The Samsung Honda team endured a challenging weekend at Oulton Park for the third round of the British Superbike Championship at the Cheshire circuit.

Jon Kirkham crashed heavily in the opening race whilst challenging for fourth place and after suffering concussion he was unable to continue in the remainder of the event. Michael Laverty had a determined opening race to move from 29th on the grid to secure sixth in the restarted race, however race two took place in drying conditions and he had a tough race to finish in twelfth place. In the final race of the weekend Laverty salvaged a seventh place as the team now focus on the next round of the championship at Snetterton later this month.

In the Superstock 1000 Championship Jason O'Halloran claimed the pole position but crashed out whilst leading the race unhurt. Gary Johnson moved up to third from his ninth place starting position however he suffered from lack of grip in the closing stages to drop to sixth at the end of the race.

Michael Laverty:

“It has been a tough weekend for us. In the free practice sessions we improved and I felt more comfortable and in the race we came from 29th to sixth with the restart which wasn’t a bad result. We then moved forward again in warm up and I thought we could have the pace to challenge for a podium finish. The rain then came down and to be honest I am normally able to challenge in those conditions but everyone was pushing hard and we just couldn’t match them. It was then a fourth row start for the third race and that was always going to be tough. The only way to be up challenging was if I got dragged along but it just didn’t happen like that. We have had a good debrief though and we know where we need to make improvements for the next time we are here, because it has only been this track that we have had these issues.”

Jon Kirkham:

"I can't really remember too much about the crash to be honest; I have seen the footage and all I can remember was just before I got a bit of a slide on at the chicane and knew I had to push as Haga was there. I think maybe I was just pushing too hard or something as it is unlike me to crash in a race. It was a shame as I think we could have made up some good points this weekend.”

Jason O’Halloran:

“It had been a good weekend and we had shown our pace in all the sessions. I felt really comfortable straight away and it was coming easy without having to push too hard. In the race I got into the first corner in the lead and then the plan was to get my head down and try to break the pack but I don’t really know what happened and it was a weird crash. I am obviously disappointed as if we had stayed in the lead and won the race, we could have been in the lead of the championship standings.”

Gary Johnson:

“It was a good start for me; I knew I would be a bit on the back foot after missing Thruxton but we worked hard and we were running a good third place until we seemed to lose some grip, but we will work on the setting for the next round to help that so we can push on again.”

Team Manager, Havier Beltran:

“It has been a disappointing weekend for the Samsung Honda team and the results haven’t shown what we are capable of achieving. We have some work to do before Snetterton but the team will work hard ready for Snetterton. It was a big shame for Jon to have had the big crash yesterday that left him sidelined for the remainder of the weekend. For Michael the restart in the opening race helped him move from 29th to sixth which was a determined ride. In the second race Michael was able to run a certain pace and after that could not challenge any further and he had a similar issue in race three. We know that we are all capable of more though so we will be aiming higher at Snetterton.

“In the Superstock class Jason had been fastest in practice and qualifying to show the performance of him and the Samsung Honda Fireblade, but to crash out of the lead was a disappointment. We know he is more than capable of wins but it just hasn’t happened yet this season. For Gary he was also running in a potential podium position but he suffered with a lack of grip and then dropped down the order later in the race.”

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