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DAO RACING HONDA’S POSITIVE PROGRESSION CONTINUES AT THE FIRST OFFICIAL BSB UK TEST

After a successful Spanish pre-season testing stint, DAO Racing returned to the UK to continue their preparations for the upcoming 2025 season. The second official BSB test would take place at Donington Park.

After getting accustomed to their new DAO Racing Hondas, Lee Jackson and Josh Brookes both looked to carry on familiarising themselves with their Honda Fireblades back on home turf.

The two-day Donington test would start well, with Josh Brookes and Lee Jackson featuring well amongst the series front runners during the opening day’s sessions.

The second day of testing would see some disruption due to weather. Nevertheless, both Brookes and Jackson managed to build on the work done on day one and improve on their times from the day prior.

The second official test proved to be positive for both riders and crew. With just one test remaining before the season opener, the team are putting themselves in a good position for the year ahead.

Ben Stafford, Crew Chief #25:

‘It was a pretty good test to be fair. We’ve made more of a step forward than we have the whole time in Spain. We’e got a lot more positive direction for chassis, we’re fine tuning the electronics which there is still a lot more work to be done. But the development we’d done in a rush between Spain and here, there really has been no time wasted.’

Terry Rymer, Rider Liaison:

‘Personally I’m really pleased with the steps forward Josh’s crew have made, they’ve moved forward really well. Time wise, they’re one of the fastest honda’s out there, which is really encouraging considering where we are in the year and how quickly we’ve got used to this bike. So yes, really pleased with that.’

Josh Brookes, Superbike Rider #25:

‘It’s gone good. It was a bit of an anti-climax at the end when (due to the weather) I didn’t get to really give it a go for my best lap time, which would be the normal practice at the end of any test sessions. But all the positives were there, we rolled the bike out here from Navarra with pretty much the same set-up we we’ve had a good back to back opportunity and then continued to make changes and adjust to suit my preferences and where the bike dictated where we needed to go. Everything come together quite good, we’ve made improvements, we’ve narrowed down and reduced the area where we need to work on the most. So, everything is positive and working in a good direction, but it doesn’t matter how many sessions you get, you always need just one more to get clear on how and where we need to go. 

Going to Oulton now, it’s such a very different track. Donington is quite undulating, but a flowing circuit, where as Oulton Park is really bumpy and agressive in the riding style, so normally it requires a different setting from the bike like some of the other tracks do. Cadwell Park and Oulton would be pretty similar, where Donington would be quite comparable to somehwere like where we’ve just come from, like Navarra. It’s not a negative, it’s just the next circuit I anticipate is simply going to require a different direction with the bike and more changes, so we’ll have to see how that goes.’

Barry Stanley, Crew Chief #14:

‘We’ve had a few technical issues, which held us back on getting more track time, which has held us back from where we wanted to be. So we lost a bit more time that we’d hope to have to help us move forward. We’re making progress, we’d just like to be further forward than we are. The potential is definitely there.’

Terry Rymer, Rider Liaison:

‘Lee has still got a little bit to go and yeah he is maybe getting a little frustrated at trying to get a good set-up. But, we’ve got to be patient, taking this step-by-step, he is not a million miles away, he is in with the other hondas. I know Lee is a great rider, we will get a good set-up for him, go to Oulton and keep improving.’

Lee Jackson, Superbike Rider #14:

‘It’s been a productive 2 days, the weather has not exactly played ball, but we’ve managed to get some laps in today. We’ve had a technical gremlin that’s been following us round for half of the day and this morning was a bit tricky as the track wasn’t quite there with the dry line, so we managed to get out with 2 or 3 minutes to go, just to check the bike over and unfortunately the technical gremlin was still there. So this morning was a bit of a wash out, but we managed to get the bike fixed for the second session and get us up to speed and do some consistent laps, which for me is a bonus as I like to get myself up to speed. In the second session I managed to improve my times, and dropping into the 28s, I felt a bit more comfortable and happier I wasn’t so far off the top times. 

I’m looking forward to getting to Oulton Park, it’s obviously a track I have great memories of and have experience on the honda there too. After learning what we have here in Donington, we can definitely start in a positive way and it’ll put us in good stead for round one.’

Article collaboration: DAO Racing + https://motomindfulness.home.blog/