The McAMS Yamaha team has concluded a successful two-day private test at Knockhill as preparation continues for the fourth round of the 2023 Bennetts British Superbike Championship.

With winter testing hampered by poor weather, the 2021 champions squad opted to start the 2023 season with what they knew for title contender Jason O’Halloran running a full 2022-spec bike for the opening three rounds.

While the opening three rounds haven’t been plain sailing for the Aussie, he’s shown speed at each meeting, culminating in his first victory of the year last time out at Donington. However, the team were keen to move forward and with a stash of new parts to test from the World Superbike team – two days in the Scottish sunshine at Knockhill were exactly what the doctor ordered.

O’Halloran spent the first day of the test, which was an open pit lane day meaning lots of track time, evaluating a number of new chassis parts including the new WorldSBK-spec carbon subframe and latest factory swingarm which were both found to offer an improvement in grip. On the second day, attention turned to evaluating different engine specs with plenty more track time and lots of data to pour over ahead of the race weekend next month.

While O’Halloran was busy evaluating parts to move the R1 forward, rookie Tim Neave was working towards a different kind of progress as he continues to learn his way around the Superbike. After the wet weather testing, most of Neave’s learning time has been during the limited constraints of a race weekend so the 28-year-old was pleased to get some dry testing time under his belt.

Posting competitive lap times, the rookie was happy with his morning’s riding but unfortunately, a freak technical issue in the afternoon session saw him crash at turn seven. Fortunately, Neave was OK after the off and able to return to the track on Wednesday completing two further sessions on track.

The team will be back at Knockhill in just over two weeks’ time for the fourth round of the 2023 season between 16-18 June.