Flurry of top ten finishes for Jackson Racing
at North West 200
The Jackson Racing powered by Prosper2 team got their 2025 International road race campaign up and running on Thursday with Paul Jordan and Josh Brookes scoring a combined total of four top ten finishes at the International North West 200 road races, held on the 8.9-mile public road circuit on the north coast of Northern Ireland.
Conditions were perfect for Wednesday’s qualifying sessions, but a series of red flags meant track activity was limited to just two of the four classes and Thursday’s sessions would be all-important for grid position.
Thankfully, conditions were again ideal on Thursday where Paul put the Honda machines in sixth, eighth and tenth position for the Supersport, Supersport and Superbike classes respectively. Former double British Superbike Champion Brookes was slightly further back in each class with 12th place, in both the Supersport and Superstock categories, his best position. Meanwhile, Paul also placed third quickest for the two Supertwin races.
Thursday evening saw three races take place, all held over four laps, with the Superbike race getting underway first, Northern Ireland’s Jordan finishing in ninth place, just over a second behind John McGuinness. Josh, suffering with high-speed instability issues with his Honda, battled his way to 19th position but with plenty of set-up work still to do.
The Supersport race immediately followed with Paul taking tenth place, just two places ahead of Josh but the final race of the day, for the Superstock machines, saw Josh edge closer to his best with a fine sixth place finish and 121.803mph lap, a change in set-up clearly paying dividends. Tenth place was again the outcome for Paul.
Saturday promises to be a busy day for Josh, Paul and the team with two Superbike races, a Supersport and Superstock race, all held over six laps, and two four-lap Supertwin races.
Paul Jordan: “After plenty of testing, it’s nice to get the first race day out of the way and I think there was a bit of rust to be gotten rid of. I felt really good in practice but there’s no denying that whilst three top ten finishes are ok, I wanted, and expected, more. I didn’t get what I wanted and felt a bit deflated at the end of the day, so we’ll have a bit of a re-set and get ready for Saturday where I’ve five races. That gives me plenty more opportunities and I know all the bikes are working well – I couldn’t be happier with the set-up -so it’s all about stringing it all together for the entire race distances.”
Josh Brookes: “It’s definitely been a challenging North West 200 so far and, if I’m being honest, not what I expected. Wednesday was my first time out on the Superbike and Supersport machines but whilst the latter felt the most sorted, the Superbike was the least well behaved – and although I was extremely happy with the one test I had on the Superstock bike, it felt like a completely different bike here! The first two races on Thursday evening, particularly, the Superbike class where I’ve been struggling massively with both high-speed instability and turning the bike, left me feeling pretty low, but we refined the package for the Superstock race, and it felt like a different bike. I want to be finishing higher than sixth, but the bike felt good, and it was a positive end of the day. Everything flowed and I could ride the bike closer to its potential so we’ll transfer the settings to the Superbike and look to give a much better account of ourselves on Saturday.”
Alan Jackson, Team Owner: “Thursday was a solid enough day but we’re know there’s plenty more in both riders and both sides of the garage have been making constant changes and improvements which we hope will stand us in good stead on Saturday, particularly Josh. He found something in the final race, primarily with the electronics set-up, which gave him a bike he could ride properly so if they work equally well on the Superbike, I’m sure we’ll see him running in the front positions where we know he can, and should, be. Paul had no set-up issues but wasn’t quite as strong in the races as he was in qualifying so perhaps was putting a bit too much pressure on himself. If he relaxes a little and strings it all together, Saturday should be a strong day.”
Pictures by Tim Keeton – Impact Images Photography