DAO Racing made solid and positive progress at the second round of the 2026 ZYN British Superbike Championship at Donington Park, with Josh Brookes and Lee Jackson battling inside the top ten, finishing as the top Honda in two of three races across the weekend at the 2.4-mile Leicestershire venue.

Friday would be a day of contrasting emotions for both Brookes and Jackson, with the latter posting his fastest ever lap of Donington Park, but even though the pair knocked off over a second in lap times, they would fail to progress directly into Q2 after pre-qualifying meaning they would have to battle it out in Q1 on Saturday morning.

Qualifying would see Brookes improve in time once again posting a 1:27.477, but it wouldn’t be enough to send him through to Q2, lining him up 16th on the grid. Jackson would also improve time, notching up a 1:27.436, which sent him into Q2 and where he would qualify 14th.

The opening 20-lap race of the weekend would then get underway later that afternoon, and with rain looming both riders tried to make a good launch off the line, with Lee making up four positions to 10th, but Josh dropped back to 17th.

Over the course of the race the pair would then be embroiled in their own battles, with Jackson swapping paint with the Irwin brothers, Andrew and Glenn for tenth. The Lincolnshire man rode hard, posting consistent lap times and he would hold off a charge from his teammate as the red flag came out on the final lap due to rain, taking 10th place, and the top Honda bragging rights.

After a challenging opening lap where the Australian dropped to 17th, Brookes began to regain his composure and worked his way back through the field. By half race he worked his way into 13th and began to pull away from Joe Talbot who lay behind.

Over the course of the next nine laps Josh continued to post consistent lap times as he hunted down his teammate. However, with just one lap remaining the red flag came out due to rain, leaving Brookes 11th in the final classification.

After an evening of data searching and changes to the Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade, the team were ready for the final two races of the weekend under sunny skies on Sunday.

By virtue of their lap times set in the first race on Saturday, Josh would start the 12-lap sprint from 12th on the grid, with Lee one spot back in 13th.

From the lights both riders made great starts with Lee and Josh battling for 10th, however as the pack headed onto the back straight, Josh experienced an issue with his machine and dropped to 23rd. He tried to ride around the issue over the course of the next eight laps, however the issue progressively became worse, and he was forced to retire at the start of lap nine.

By the end of the third lap Lee had made his way into 11th place, fighting with fellow Honda rider Ryan Vickers for the top 10. The duo swapped and changed places, fighting hard for position, across the next nine laps, and on the final lap after dropping back a place, Jackson forced his way passed Vickers and kept him at bay to the flag, crossing the line 11th and once again, top Honda.

Due to the issue he faced, Josh would start the third and final 20-lap race from 22nd on the grid, with Lee 11th.

Once again from the line the duo made their trademark strong starts and after a frantic opening Lee sat in 13th with ‘Brooksey’ 19th.

By the end of lap four Lee had regrouped and worked his way back into his starting place of 11th, however he a considerable gap of 1.3 seconds to Ryan Vickers who lay ahead, and ‘LeeBob’ went in pursuit. Josh had also had a sterling opening set of laps, and had worked his way into 14th and inside the points.

Following a safety car deployment due to a crash for Charlie Nesbitt, the race then fired back into life on lap eight, and both looked to take advantage of the pack closing in.

However, the very next lap Lee crashed out of the race, following a coming together with Christian Iddon. Thankfully Lee walked away from the incident.

At half race distance Josh, who was now flying the flag for the team alone, had worked his way into 10th and had the carrot of Ryan Vickers dangling in front of him. The two-time BSB Champion went in pursuit, and with five laps remaining he had cut the deficit in half to just over one second and continued to improve in time as he hunted down the battle for eighth, which included Danny Kent.

With three laps to go he made his move through on the Yamaha man, following Vickers, however he was forced to settle for position as he crossed the line, taking the flag in ninth and achieving his best result of the season so far.

Josh Brookes: “I can agree that this weekend has finished on a positive. For me, I’ve been all weekend chasing a lap time. I haven’t been thinking so much about my race position, I’ve been thinking more about what we can do with the bike to improve the package. It all stems back to what lap time you can do. The first race we suffered because of the lap time from qualifying but we made good progress in the race. I had a good grid position for the sprint race, but then we had an engine failure.

“The last race, even though I had a positive finish and it was a positive race, my lap times were strong and I was moving through the pack and I’m staying out of trouble.

Ultimately, if you just look at the weekend as a whole, we still have an issue, you know, with the bike, and it’s not just us. It’s hard to really say what the correct emotion is at the moment, you know, because you want to be proud of what you’ve just achieved, but it’s so far from where I feel we should actually be. That’s a wrap for BSB for a little while, we go over the Isle of Man TT for a few weeks and do our best there, it give us some time regroup, reflect and see what we can do when we return to action at Knockhill.”

Lee Jackson: “It’s been a step forward this weekend, finishing top Honda, and finding some solid pace from the package, but ultimately, we need more. We don’t want to be finishing where we are but as a team we’re working hard together to make the best of what we have, and to improve the package.

“To finish top Honda in both races is a positive, but again, we want more. It’s a shame what happened in race three, we were putting in a good race and I felt we could have run with Vickers for eighth but unfortunately what happened, happened. We’ll regroup, do what we can to get fit and try come back stronger for Knockhill.”

Team manager Jonny Bagnall: “It’s been a challenging weekend but there are positives to take away from it all, we’ve shown consistent pace in all three races and we’ve worked extremely hard as a team to ensure our package is as strong as it can be. Both riders have worked their socks off this weekend, and you could see in the final race with Josh coming from the back of the grid to finish ninth we have made real strides, but we know there is more to come.

“Thankfully Lee is relatively ok, he took a big hit in his crash and we’ve got plenty of time before the next round to get him fit. Our attentions now turn to the Isle of Man TT, our performance at the North West 200 gives us confidence heading to the TT and we’re hopeful of some positive there.”

The team now has a five-day break before leaving their Cumbrian HQ for the 2026 Isle of Man TT races, which kicks off on May 25.