McAMS’ Jason O’Halloran may not have dominated the Bennetts British Superbike Championship races at Donington Park at the weekend like he did at the previous round at Thruxton but no one scored more podium credits across the three races and he remains very much on course in his quest for the 2021 title.

The Yamaha rider started in the ideal manner with a dominant win in Saturday’s race, his eighth of the season. It was almost a mirror image on his previous wins, the Aussie biding his time in the early stages before hitting the front and pulling away.

“It was a hectic start to Saturday’s race as we all went to the grid on wets but the track was dry so we had to make quite a lot of changes on the grid,” he said. “The team did a fantastic job to convert the bike from a wet bike to a dry bike in a very short space of time.”

“In the race itself, it was a very busy start, everyone knew they had to try and get in front of me but once I got to the front I had to do my own thing, run my own pace and the most encouraging thing was that my bike and tyre were very strong all the way to the end.”

O’Halloran had to settle for third in Sunday’s opener, finding himself stuck in fifth for the first half of the race before finally getting himself into a podium position. The deployment of the safety car gave him a chance of a ninth win and it looked on the cards when he moved by team-mate Tarran Mackenzie on the final lap to take the lead for the first time.

However, Mackenzie got by at McLeans and then Bradley Ray pushed him back to third at the final chicane. The rain prior to the final race made tyre choice a lottery and, opting for what he believed was the safest decision, the drying track meant he could only manage 12th although his championship lead – which is now 22 points in the podium credits table – remained untouched.

“It was tough at the start of Sunday’s first race and everyone was being really aggressive so I just sat back and tried to save my tyre for the second half of the race. I could see Tarran getting away and thought the best I could finish would be second but the safety car brought us all together.”

“It was a strange way to end with a three lap shootout but it was another podium credit. In the final race, it was a bit of a lottery. I feel we went with the right choice, obviously not to win, but it was the correct call for us at the time.”

“I struggled with one area of the track and I was folding the front a lot so we’ll have a look into it and see why that was and make a better plan for those conditions next time. All in all, it’s been a fantastic weekend for the team; we both won races, we both had podiums and we are now 1-2 in the championship so bring on Cadwell.”