DAO Racing put points on the board at the opening round of the 2026 ZYN British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park, where Lee Jackson and Josh Brookes produced a string of solid race finishes across the May Bank Holiday weekend, collecting a bag full of Championship points and making consistent progress with the Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade.

The weekend got off to a solid start for the team, with both riders making good progress throughout the two free practice sessions on Saturday morning. The afternoon’s ‘pre-qualifying’ session, which determines the top 12 for the second 12-minute qualifying session, saw Lee improve his time, leaving him 11th as the flag came out.

However, even though he was happy with the progress of his Fireblade’s set-up, Josh missed out on the all-important top 12 by just two tenths of a second, meaning he would be forced to battle it out in Q1 on Sunday afternoon.

Following overnight rain, track conditions for the two-tiered qualifying session began to dry, with damp patches in certain places, making it tricky for the duo to match their times set on Saturday.

Q1 saw Brookes top the timesheets, progressing directly into the second session. However, Q2 provided both riders with contrasting fortunes, as Brookes struggled to improve his time, leaving him 15th on the grid.

‘LeeBob’ pushed hard throughout the 12-minute session, posting his fastest time of the weekend, a 1:34.000, which lined him up 10th for the opening race of 2026 later that afternoon.

The opening 18-lap race of the 2026 season got underway in dry conditions, and after the first lap Lee found himself in eighth after making up two places, with Brookes dropping to 16th.

By half-race distance, the pair were locked in their own battles. Unfortunately, ‘LeeBob’ had dropped back to 11th, but he was chasing down Christian Iddon, who lay ahead, as he posted consistent lap times. Brookes had worked his way into 13th, making safe and clean passes in the process.

With six laps to go, Jackson began to experience rear grip issues, but he managed to hold his position to the flag, crossing the line in 11th. At the same time, Brookes was embroiled in a battle with Fraser Rogers, holding off his fellow Honda rider, and with two laps to go Glenn Irwin joined the fight.

With just two laps to go, Irwin made his way past, dropping Josh back to 13th, where he would take the flag, collecting valuable Championship points.

Bank Holiday Monday saw the team return to action under cloudy skies. After a positive morning warm-up, the team were hopeful of more strong results.

By virtue of their lap times set in the opening race, Lee started 13th on the grid for the 12-lap sprint race, with Josh alongside in 14th. As the lights went out, both made good starts, with Josh sitting 11th after the opening lap and Lee on his tail in 12th.

At the end of the third lap, the pair had exchanged positions, and Jackson began to hunt down Christian Iddon, who lay ahead, while Brookes was in a battle with his fellow Australian, Jason O’Halloran.

By half-race distance, Jackson worked his way onto Iddon’s rear wheel after overcoming a 1.2-second deficit, but he just couldn’t find a way past. However, with two laps remaining, he forced a move on the Yamaha rider and began to pull away, eventually crossing the line in a solid 10th place.

Brookes continued to battle with O’Halloran over the remaining laps, but he struggled to make a move before the flag came out, taking 13th place.

Courtesy of their lap times in the sprint race, both Lee and Josh started the third 18-lap race from 12th and 17th respectively.

From the line, the duo made good starts, but after a tricky opening lap for Jackson, he dropped to 13th, with Brookes holding 17th and in the fight for the final points-scoring place. The pair then got their heads down to work their way up the field.

By half-race distance, Jackson had made his way onto the back of the group dicing for 10th. After posting his best lap time of the weekend, a 1:33.850, he made light work of passing Danny Kent and set his sights on Max Cook, who lay ahead. Brookes found himself in a battle with the TAG Honda riders Fraser Rogers and Charlie Nesbitt for 15th.

With just four laps remaining, Lee began to swap places with Kent while hunting down the group ahead, who were fighting for 10th.

After a consistent run of laps, he reduced the gap from four seconds and put himself firmly in contention for a top-ten finish. On the final lap, he sat in 11th, chasing Christian Iddon, but despite a strong final lap, he just missed out at the line.

Brookes crossed the line in 15th, inside the points, after a hard-fought ride in what proved to be a challenging race for the Australian.

Josh Brookes: “It’s not been a positive weekend really, we had a good start to it because we’d been here testing, but there were a few things about the bike that wasn’t up to the standard to be able to run the pace that the lead riders were. And in fact, I haven’t been able to better my best lap time.

“So, we were in search of finding something better, I guess once the races started, we were already on the back foot. So, we kind of used some of the racing as a follow-up to testing, trying different options and it hasn’t proved beneficial in the results, that’s for sure.

“Qualifying is where we the weekend started to go off in the wrong direction, being down the grid really makes it difficult to improve the weekend. But I think ultimately what’s hindering our qualifying, and that’s also what’s hindering us from making progress during the race.

“We need to make a step with the bike for me to feel comfortable. When I’m on something that’s not working, it’s hard for me to find some extra, something extra to try and bridge the gap.”

Lee Jackson: “It’s been a good first round for me, obviously, we don’t want to be finishing outside the top 10, but we’ve made steps all weekend. It’s been my first weekend with a new data guy, he’s had two days to learn everything and he’s been thrown in the deep end, especially with myself and Colin, my crew chief, still learning each other.

“We might have done four or five days out in Spain, but obviously until you get racing, a different rider comes out. It has been a tricky weekend, finishing tenth is not ideal, but everyone in my corner has been fighting hard and making sure I’m keeping calm and focussed.

“I’m riding really hard to finish 11th and 10th, so hopefully when the bike is in a stronger working window, the consistency will be there, I can ride a bit easier and finally get inside the top ten, and that’s where we need to be.”

Team manager Jonny Bagnall: “All in all it’s been a challenging weekend, but we’ve walked away with points on the board in each race from both Josh and Lee, albeit not the amount we’d have liked, but it’s still something for us to build on.

“As a team, we’ve thrown everything at it this weekend and I’m proud of how hard everyone in the team has worked. We knew that Oulton Park was always going to be a tough circuit for our bike, but we’ve stuck to our plans and found areas that we still we need to improve on ahead of the next round at Donington Park.”

The team now travel to the Causeway Coast as they set to race the 2026 North West 200 on May 6/7/9 with Josh Brookes.