Jason O’Halloran went into the Bennetts British Superbike Championship round at Brands Hatch six points behind Christian Iddon and the McAMS Yamaha rider left the Kent venue in exactly the same position having matched his rival’s results across the three races.

That doesn't tell the whole story though as although he won his fourth race of the season with victory in Sunday’s opener, it was his fifth place in Saturday’s 12-lap encounter that was, arguably, his best performance of the weekend having crashed early in qualifying at Paddock Hill Bend.

He managed to get back to the pits and back out on track but the time lost meant he couldn’t set a meaningful lap time and so lined up in 18th place and with plenty of work to do. Undeterred and clearly demonstrating his fighting spirit, he tore through the pack and, aided by the fastest lap of the shortened 12-lap race, took the aforementioned fifth place to kick-start his weekend.
 
“I couldn’t do anything right on Saturday and crashing on the first lap of qualifying was my mistake and a bit embarrassing," he said afterwards. "I just ran a foot wide and hit a damp patch which meant it was always going to be a tough race, especially with the laps being cut back.
 
“To come from 18th to 5th in 12 laps was a pretty frantic race for us but the bike was working really well. It's hard to come through, I was so on edge, you're going left, right and every which way to get round."
 
Sunday went a lot better for the Australian as he won the opening race of the day – the only one to go its intended distance over the course of the weekend – and followed that up with a good third in the final seven-lap dash. He still sits in second in the championship standings but continues to lead the way in podium credits, 24 to Iddon’s 20.
 
Winning the first race on Sunday was the perfect response. We had a much better starting place and I didn’t push too hard in the early stages. I just kept my rhythm as I knew I could keep a similar pace all the way to the end of the race.
 
“The seven-lapper was a bit different and I haven’t been in a race like that for a long time! There was a bit of carnage out there and I had to put some hard passes on people as I needed the podium credit but I had some hard passes put on me too.”
 
“It was really tricky with the conditions but I feel as a whole we as a team made the correct decisions with the correct tyres and the correct settings so we’re working really well.”
 
“I think we’re showing how strong we are in this championship now; we get done what we need to on a weekend - we can turn it around if we are off the pace and we can turn it around if we crash. I've won another race and got another podium so roll on Thruxton."