BSB: O'Halloran 'better but not 100%' for Knockhill

Honda’s Jason O’Halloran has said he’s ‘still not 100%’ as he returns to action at Knockhill this weekend as he continues to recover from injury.

The Aussie broke his ankle in an accident while replacing Leon Camier at the Imola round of World Superbikes, but managed to get himself fit enough to ride in the fourth round of the 2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Snetterton.

Qualifying tenth, O’Halloran showed decent pace but disaster struck in the opening race as he was wiped out on the first lap in the chaos caused by Be Wiser Ducati rookie Andrew Irwin.

Taking a bang to the already injured leg, O’Halloran sat out of the second race and missed Honda’s tests at Knockhill and Cadwell Park last week.

However, while he says he’s still not 100% he’s in a much better state than he was at Snetterton and is looking forward to getting back in the saddle.

“We’re going to be playing catch up a little this weekend, having missed the test last week and not being able to try the new surface out before the weekend,” he said. “Friday will be spent getting used to that and just getting back up to speed really.

“Everything injury-wise is coming on good and my body is responding to all the therapy, I had some setbacks and probably lost the first week after being taken out at Snetterton, but since then I’ve made good solid progress and made a real step forward with the strength in my leg. I’m not 100% still, but I am 100% better than I was at Snetterton, and there we got a decent lap time and I felt good, but that was still early days with my strength so I am confident coming into this weekend with the progress that’s been made. It’s still going to be a building process for us and we need to think about the long game, do what we can to get through this round with as many points as possible and look forward to the races afterwards.

“My body will only get stronger and I’ve been working hard to get strong mentally and physically. It looks like the weather should be good this weekend and I can’t wait to get back out on the CBR and see what we can do.”