2022 Wed 20 Jul

Back to Business at Brands Hatch for McAMS Yamaha

General

McAMS Yamaha are back to business this weekend as the 2022 Bennetts British Superbike Championship resumes at Brands Hatch after a four-week break.

Fresh from making their debut in the Superbike World Championship with Tarran Mackenzie at Donington Park last weekend, the team will return to their ‘day job’ for Round 5 of the British Championship this coming weekend.

Having won four of the last six races, Jason O’Halloran is once again the form man as he continues to close down the gap to the championship lead. The Australian sits 16 points behind series leader Bradley Ray heading to a venue where he won in 2021.

In fact, the McAMS Yamaha team won five out of the six races at Brands Hatch last year with O’Halloran and team-mate Mackenzie winning one apiece at the summer event last year before Mackenzie won all-three races on the Grand Prix circuit in the season finale at Brands Hatch as he stormed to the British crown.

O’Halloran is raring to go after four weeks off, and with his recent form, he’ll be looking to further establish his position in the championship fight as the Showdown draws ever closer.

The Showdown getting closer has a different meaning for Mackenzie, who is currently 15th in the standings after his injury-impacted start to 2022. However, fully fit and feeling back to his old self for Donington World Superbikes, the reigning champion is hopeful of kick-starting his 2022 campaign at a track which holds such dear memories. While securing enough points to sit in the top eight by the end of the Snetterton weekend in September will be a challenge, it’s one Mackenzie is up for.

Free Practice gets underway at 13:00 on Friday afternoon ahead of Qualifying and the opening race of the weekend on Saturday, with two further races as usual on Sunday.

Jason O'Halloran

C'ship

2nd

“It’s been a long break since Knockhill, so I’m ready to get back on my R1 now! We’ve won four of the last six races and I feel better on the bike than I have ever before, so I’m looking forward to getting to Brands as it’s a track I enjoy. Between us, the team won five out of the six races at Brands last year so we know it’s a good track for the bike, so we need to maximise that as we look to build our podium points in the next few rounds, which should be strong for us.”

Tarran Mackenzie

C'ship

15th

“When I came back at Donington National, I was fit enough to ride but it was a challenge and Knockhill wasn’t quite perfect either, but this weekend at Donington WorldSBK I felt back to my old self so it was nice to get some bike time while feeling fully fit ahead of getting back to business in BSB this weekend. Brands Hatch obviously holds some great memories for me and the team, so it’s the perfect venue to kickstart our 2022 season. The goal over these next few rounds has to be to get into the Showdown, so we’ll focus on that and go from there!”

Steve Rodgers

Team Principal

“We are really excited to get to Brands this weekend. Jason is the man at the minute, he’s won the last four long races and been second in the last two shorter ones, so that’s six podiums and four wins from the last six races. He’ll be looking to extend that this weekend at a track we are traditionally strong at. There are promising signs for Tarran too, he rode exceptionally well at Donington and is back to full fitness so we’re hoping this weekend will see him back up the sharp end too.”

Pos	Rider	Team	Bike
1	Jason O'Halloran	McAMS Yamaha	Yamaha
2	Tim Neave	McAMS Yamaha	Yamaha
3	Glenn Irwin	PBM Ducati	Ducati
4	Tommy Bridewell	PBM Ducati	Ducati
5	Kyle Ryde	RICH Energy OMG Racing Yamaha	Yamaha
6	Ryan Vickers	OMG Racing	Yamaha
7	Josh Brookes	FHO Racing	BMW
8	Peter Hickman	FHO Racing BMW	BMW
9	Jack Kennedy	Mar-Train Racing Yamaha	Yamaha
10	Christian Iddon	Oxford Ducati	Ducati