The McAMS Yamaha Team is primed and ready to battle once again in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship as the Fleetwood-based squad pull the covers off their R1s ahead of the first official UK test at Donington Park this weekend.

McAMS Yamaha kickstarted their 2023 BSB season this evening, unveiling Jason O’Halloran and Tim Neave’s Yamaha R1 Superbikes at the state-of-the-art, purpose-built McAMS headquarters in Burscough.

After a season that saw the Fleetwood-based outfit win ten races, the already-proven R1 sees further upgrades from the Yamaha Racing R&D department in Italy in line with their WorldSBK counterparts.

Heading the team’s charge, Jason O’Halloran remains with the McAMS Yamaha Team for 2023 as he embarks on his fifth season with the Raceways Motorcycles run outfit. Achieving 21 race wins and 47 podium finishes since the partnership began in 2019, the Aussie is more determined than ever to return to the front following a troublesome end to his 2022 campaign.

Making his step up to Superbike following a mighty Superstock campaign aboard the Edwards 1902 R1 last season which saw the Lincolnshire-born farmer secure three victories, Tim Neave is hopeful of hitting the ground running with a focus on improving his results as the season goes on. The former flat-track ace enjoyed a positive test in Spain earlier this season and is optimistic ahead of returning to the track this weekend.

After private testing in Spain on stock machines, the McAMS Yamaha team will officially begin their 2023 season in the UK this weekend with a two-day test at Donington Park where the duo will work through their respective test programs before immediately moving on to Silverstone ahead of round one across April’s Easter Weekend.

Jason O’Halloran
McAMS Yamaha
“It’s great to be at McAMS to launch the 2023 R1 which, like last year, looks really sharp and I can’t wait to see it on track along with my new colours. We’ll kick off our season this weekend at Donington Park which will be the first time we’ll have the team back together and the first time we’ll try the bike and really start to build up to round one at Silverstone. I’m feeling really good, I’m in a great place and confident ahead of the season ahead. I’m looking forward to getting started.”

Tim Neave
McAMS Yamaha
“It’s a great opportunity to join the McAMS Yamaha team, a team with lots of pedigree and as a racer, there are not many opportunities like it, so I need to make sure it’s not wasted on me. It’s quite a surreal feeling seeing my number on the Superbike. The bike looks mega, I’m feeling good and I can’t wait to get stuck in at Donington this weekend and Silverstone next week.”

Steve Rodgers
McAMS Yamaha, Team Owner
“It’s been a long winter so we are feeling quite ready to go now! We opted to miss Spanish testing to focus on development time in the workshop and the boys have been busy developing a new engine spec for 2023 to test with the new parts from Italy. It’s our fifth season with Jason on the R1 and we know what he is capable of having won more races than any other rider over the last three years. Tim is new to the superbike so our hopes for him are that he can hit the ground running and make progress as the season goes on – he performed exceptionally on the Superstock bike last year so we look forward to seeing how he gets on.”