Double defending BSB champions VisionTrack Ducati will get their title defence underway at Oulton Park this weekend with Paul Bird’s team looking to make it a hat trick of back-to-back titles, with Josh Brookes carrying the #1 plate on his factory-supported VisionTrack Ducati Panigale V4 R.
Brookes added the 2020 crown to his 2015 BSB success and remains with the team for a third successive season where he’ll once again be joined by Christian Iddon. Iddon, originally from Stockport but now living on Tyneside finished third in last year’s 18-race title chase and in his debut season with the PBM team scored his first win at Snetterton.
Both riders have undertaken an extensive pre-season testing schedule in the run up to the opening round of the season and are confident they can get off to a good start. At Oulton Park last year, Brookes won a race and Iddon followed him home, as well as bagging a pair of other second places around the Cheshire venue.
Josh Brookes
“Oulton Park is going to be interesting and I’m excited to start the season there. It’s a unique track and I have some good form there and a history of good results over the years which is a positive for us. We tried a lot of things in testing but as we know, the bike is a proven winner, so it’s been difficult to make massive improvements to it. But we never stop working and there is always something to try and refine. As for me, I’m more of a race guy than a tester and it’s all about getting results from the races so hopefully we can make a good start to the season.”
This season comprises a total of 33 races over the 11 rounds between next weekend and mid-October meaning a very busy schedule for teams and riders with every round being a triple-header. Both Brookes and Iddon know the importance of making a good start to help boost their title aspirations.
Christian Iddon
“I’m really excited to get racing again although it’s very disappointing we won’t have a full Christian Iddoncontingent of spectators for this round, especially with it traditionally being my local track. But I’ll be doing my best to put on a good show for those at Oulton Park as well as those watching on television and listening on BSB Radio. I feel much more relaxed on the bike than I did last year so hopefully we can make that count and kick the season off well. A good haul of points is important at round one to give us a stable platform for the season ahead.”
Sadly, for the opening round, because of the delay in easing of government restrictions, only 4,000 fans will be allowed to attend each day but those missing out on attending can rely on live television and radio coverage until hopefully fans will be allowed back into circuits from round three at Brands Hatch in late July.
John Mowatt – Team Co-Ordinator
“As a team we are really looking forward to getting the season underway as it seems such a long time since we last rode competitively. Testing has gone well, and the idea was to try as many things as possible, so we know what works and what doesn’t so we achieved what we set out to do. We are now looking to get our season off to the strongest possible start at what is our local circuit and for the first time since 2019, in front of some spectators.”
Weather affected both the first and final days of a three-day official British Superbike Championship Test at Snetterton this week. Day one of the latest round of the test tour was effectively washed out on Tuesday at the Norfolk track with virtually none of the riders venturing out in any of the sessions before Wednesday dawned brighter and saw Iddon, on Paul Bird’s factory supported VisionTrack Ducati Panigale V4R, on the pace.
The 36 year old from Stockport, but now based at Blaydon on Tyneside, set fastest time in Wednesday’s morning session before waiting until the final moments of the second session in the afternoon to post his best lap, which put him 0.166s ahead of fellow Ducati rider Tommy Bridewell.
The rain returned for the third session and teams chose to end the day early in preparation for Thursday’s final day of testing, but once again the weather proved to be the only winner, and Iddon, who took his maiden Bennetts BSB victory at Snetterton last year, was forced to end the day early along with everyone else.
Christian Iddon
“It was very good to top the only two sessions that really happened so from that point of view, it Christian Iddonwas a real confidence booster. Not only that, I felt we were strong, and the bike was good although we couldn’t really get our teeth into things and we didn’t get to try a lot of what we had planned. It’s a shame we couldn’t do more laps, but it wasn’t just the wet weather, the track was just too cold, and it wouldn’t have made sense to go out and we had nothing to gain. We started where we finished at Silverstone and got some really good data so we will take what we learned into the next test at Oulton in a couple of weeks and then the one after that at Donington as we build towards the season ahead.”
Tommy Bridewell made it a Ducati 1-2 atop the charts but defending champion Josh Brookes was present at the Snetterton test but didn’t ride following a finger injury sustained at Silverstone last week. The 37-year-old Bedfordshire-based Aussie had a minor operation under local anaesthetic on Sunday to repair the little finger on his left hand but because of the poor weather forecast and to prevent any complications, it was decided to keep the number one VisionTrack Ducati parked up. Brookes plans to be back in action along with his team-mate Iddon at the next official test which takes place at Oulton Park on May 19th.
Danny Buchan and Kyle Ryde were third and fourth respectively on BMW machinery and TT racer Peter Hickman again showed good short circuit form on his FHO Racing BMW.With no pure roads racing for more than 18 months, and none of that action on the immediate horizon, the Isle of Man TT lap record holder ended the test fifth quickest.
Peter Hickman
“The Snetterton test has been quite positive for us and although we didn’t get in as much riding as we would have liked, with two sessions yesterday, but the news is the BMW felt good straight off. If you look at the times it was pretty evident from all of the BMW teams. Again, it is very early days still for us and I am happy that I feel comfortable on it at another different track, so that is a big positive after some changes we made at Silverstone. Yesterday I didn’t feel like I was pushing that hard and we didn’t go for a fast lap and so it was nice to be in the top five. We had made some changes to test today to hopefully try and improve the pace again, but unfortunately that didn’t happen, so we can move on to Oulton Park where hopefully we can get some more track time in.”
Jason O’Halloran was 14th quickest.
The opening round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship takes place over the weekend of 25/27 June at Oulton Park.
BSB Official Test, Snetterton
Superbike Combined Times
Pos
Rider
Bike
Time/Gap
1
Christian IDDON
Ducati
1m49.162
2
Tommy BRIDEWELL
Ducati
+0.166
3
Danny BUCHAN
BMW
+0.298
4
Kyle RYDE
BMW
+0.357
5
Peter HICKMAN
BMW
+0.413
6
Glenn IRWIN
Honda
+0.486
7
Andrew IRWIN
BMW
+0.575
8
Xavi FORÉS
BMW
+0.658
9
Ryan VICKERS
Kawasaki
+0.694
10
Lee JACKSON
Kawasaki
+1.081
11
Gino REA
Suzuki
+1.181
12
Josh OWENS
Kawasaki
+2.145
13
Rory SKINNER
Kawasaki
+2.324
14
Jason O’HALLORAN
Yamaha
+2.376
15
Danny KENT
Suzuki
+2.416
16
Tarran MACKENZIE
Yamaha
+2.798
17
Takumi TAKAHASHI
Honda
+3.195
18
Dan LINFOOT
Honda
+3.542
19
Storm STACEY
Kawasaki
+3.605
20
Luke HOPKINS
Honda
+4.470
21
Dean HARRISON
Kawasaki
+4.741
22
Joe FRANCIS
BMW
+4.845
23
Ryo MIZUNO
Honda
+5.300
24
Brian McCORMACK
BMW
+5.894
25
Brad JONES
BMW
+6.195
26
Joey THOMPSON
BMW
+9.324
GP2 / Junior Superstock / Ducati TriOptions
Charlie Nesbitt was the quickest GP2 rider at the Snetterton test ahead of Dan Jones and Jamie Perrin.
Zac Corderoy topped the Junior Supersport ranks ahead of Joe Talbot while Australian entrant Seth Crump was 12th quickest in the category.
Combined Results
Pos
Class
Rider
Time/Gap
1
GP2
Charlie NESBITT
1m54.956
2
JSTK
Zak CORDEROY
+0.185
3
DUC
Josh DAY
+1.016
4
GP2
Dan JONES
+1.312
5
JSTK
Joe TALBOT
+1.706
6
GP2
Jamie PERRIN
+1.715
7
DUC
Elliott PINSON
+1.829
8
JSTK
Kade VERWEY
+1.887
9
DUC
Chris WALKER
+2.197
10
GP2
Cameron HORSMAN
+2.256
11
JSTK
Simon REID
+2.527
12
GP2
Mason LAW
+2.611
13
GP2
Jake ARCHER
+2.617
14
JSTK
Jack NIXON
+2.887
15
GP2
Cameron FRASER
+2.916
16
DUC
Seb BULPIN
+2.931
17
JSTK
Eugene McMANUS
+3.224
18
JSTK
Adam HARTGROVE
+3.278
19
DUC
Edmund BEST
+3.350
20
JSTK
George STANLEY
+3.481
21
JSTK
Max COOK
+3.748
22
JSTK
Liam DELVES
+3.910
23
JSTK
Daniel BROOKS
+3.925
24
JSTK
Seth CRUMP
+4.295
25
JSTK
Luke VERWEY
+4.459
26
DUC
Craig CURRIE
+4.717
27
JSTK
Owen JENNER
+5.162
28
JSTK
Asher DURHAM
+5.443
29
JSTK
Trystan FINOCCHIARO
+5.665
30
JSTK
Charlie FARRER
+5.861
31
JSTK
Jack BEDNAREK
+6.062
32
JSTK
Connor THOMSON
+6.495
33
DUC
Daniel BOUCHER
+6.538
34
JSTK
Charlie ATKINS
+7.183
35
DUC
Oliver SAVAGE
+7.316
36
DUC
Andre COMPTON
+7.372
37
JSTK
Kyla BARRINGTO
+7.673
38
JSTK
Michael OWENS
+7.677
39
JSTK
Kier ARMSTRONG
+7.797
40
GP2
Harvey CLARIDGE
+7.824
41
GP2
Conor WHEELER
+8.292
42
JSTK
Max SMITH-HALVORSEN
+8.855
43
JSTK
Lynden LEATHERLAND
+9.103
44
JSTK
Jake HOPPER
+9.829
45
JSTK
Jake CAMPBELL
+11.587
National Superstock / British Supersport
Billy McConnell returns to the STK1000 fold in 2021 on the Rich Energy OMG BMW and was third quickest in this weather distrupted test just ahead of countryman Brayden Elliott. Matt Truelove topped the STK1000 rankings on a BMW S 1000 RR.
South Australian Levi Day is back in the British Superstock 1000 Championship this season after a couple of years racing the Ducati Tri-Options Cup. Day had gearbox problems that cost them testing time at a recent Mallory Park test session and unfortunately an engine failure on the Powerslide/AJN Steelstock Suzuki also affected this test. After a big effort from the team Day got back on track to finish the test seventh quickest.
Kiwi Damon Rees was just inside the STK1000 top 20.
British Supersport riders participated in the same session as STK1000 riders and in the 600 category Bradley Perie topped the sessions from perennial Supersport yardstick Jack Kennedy. Victorian rider Ben Currie was well inside the top ten and hopes to have his new Gearlink Kawasaki machines ready before the season opener.
2021 Junior Supersport & Honda British Talent Cup
The Honda British Talent Cup have had their first taste of 2021 track action at Snetterton 300, with two days of testing prefaced by a briefing and some photo shoots. The weather didn’t play perfectly into the hands of motorcycle racing, however, with Thursday suffering cold temperatures and rain affecting play all day. Wednesday did give the class of 2021 chance to get solid good dry running in ahead of the season opener though, and it was James Cook (Wilson Racing) who topped the timesheets.
Cook’s best saw him end the test 0.184 ahead of the game, with Harrison Crosby (Banks Racing) slotting into second. Crosby also reversed that order in one session, the only rider deposing Cook during the dry sessions at the test. Cormac Buchanan (Microlise Cresswell Racing) was third quickest, three tenths off the top, as he got to grips with BTC machinery. The New Zealander will race in the BTC in 2021 at rounds that don’t clash with the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, where he also debuts this year.