After many years within the sport, at the end of 2008 Jonathan was contemplating retirement! Due to moving in with his long term partner and also making plans to get married in 2010 it just didn't seem feesable to continue racing within the British Championships with the required costs needed to succeed. Then at the last hour the announcement was made that there was to be a new televised series for 2009 based around parrallel twin fourstrokes like the Honda CB500 machine which the Harrison family have had much success with over the years. As look would have it Jonathan was using a 1994 model Honda CB500 to go to and from work with. After a couple of months preparation in the garage and only getting the bike finished on the wednesday before the first round leaving the team with no testing whatsoever Jonathan went to Mallory Park not knowing what to expect from the start of the year. Jonathan qualified in 4th place and promptly won the first ever race of the new Thundersport500 series and also stepped up onto the podium in 2nd place once again over the weekend. Eyebrows were raised and the warning shot had been fired. From there the circus moved onto cadwell park where once again Jonathan qualified on the front row in 2nd place and then proceeded to gain four 3rd place finishes to establish himself as one of the front runers of the series. The team then headed off to Pembrey where gaining in confidence Jonathan took pole position and scored another 2 more wins and 2 more podium visits to secure himself in 2nd place in the series albeit 15 points down on series leader John Butcher. Then came Oulton Park where due to the torrential weather it was going to be a lottery on track. Jonathan really did show his class with a full Gentlemans set! Pole Position by 2 secs, 2 wins and the fastest lap of the weekend. With this display Jonathan took the championship lead and moved 15 points ahead in the series over John Butcher. The latest round of the series was held at Snetterton last weekend where once again Jonathan was unstoppable, Pole position, 4 Race wins and the new series lap record was a great haul and Jonathan moved 35 points clear at the head of the championship. At the minute Jonathan is looking forward to competing as part of the upcoming Moto GP support races and hopes to once again cement his lead in the championship with another win!
 
Here's hoping that 2009 the Thundersport 500 title will be coming home to Darlington! Fingers crossed! ;-)