Hudson Kennaugh - Yamaha 2009

Hudson Kennaugh and the Linxcel-Seton Tuning Yamaha team have parted company with the South African setting his sights on a Superbike seat.

In 2008, Kennaugh was the runner-up behind Glen Richards in the British Supersport Championship having claimed six podium finishes and three wins, this season the best he has managed with the team is a fourth place and currently lies eleventh in the standings.

Kennaugh said;

“I would like to thank Phil Seton and the boys for the way they welcomed me into the team.   I really appreciate all the work they have done but I need to get into Superbikes and the best time to start is now. Phil has worked really hard to give me a fast machine and we have achieved so much. It is a real credit to the team to see how they have stepped up from last year in the way they have.”

Nick Clark will be replacing Kennaugh at the next round of the British Supersport series at Cadwell Park, fulfilling one of his all time dreams.  He is usually running in the Metzeler National Superstock 600cc Championship but this is the chance he says he has been waiting for and he intends to make the most of his ride.

Chris Burns - MV Agusta

Chris Burns will allegedly be on the grid of the next round of the British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch, on August 7/8/9, for the Jentin Racing Yamaha Team

Burns was signed at the beginning of the season to ride the STP-JHS MV Agusta Team, however, before he had even ridden the machine, the contract ended after delays in getting the bike on track.

The Geordie rider, landed a full-time ride in the German Superbike Championship for this season with the Holzhauer Honda Racing team.  Initially, the former MotoGP rider, was a replacement rider for the injured reigning champion Martin Bauer, but after an impressive 2nd and 4th place at the Sachsenring, he was offered the ride until the end of the season, alongside Bauer and team-mate Michael Schumacher.

There is still no confirmation at this point, but with Michael Schumacher returning to the Formula One series to cover for the injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, and Bauer still recuperating, it leaves Burns as the sole rider for the German Superbike Team making it seem unlikely that they would let him go, however, I didn’t expect to see Schumacher back in F1!

Stuart Easton - Hydrex Honda 2009

This weekend the British Superbike riders and teams head to Scotland for round six of the Championship at the Knockhill circuit in Fife.

Michael Rutter will once again be riding the Worx Crescent Suzuki, where he is aiming for nothing less than a podium finish for the team.  In 2008, Rutter rode the NW 200 Ducati, claiming fourth in the first race and second in race two and has said that he loves this track and knows that he can be at the front.

The two Airwaves Yamaha riders, Leon Camier and James Ellison, will be back in the British Superbike series after competing as wild-cards in last weekends World Superbikes at Donington.  Both riders will then return as wild-card riders for the following weekend race in the World Superbike Championship.

Another rider who wants no less than a win this weekend is the Scottish rider Stuart Easton on the Hydrex Honda machine.  With five podium finishes so far this season, Easton believes he can get in front of the leading Airwaves Yamaha riders at his home circuit.

The two HM Plant Honda riders Josh Brookes and Glen Richards, are also expected to be in the front runners, with Brookes claiming three thirds in the last three races.  Richards has always been strong at the Scottish circuit and has a lot of experience of the tight, short track.

Rumours have been circulating that Gary Mason would not be at Knockhill this weekend as the Quay Garage Honda team had run out of money, however, it has been confirmed that although the team are struggling and desperately need to find backers, they will be on the grid for round six.  Mason is currently leading the Superbike Cup and is only 4 points behind Josh Brookes in the Championship.

Yesterday afternoon the annual ‘Superbikes In The Square’ took place, where the championship riders ride through the city centre of Glasgow, demonstrating their skills to thousands of spectators.

Leon Camier and team-mate James Ellison entertained the crowd with burn-outs and wheelies, along with Simon Andrews.  Josh Brookes was on the back of Steve Plater’s machine before he and his team-mate Glen Richards put on some demonstration laps for their fans.

John McGuiness was cheered by onlookers as he rode the Padgetts Honda along with Steve Brogan.  Rutter raised one of the loudest cheers as he destroyed the rear tyre of the Worx Crescent Honda.  Atsushi Watanabe, Ian Lowry, Billy McConnell, Tom Grant and Dan Cooper were also in attendance along with riders from the 125GP British riders.

Donington Park

Despite the recent problems at Donington Park, their website has issued a statement declaring it’s business as usual.  The statement reads;

“Donington Park staff have confirmed that, for the foreseeable future, it is a case of “business as usual” as they re-commence their full programme of race meetings in mid-May.

The Grand Prix Master event, with its array of F1 cars and high powered sportcars, remains on schedule to go-ahead over 9/10 May and the following weekend, the HiQ British Touring Car Championship is set to power into the circuit.

Completing a hectic month, the third round of the ViSK British Superbike Championship is planned to be hosted over Spring Bank Holiday, 23/24/25 May.

The two feature events of the calendar, bringing world championship racing to the Park with World Superbikes and MotoGP, will go ahead as scheduled.

The British, and only round of the World Superbike series in the UK, will be held on 26/27/28 June with Noriyuki Haga and ‘rookie’ Ben Spies continuing their duel for supremacy.

And the following month, 24/25/26 July, the sport’s elite riders, led by eight times World Champion Valentino Rossi and including local hero James Toseland, will be in action in the British MotorCyclePrix. Grand

Race fans and competitors are assured that the scheduled programme of car, motorcycle and truck racing also continues as planned.”

Kevin Wheatcroft and his father Tom, owners of Donington Park are suing the track organisers Donington Ventures Ltd. for the reported £2.5 million owed to them in rent.

The organisers allegedly have arrears dating back to September 2008 and the owners feel they have no further options left to them but to take legal action.

HM Plant Honda

The HM Plant Honda team have confirmed that they will only be using one bike per rider for the 2009 season as part of their cost-cutting programme.

It was reported last week that Neil Tuxworth, the team boss had denied the rumours that they would be cutting back on bikes and said,

“We have teams of mechanics here building the bikes right now”

However, according to today’s reports, Tuxworth has now said,

“I’ve been proposing one bike per rider for two or three years now in a bid to reduce costs but have always been shouted down.  But there’s a rule in place for GP125 to have one bike for each rider, Dorna are going to do the same for the 250/600 class at MotoGP and I feel it’s the way BSB should go.

We are going to have one bike each for Glen and Josh and the two spare bikes will be built into bikes for the roads to be used by John McGuinness and Steve Plater at the North West and TT.”

Tuxworth, also denied rumours that they are to lose the sponsorship they have with HM Plant for 2009, although it is the final year in a three year contract.

He added,

“Yes, HM Plant is having difficulties trading, but so is everyone in the current climate, including Honda.  We’ve already announced the changes we’re making to our team as a result of the reduced budgets.  There’s nothing more to add, other than to say that the team is flat-out preparing for the new season.”

Walker ‘The Stalker’ as he is known to his legion of fans had a disappointing season away from British Superbike racing, having started in the Supersport World Championship, riding for the GIL Kawasaki team. Sadly the bike was not competitive and Walker ended the season riding in the five final rounds of the World Superbike series aboard the Honda VK Vent Axia.

He scored some points on his first WSB ride at Brands Hatch, but was unable to do much more than that, crashing twice at the other UK track Donington Park.

Walker was last seen in the BSB in 2007, when again by his own standards he had a pretty poor season, finishing the season in seventh place in the riders standings was not enough for his employers Rizla Suzuki and his contract was not renewed.

In fact things have been patchy for Walker since leaving his first stint in British Superbike in 2001 and moving to Moto GP. A best forgotten time for the English rider, he promptly left for World Superbikes Fuchs Kawasaki team in 2002.

He finished the WSB Championship in ninth position that year and switched bikes for the GSE Ducati with who he would record his best ever World Superbike results, finishing the 2003 season in sixth overall. The fact that his old BSB adversary Neil Hodgson won the WSB championship that year would have hurt, but Walker can take heart in the fact that Hodgson had the better bike in the form of a factory Ducati.

It was the British Superbike battles with Hodgson that stick in my mind most from Walkers career and really got me hooked on BSB. It had started for Walker in 1997 when he would battle with team mate Niall MacKenzie on the Yahamas, battles with Steve Hislop and Troy Bayliss would happen in the following seasons, until the ultimate dog fight with Hodgson.

I hope that if Walker does get a contract it is with a competetive team and perhaps we will see once again just how good he can be.