The penultimate round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Assen has been a challenging weekend for the Honda Racing team, with bad luck and unfortunate events hampering progress.

Race one got underway in near perfect conditions at the 2.8-mile circuit with the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblades lining up together on the third row of the grid with Jason eighth and Dan ninth. In the early stages of the 18-lap race the teammates stayed close and a four-way battle began with Tommy Bridewell and Michael Laverty.

Trading places the foursome enjoyed a good contest, which at one point saw Jason drop into tenth place. However ‘The O’Show’ moved back into eighth place and made a last lap lunge to cross the line in seventh -1.797s adrift from Bridewell. In the final stages of the race Dan dropped back due to tyre wear, finishing 15th.

The second race of the day saw Dan launch himself from 10th to seventh into the first corner. Looking strong and showing good pace disaster struck at the end of the second lap, when the Yorkshireman unavoidably clipped Haslam’s rear wheel and crashed out of the running. Dan was taken to hospital for further assessment for suspected pelvic injuries but all scans have come back clear.

Jason pushed hard aboard the Fireblade, he was held back in the opening stages of the race when he was forced onto the grass to avoid Dan’s incident. Pushing back through the pack from 13th place he crossed the line just outside of the top-10 in 11th place.

The team will now regroup and turn their focus to the final round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch on 12-14 October.


#22 - Jason O'Halloran

Race one was really good and I enjoyed it, I did struggle with grip and feeling a little at the start with the tyre, but once everyone else dropped off I maintained pace. I worked hard to get back to the guys ahead and made a pass on the final chicane to move into seventh. We can be pleased with the progress in the race and we also came away with a few points. The second race was always going to be difficult starting from the fourth row and then with the events that happened. The first lap was carnage and then Dan unfortunately had his crash. He’s been through the wars this year and he doesn’t deserve it, but I’m glad to hear he’s uninjured. I ran off track and into the dirt to avoid the crash, then after the safety car I’d lost temperature in the tyres and wasn’t able to push back through the pack. Focus now turns to Brands and hopefully ending the season on a high.

Havier Beltran - Team Manager

Assen is such a great circuit and brings incredible racing and we arrived here with a view to enjoy the races and leave with some strong results; both guys have done well here in the past running at the front, but sadly this weekend it’s not been the case for us. Practice was difficult, but we got into Q3 where both Dan and Jason showed potential. Race one we had two good starts but didn’t have the pace to move into the second wave. Jason fought back well to finish seventh, Dan did drop back but he showed potential in the early stages. The second race was carnage. Thankfully after scans the hospital has confirmed Dan has not broken anything, it has been a horrendous year for him and I’m gutted that his weekend ended with a crash. We now look forward to the final round at Brands Hatch where hopefully we can finish the year strong.