remainder of the season kicking off in the Scottish Highlands.

“To be honest, I was hanging it out a lot at Oulton to do what we did there,” he told MCN. “But, we made a small improvement with the throttle connection at a test at Knockhill a couple of weeks ago and the guys made another step forward before Snetterton last week.

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“It’s not perfect, and I’m not sure it ever will be, but we’re getting close enough now where we can ride to a pretty good level.”

“I don’t mind Knockhill, but it’s not been one of my strongest tracks. However, the bike we’ve got now will work much better at Knockhill than I’ve had a bike working in the past. I’ve got extra motivation going there as I know if I can get a strong result there I can be really strong at the places that follow like Snetterton and push for our first win of the year.”

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By Oli Rushby

Former sports reporter covering British Superbikes, World Superbikes and road racing