Jason O’Halloran rose to the top at a track where he holds a superb recent record, rookie Charlie Nesbitt collected his first podium and championship leader Tommy Bridewell could only manage fourteenth as day one drew to a close in Thruxton.
The McAMS Yamaha rider converted his second pole of the season into a second win as he put on a domimant display, giving his rivals a masterclass in how to manage Thruxton as he took the first win of round seven at the Hampshire track.
‘I really enjoyed just being out front doing my own thing’.
Topping both Friday practice sessions and qualifying O’Halloran has lead the way at almost every session at Thruxton and the race fell to the same pattern.
That Friday pace signalled to the Australian he had what was needed to take the win over the shorter 14 lap distance and take his Thruxton tally to six wins from the last seven races at the track:
“I knew from yesterday we had good speed, spent both the free practice sessions doing longer sort of runs, didn’t focus on the lap time too much, but sort of just figured out what pace I could do.
Pace was a little bit faster in that race to be fair – it was faster than I wanted it to be, I could see the gap behind was staying consistent but I didn’t really know whether they were all in to stay with me or whether I was just controlling it”.
For a short period in the middle of the race Lee Jackson got a crack at leading the way on his Cheshire Mouldings Kawasaki, but that short lived lead, according to O’Halooran was all a part of his plan to see what his rivals had left to offer:
“I let Lee come by in the middle part of the race just to see what the pace was actually like and I was happy to go back to the front.
I really enjoyed just being out front doing my own thing”.
‘This being my home circuit and a bit special to me, It’s just brought out another little bit’
Second went to one of two special rookie performances in the race (Max Cook was fourth), with Charlie Nesbitt securing his first ever podium at his home round – with a fastest lap seeing him to pole for race two on Sunday.
Spurred on by the home crowd, who also had Tommy Bridewell to support but who was having another Thruxton to forget, the MasterMac Honda rider was in contention for a top three finish, but only secured second on the run to the line with an extremely close last lung as he spotted the gap left available and within his reach by Ryan Vickers and Lee Jackson battling for what they though would be the final rostrum slots.
Understandably, the Hawk Racing rider was elated:
“I feel unreal to be honest, I wanted to be fighting towards the front, maybe towards the end of the season, but I’ve been, this being my home circuit and a bit special to me, It’s just brought out another little bit.
I absolutely loved the race – on the last lap I didn’t know where I was going to be, I was in third but I didn’t know whether I was going to be sixth or whatever coming into the last chicane.
Ryan went up the inside and they both went a little bit wide and they parked it a little bit in the middle of the chicane – I managed to get the cut back on them – I’m over the moon”!
‘Normally I see one wheel but this time I see two, and then three wheels!’
With Yamaha having been so dominant at the circuit of late, and going on to shut out the front row for the sprint, it was perhaps a surprise to see Nesbitt’s Honda and the Cheshire Mouldings Kawasaki pair take it all the way to the line, somwthing that third placed Ryan Vickers reflected on:
“I honestly didn’t think they’d be there that long on in the race, just simply taken off of what we’ve seen in the past, they were running a great pace, the pace wasn’t slow we were running a great pace – fair play to everybody out there.
The LAMI OMG Yamaha rider was in the thick of the action from the first corner, where he enjoyed close racing with teamamte Kyle Ryde to the very tight run to the line which was pretty much a photo finish:
“We managed a pretty clean race, in the whole race there was a couple of bumps, considering how close we were… so happy to take P3 and come down to the last, lap last corner.
“I know I was in second place but I just felt my bike was just get sucked back, and I was like ‘oh no’ -normally I see one wheel but this time I see two, and then three wheels! – I was like ‘oh no, I’m going to lose it! Luckily I was strong on the brakes and went up the inside of Lee Bob and managed to hold the other guys behind.
I was in hot made made a clean move on Lee Bob into the last chicane and was a little bit slow in the left, just to get the bike stopped and that compensated my exit to the start finish straight.
Managed to get the drag on Max and Lee Bob to the line and Charlie pipped me!”
Vickers, on his own run of good form after a win in the sprint himself last time out in Brands Hatch also discussed one of the big talking points of the day – tyres.
The issue became apparent when Vickers, Leon Haslam and Josh Brookes were expected to have sailed through Q1 – and the Australian didn’t.
A spell in the first qualifying session was mainly due to the #7’s lack of track time after a fall and so he was able to bounce back, while the BMW looked to struggle although Haslam did progress, with worse to come for the lead Ducati riders.
Vickers pointed out that tyre wear was bad, but similar for the most part among the frontrunners:
“The tyre was pretty worn but I had to work hard in that race,actually a little bit harder than I wanted to. You know Jason had more tyre in the end, but I don’t think a lot, I think if someone was pushing him, he’d have been in a similar place to us.
The lack of grip aside, Bridewell, who has never seen a Thruxton rostrum to date, retains his overall title lead after his 14th place with BeerMonster Ducati teammate and nearest rival Glenn Irwin taking five points out of his lead after he managed to finish ahead in ninth.
Keyword: British Superbikes: O’Halloran back to winning ways, first podium for Nesbitt