British Superbikes, Cadwell Park: Jackson makes long awaited podium return

Lee Jackson was back on the podium in second - his first since moving to the MasterMac Honda team, in the first race of the Cadwell Park Bank Holiday weekend.

Lisa Lewis

25 Aug 2024

Race one Podium, Ryde, Jackson, Nesbitt, 2024, British Superbikes, BSB, Cadwell Park — Race one Podium, Ryde, Jackson, Nesbitt, 2024, British Superbikes, BSB,…
© Ian Hopgood Photography

Lee Jackson was back on the podium in the first race at Cadwell Park after almost a year - his last rostrum visit came in the Oulton Park Showdown element of last season.

Jackson qualified a much improved fourth and held the position well for the opening laps before making a move up the order:

“It was a good race, obviously Cadwell Park’s hard to pass, so the main aim from the start of the race was to get a good start, get into the rhythm and I managed to do so.

Obviously the guys in front of me knew I had good pace, I wanted to get to the front as early as possible because I felt in myself I had good pace - to be able to pull away - but Kyle led from the front and he managed to get himself into a really good rhythm.”

Before he was in with a shot at catching Ryde the #14 had to pass the two riders in front - teammate Charlie Nesbitt and pole starter Jason O’Halloran, who was racing with the ligament damage he picked up in Thruxton and beginning to fade, but still full of fight for position when Jackson arrived:

“Mid-race I got myself into a bit of a two lap battle with Jason, which cost me about one and a half seconds really, so that wasn’t ideal, that pushed me you know, further back from Kyle than I wanted to be.

Then for the last six laps of the race it was just a case of chasing him down really, but unfortunately Kyle’s rhythm was so strong. It was hard for me to break that”.

Ryde held a 1.5 second lead for much of the race, but Jackson had closed the gap in the closing stages, part determination, and part ease off by Ryde. The 18 laps allowed Jackson to really get to grips with the track, get information for the team, and set a series of fastest laps - leading to pole position for the sprint on Monday:

“We’ve got something to work with tomorrow and the guys behind I’m sure will come up thick and fast tomorrow, but I’m feeling confident we can push for one step better tomorrow”.