British Superbikes: O’Halloran’s luck improves at Thruxton

The Market Rasen-based Australian rider almost made the podium in both races at Thruxton to move up the rider standings to 10th on 90 points after seven rounds.

O’Halloran has traditionally enjoyed the Hampshire circuit and completed his qualifying in eighth position to start the first race from the third row of the grid.

A strong morning warm-up saw O’Halloran quietly confident ahead of the race, and he got away to a storming start to take the race lead in the early stages.

He remained at the front for eight laps before dropping back to save his tyre.

The Australian took the lead again with four laps to go, but wasn’t able to maintain it and had to settle for fourth at the flag.

Starting on the front row for race two, he again took the lead, but had dropped back to sixth when the race was red-flagged for rain.

At the restart he was boxed in and running in sixth place when again the red flag halted the race because of a crash.

After a lengthy delay the race was decided by an eight-lap dash to the flag, and after being squeezed at the start he fought back to take another fourth place.

“It was good the get some solid finishes,” he said.

“I am a little disappointed not to be on the podium as I felt we had really good pace in both races.

“We will take fourth today; the boys have done a good job.

“I have said over the last couple of rounds that if we can get a full weekend without any issues we will be back up the sharp end.

“Everybody has done a great job and it feels nice to get some momentum. I hope we can build on this at Cadwell next time out.”

The next round is at the Lincolnshire Wolds circuit of Cadwell Park from Friday to Sunday, August 14 to 16.