Danny Kent position “not where we want to be” after final BSB test

Danny Kent’s BSB preseason concluded with an 11th-fastest time that was 1.7 seconds off the top of the times at Oulton Park.

The TAS Racing Yamaha rider endured a peaky 2025 season whose difficult path was set out in preseason testing, especially at the second test at Oulton Park, and on the face of it 2026 is going in a similar direction.

But Kent suggested that his Oulton Park test was not all bad, as he’d been able to try different things on the bike.

“It’s been good,” Kent told Crash.net after the Oulton Park BSB test.

“A bit like Donington, really, we’re just trying lots of different things. 

“The position is not where we want to be, of course, but testing is for trying different things and trying to work through a plan that we’ve come up with, and not necessarily coming out on top. 

“So, we just wanted to make sure that we tried everything we wanted to, but feeling fairly confident coming into round one.”

Kent added that if there is an area he wants to find progress it’s corner entry stability.

“Still we need to try and work on stability on corner entry,” he said.

“That’s probably the biggest problem that I’ve got at the moment, but we’ve got a plan for round one to try and resolve.”

He added: It’s basically sort of rear grip on corner entry. Sort of having to rely too much on the front brake rather than engine brake. 

“It’s sort of a fine line because we tried changing engine brake, but it the rear wheel’s not on the ground, or if it’s skimming then the engine braking’s not actually doing its job.”

BSB returns to Oulton Park on 3–5 May for the opening round of 2026. Kent missed the October round at the Cheshire circuit last year, so hasn’t raced there since the opening round of 2025 when he went 10-6 in the only two races run that weekend.