Round three of the 2023 FIM Supersport World Championship is beckoning from the TT Circuit Assen in the Netherlands and it’s the first European round of the year, meaning the WorldSSP Challenge likewise returns. Tom-Booth Amos (Motozoo Racing by Puccetti) is one of the headlining names going into the 2023 season and he’ll have a teammate this year in Australian rookie Luke Power, who was fifth in the MotoAmerica Supersport class in 2022. We caught up with both riders to get a glimpse of what to expect in 2023.
After an injury-hit 2022 season which showed plenty of potential, Booth-Amos has his sights on European success in 2023 and hopes to hit the ground running at Assen, one of his favourite circuits: “I’m looking forward to Assen and getting back there as it’s one of my favourite circuits, especially with the new team as well.
“I feel like we’ve made a good step in preseason compared to last year and obviously, I did the last three races of 2022 with them, I know how they work and they know how I work. There’re are a lot of new updates with the Kawasaki this year so that should also help. Obviously, the goal this year is to be WorldSSP Challenge Champion so we’ll be working on that and seeing how it goes.”
Teammate Luke Power is also excited to get going, making his debut and achieving a dream: “I’m happy to be starting a new adventure for myself in WorldSSP in the Motozoo Racing by Puccetti outfit. Obviously, I’m really excited and it’s been a dream of mine ever since I started riding at the age of 3, so it’s a massive opportunity and I’m very grateful to Motozoo for giving it to me. I’m really excited to be riding the Kawasaki ZX-6R in the World Championship. Kawasaki, along with the team, have done a really good job preparing the bike and the fly-by-wire system. It hasn’t been easy but we’ve made some massive steps in the technical department in the three tests we’ve already done.
“I’m looking forward to learning and growing with the team, I’m not sure what goals they have for me other than improving; that’s every riders’ basic goal. In terms of a starting point to improve on, I don’t have one, Assen is going to be very new and very surreal for me so I think that if I can keep calm, level-headed and take it step-by-step… wherever I finish the weekend is where I’ll finish and I know that the team and I will be giving 110% throughout the weekend. Obviously, the team is all-new to me this year but the guys have a great deal of experience in the World Championship, so it’s a privilege to work with such professionals and they’ve done a great job helping me adapt to the World Championship riding style, riding the bike, learning the tracks and all the things that are different in the World Championship.”
Speaking about his teammate, Power said: “I’ve got a new teammate in Tom Booth-Amos and he’s a really good guy and he’s helped me out a bit in those three tests. I’m looking forward to spending time with him and the team for the rest of this year. We’ll see how we go, the team atmosphere is good and we’ll definitely be giving 110%. I’m super excited and it’s the beginning of a long dream of mine and it’s cool to see it come to life!”
Keep up-to-date with all things World Superbike throughout 2023 with the WorldSBK VideoPass!
Source: WorldSBK.com