McAMS Yamaha’s nightmare end to the 2022 Bennetts British Superbike season continued at Brands Hatch on Sunday with no points for Jason O’Halloran in another challenging day for the team.
After a sixth place on Saturday, the team had made some changes and were feeling confident for Race 2 starting seventh on the grid. O’Halloran made a strong initial start moving up to sixth, but lost a couple of positions before the end of the first lap.
Once he’d made his way through, O’Halloran got his head down and started setting competitive lap times. With the leading group always in sight, O’Halloran knew the group would come back to him as tyres started to wear and with five laps to go he was right on the back of them in fifth.
He made his way through for fourth with two to go and was fighting for third when a collision with another rider saw him taken out of the race. The rider involved was later penalised for the move.
The Aussie was keen to make amends in the final race and was well-placed from fourth on the grid, but it wasn’t meant to be as while the team had worked relentlessly to get the bike ready for the final race, a technical problem on the out lap ruled O’Halloran out from the off meaning an early bath for the McAMS team, bringing 2022 to an end.
Tim Neave finished seventh in the final Superstock race of the year, but was humbled to be awarded the Mark Fincham Memorial Trophy from True Heroes for his heroic comeback from injury this year.
O’Halloran rounded out the championship positions in fifth and Tarran Mackenzie seventh.
While the 2022 saw an ending the team would rather forget, the ten victories and 22 podiums scored throughout the season means there remains plenty to be proud about.