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MIXED CONDITIONS DAMPEN WHAT COULD’VE BEEN A STRONG WEEKEND FOR BROOKES AND JACKSON

The fifth round of the 2025 BSB season saw the championship head to a fan favourite for the first time this year. The Brands Hatch GP circuit has been a strong one for both Josh Brookes and Lee Jackson in the past. As such, the team entered the meeting focused on securing as many points as possible throughout the weekend.

After topping the Q1 session, Josh Brookes would join Lee Jackson in Saturday’s second qualifying session – meaning both riders would once again give themselves a chance at pole position. Ultimately, Jackson would line up 10th on the grid, with Brookes 13th – however, both would be within a second of the session’s best time.

Despite changeable weather in the build-up to the opening race of the weekend, race one would be declared dry. The first race of the meeting proved to be a strong one for the team, with both riders crossing the line inside the top ten, Brookes finishing in ninth and Jackson tenth. Yet another double top ten would be a good boost for the team heading into the rest of the weekend.

Sunday’s sprint race was another solid points haul for the team, and another double top ten. Both Jackson and Brookes would put in strong performances, with the #14 crossing the line in a very good eighth place. Brookes also had a solid race rounding out the top ten finishers in tenth.

The third and final race of the weekend would provide mixed fortunes for the team. Brookes would see the weekend out with another top ten result in ninth, rounding out a consistent weekend for the Australian. Jackson’s race ended early with a nasty-looking highside coming out of clearways – though he would walk away, unfortunately he sustained a potential fracture in his left foot, to now be assessed further.

Overall, it was a mixed weekend for the team despite conditions not necessarily favouring the Honda this weekend. Both riders were able to put in strong performances and feature well within the top ten throughout the meeting.

DAO Racing will be back in action for round six of the 2025 season at Thruxton on the 8th to the 10th of August.

Lee Jackson, Superbike Rider:

‘Coming to Brands Hatch I was really looking forward to the weekend, as Knockhill really was the best for myself and the team. So, coming to Brands Hatch I love riding round here it’s never been somewhere I’ve disliked but always gone really well. The weekend started off pretty well, we made some positive steps on Friday, made it straight through to Q2 which I was really happy about on Friday night we managed to do a decent lap time and I knew where I wanted to improve the bike so the weekend was building. In qualifying I didn’t get the perfect lap, I didn’t quite make the most of the new tyres, so starting the first race on P12 I got a solid finish in P10, we made a lot of improvements through the weekend, so to get a solid position like that it was really happy for me and the team to be consistent. Coming into Sunday I knew we had a bit more pace and this morning I managed to finish P8 which I was really happy with, one position back off where my best has been this year, then unfortunately in the last race I got caught out running a bit wide, a bit too much lean angle in the last corner I had a massive high side,  so I’m really sorry to the team as the bike’s taken a bit of a beating, I’ve taken a bit of a beating, but we just need a bit of momentum now to get the job done and just keep progressing through the year. The team have made some really great steps this weekend, so I’m really looking forward to getting back out as soon as I can.

Thruxton is a track I love. I’ve been on the podium there, I’ve won races, had a lap record for the Superstock 1000 there. So, I would love to be on track there, now I’ve just got to pass the medical, so I’ll be working hard in the next 2 weeks to get my foot back to normal and back on track.’

Josh Brookes, Superbike Rider:

‘The weekend has been super challenging. I was really excited to come to Brands Hatch, I’ve had 19 wins here so I came here feeling excited. We got started working on the bike and the set-up, but we just didn’t find the pace or the set up to run near the front. We persevered and made some progress, with just small steps forward. Then this morning in the warm-up I had a crash trying to push the limits of the bike and keep the development coming, so that was a bit of a disappointment, but fortunately the bike wasn’t too badly damaged and I was ok, so we got out in both races today. The results were not what we’re in search of but sometimes you have days like this, consolidate and take as much as you can, learn as much as possible heading into the next event.

Thruxton is another circuit that I really like to go to, over the last few years I’ve struggle to get some good results for a number of reasons. But, I’m just hoping to go back to a track I love, get going and see if we can turn these results around.’

Jonny Bagnall, Team Manager:

‘As a team it’s been a pretty average weekend, we’ve been quite fortunate with some of the results that we’ve managed to get down to some other riders’ misfortune. I know we’re hitting some of our expectations, but I know it’s not exactly where the team wants to be. I think for both riders we’re not that far away, which is good, but we’re always on the wrong side of far away. If we need a tenth, we’re at the lower end of the tenth, which can knock us back several rows when it comes to the race start. So we need to figure out something with the bike that’s missing, but it’s not just DAO, it’s Honda as a collective. There is something missing at the minute, it’s something we have to try and figure out as the week goes on before Thruxton, to put the bikes up there with the Yamaha and the Ducati’s.’  

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