Brands BSB Final: ‘Hard to be positive right now’ - O’Halloran

Jason O’Halloran must be wondering what he’s done wrong with the Australian enduring more bad luck at Brands Hatch at the weekend to cap another nightmare Showdown in the British Superbike Championship, ending the year in fifth overall.

Like 2021, the McAMS Yamaha rider came into the Showdown largely fancied for the title but it all went wrong in the first two races at Oulton Park with contact from other riders causing him to crash. His own mistake at Donington ended in another spill and just when he thought it couldn’t get any worse, he was again knocked off at Brands Hatch, when a podium was on the cards, to add further to his array of bumps and bruises. Sixth in the opening race at Brands was all he had to show from the weekend with a technical issues forcing him out of the final race, a legacy of the earlier crash, although he was still doing to his utmost to remain upbeat. “There aren’t many words really, this hasn’t been the end to 2022 any of us wanted but that’s BSB and as we have found out, anything really can, and will happen!” he said at the conclusion of the season. “Saturday’s race was ok and the feeling with the bike wasn’t too bad, we just needed to find a bit more grip. We made some changes to the bike overnight and I felt really good in Sunday’s race, I lost a bit of time at the start but the feeling was good and I knew we could be strong at the end.” “The podium finish was there for the taking but, unfortunately, we got taken out for the third time in as many rounds. The guys worked really hard to get the bike ready for the last race and it all looked good, but unfortunately the bike cut out on the out lap bringing our season to a close. “It’s hard to be positive right now, but we’ve had a good year –