There will be tears aplenty at Brands Hatch this weekend as the McAMS Yamaha team makes its final outings in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship.

It was announced earlier this year that team boss Steve Rodgers will scale back his involvement in racing for 2024, meaning the end for the McAMS Yamaha team which has flown the flag as the official Yamaha Motor UK British Superbike team since 2017. To date the team has won 46 BSB races, finished on the podium 110 times and of course, won the 2021 rider, manufacturer and team championships.

Riders Jason O’Halloran and Niccolo Canepa will have just three more chances to boost those stats for the team this weekend as the 2023 championship comes to its conclusion at Brands Hatch.

And with the expanded points on offer, with a huge 35 points available for a race win, Aussie O’Halloran is still in with a chance of winning the title after his Donington Park heroics. 50.5 points off series leader Tommy Bridewell, there’s everything to play for as the team look to go out on a high.

Niccolo Canepa is looking forward to being re-united with the BSB-spec R1 this weekend after being able to experience the bike in all conditions at Donington Park. A seventh place in qualifying showed his potential and the Italian is keen to leave a mark in the team’s final weekend. Heading to Brands off the back of an Italian Championship win at Imola, Canepa is full of confidence and looking forward to returning to Brands Hatch for the first time since 2008. Yamaha’s WorldSBK test rider has experienced success at the Kent circuit in the past, notching up a victory at Brands in his FIM Superstock World Cup championship-winning season.

The weekend’s action gets underway on Friday ahead of Qualifying Saturday morning with the Bike Social Sprint Race kicking race proceedings off at 16:15 Saturday afternoon with the season concluding with two feature length races on Sunday.

Jason O’Halloran
McAMS Yamaha
Championship: 5th (317.5 points)

“When you leave a team, your last race weekend is always filled with emotion but this weekend will be on another level in terms of that as it’s the team’s last ever races in BSB. It’s been an incredible journey and I’m so proud to have contributed to McAMS Yamaha’s significant success over the last five years. Donington Park was a great round for us and I’m feeling really good on the bike both in the wet or dry. There’s a lot of points on offer and we’ve got nothing to lose. My priority is to see the team go out on a high, so our aim is to win races – the rest will sort itself out!”

Niccolò Canepa
McAMS Yamaha      

“I am very much looking forward to Brands Hatch this weekend, I have ridden there before a long, long time ago but it was a circuit I really enjoyed riding so I am looking forward to trying it on the R1. After Donington, we are ready for pretty much any conditions! I learned a lot about the bike and I am looking forward to putting that into action this weekend and hopefully we can achieve some good results for the team in their final races.”

Steve Rodgers
Team Principal

“I’m not too sure what to say about this weekend, I’m not sure if I am looking forward to it or dreading it! It’s going to be emotional. The group of people that make up the McAMS Yamaha team are a great bunch and it’s going to be really sad when things come to an end on Sunday evening. Our plan for the weekend is to go out on as much of a high as possible, we still have an outside chance of the championship but the aim is to win races. We enjoyed that feeling at Donington Park so it would be nice to taste the champagne a couple more times before we call it a day!”