‘I need to become more aggressive and take risks’
Lee Jackson returns to where it all began this season after re-joining the Hawk Racing-run MasterMac Honda squad. It was the family-run team, owned by Stuart and Steve Hicken, which signed Jackson aged 17 in the Superstock 1000 class, before promoting him to their Superbike effort alongside Ryuichi Kiyonari in 2015. Jackson’s uncle, also called Lee Jackson, raced for the team in 2003.
Jackson returns after spending the last four British Superbike years with FS-3 Racing Kawasaki, a partnership which saw him finish fourth for the last two seasons and claim his
April 17 2024
maiden victories in the class.
A tricky start last season morphed into a ridiculously consistent campaign, with Jackson the only rider to finish all 33 races. He was told he’d be replaced by O’Halloran in August.
Jackson is keen now to prove a point to his previous employers as he jumps onboard the Fireblade, a bike which podiumed in the hands of Kent and new teammate Charlie Nesbitt last year.
“It’s a lot different to the Kawasaki,” Jackson explained to MCN. “Mainly engine wise, how much it revs compared to the Kawasaki. There’s a few areas too where I think maybe it will be better than the Kawasaki as well once they get going.
“It’s just a case of getting up to speed and getting comfy on it. When you’ve ridden a bike for so long, you get a bit complacent with what it does and what you can do on the bike. It will be a new experience and a new thing for me to understand that bike – I look forward to the challenge of having to figure it out each weekend.”
For all of his consistency, Jackson is not yet a rider who challenges for victories at every track on the calendar. Indeed, both of his victories have come at Oulton Park. This will need to change if he’s to put a serious title challenge together.
“I think I need to become more aggressive, and have the mindset where if I have to risk one crash for the top two positions, then it has to be
‘I need to have that little bit extra fight in me’
done. Instead of settling for the third, fourth or fifth position, actually go for that chance where you might run on or mess up.
“I need to have that little bit extra fight in me, which I’ve got, but sometimes you’re maybe thinking of the bigger picture and just take the points. That might come naturally on a new bike, it might feel a lot easier to do and become more of a safe zone than you realise.”
Jackson will once again have to contend with one of BSB’s brightest young stars being in the same garage. At Kawasaki Jackson raced alongside Rory Skinner (2021 & 2022) and then
Max Cook last season, while this time around he has to ensure he beats Nesbitt (see right).
As with Skinner and Cook, there are sure to be times where Nesbitt gets the upper hand, but that threat continues to add extra motivation and fire to the belly of Jackson.
“It’s strange because back in 2015 I was the young gun against Kiyo, but at that point I didn’t really think about me being that guy against the old guard and pushing them straight away. I was just trying to learn as quickly as I could.
“Now I’m the target. These kids want to beat their teammate.”