British Superbike News

HM Plant Honda 2009

The HM Plant Honda British Superbike Team have announced their riders for the next two rounds of the championship on the 7-9 August at Brands Hatch and at Cadwell Park on the 29-31 August.

Original rider Glen Richards, is still recovering from a broken leg and was replaced by Steve Brogan at Mallory Park.  The reigning British Superstock Champion ended the day with an impressive seventh and ninth place and is keen to ride for the team again despite continuing to defend his own title in the Superstock class.  Brogan will share his ride with John McGuinness, who will be taking his place at the Cadwell Park round.

The second team rider Josh Brookes, was given a two race ban at the last round at Mallory Park after being found guilty of reckless riding .

Karl Muggeridge is set to make his British Superbike debut as a replacement for Brookes and is eager to get back on board a Superbike after recuperation for the past few months.  The 35-year-old Australian, broke two vertebrae after a big crash at Assen at the beginning of the year in the World Superbike series while riding for the Celani Team.  On his return at American round, he crashed again bringing out the red flag but escaped with only bruising, he was replaced by Alessandro Polita for the remainder of the season.

The team manager Havier Beltran said;

“Rider changes mid season are never ideal for riders or the team, but we’re in the situation we’re in and we fully intend to just try and make the most of a less than ideal situation and get on with the job. Steve did a superb job for the team at Mallory on his first real taste of a Superbike and we’re confident we can build on that performance at Brands Hatch. But beyond that, Steve needs to be able to concentrate fully on defending his Superstock title, which is why we’ve chosen to field John at Cadwell, instead of Steve again. John is familiar with the HM Plant Honda Superbike from the TT and North West 200 and this, coupled with his strong performance during our team test at Cadwell last week, secured him the BSB seat at the team’s home round. Karl is a rider who has experience of the British series and also Honda, having ridden for us in the Supersport championship a decade ago. He’s also won races at Brands, it’s his favourite circuit and he has experience of the Fireblade from his World Superbike experience. All in all, we feel we’re fielding a strong line-up for the next two rounds.”