Just days after the opening round of the 2023 season, the McAMS Yamaha team were finally able to benefit from some dry testing at Oulton Park this week as Jason O’Halloran returned to the top of the time sheets.

With the official Donington and Silverstone tests a washout, the team were somewhat on the back foot heading into the opening round at Silverstone, however, O’Halloran was flying from the off on the R1 despite struggling with a number of issues. Leading all three races, the Aussie took two fourths and a fifth from the weekend which the team considered a success but were eager for some dry track time at the scheduled Oulton Park test.

As has been the story so far, the opening day of the test was a no-go with the cold, wet and windy conditions far from ideal to test what the team needed to test, resulting in no track time on Wednesday. However, Thursday brought sunshine and while the wind was still up, the rain stayed away meaning all three BSB sessions were able to run in the dry.

O’Halloran began working through some of the items he’d wanted to test pre-season, gradually becoming more and more comfortable on the R1. He escaped injury from an unusual crash in the second session, which the team believe was down to the high gusts of wind.

Able to get out for the final session of the day, O’Halloran gradually improved his time to end the test on a 1’34.287, which placed him at the top of the times.

For Tim Neave the day was about understanding the R1 superbike around the tricky Oulton Park circuit. Oulton is a track far different from Silverstone, where the rookie scored points on debut, improving every session, and poses quite a significant challenge on the powerful BSB spec machines. Learning throughout the day, Neave was improving lap by lap but unfortunately tucked the front at Old Hall in the final session of the day.

Taking quite an impact to his chest, Neave went to hospital for a precautionary X-Ray, but this was all clear and he was able to return home that evening.

The Bennetts British Superbike Championship resumes at Oulton Park between 29th April and 1st May.