Motourage

GSE Racing, who ran the Airwaves Yamaha and Airwaves Ducati teams and scored BSB championships with Troy Bayliss, Neil Hodgson,  Shane Byrne and Leon Camier will be forced to pull out of racing if it fails to land a title sponsor by the end of the month.  All team members have been notified, but the team is making one final push for a sponsorship deal.  Wrigley’s Airwaves made the announcement mid-season that they would not be continuing their motorcycle racing endeavors past 2009.

Airwaves Yamaha's James Ellison

Darrell Healey, Team Principal:
“It is with great regret that we have had to issue the team with their notice of redundancy, with a view to withdrawing from the British Superbike Championship at the end of 2009. We have enjoyed tremendously our time racing in the most competitive domestic Superbike series in the world, and therefore this decision was not taken lightly. Alongside Yamaha, we will be doing all we can to try and secure a partner in the remaining time available, and greatly hope we can return to once again successfully defend our Championship title.”

Colin Wright, Team Manager
“Everyone at GSE Racing is incredibly saddened that we may no longer be able to compete in the British Superbike Championship. We enjoyed our most successful season ever in 2009. Leon Camier and James Ellison were the only two riders to have finished every race in the points (barring Leon’s exclusion at Cadwell) and we enjoyed numerous double race wins and double one two’s on our way to first and second in the Championship standings. We were very much looking forward to continuing this success on into 2010 as we entered our second year in partnership with Yamaha, but unfortunately it looks like this will now not be.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank the whole team for their unrivalled dedication and hard work, our previous sponsors for their support, and of course the British Superbike fans.”

Airwaves Yamaha's Leon Camier will start on pole at Croft tomorrow

Leon Camier will start on pole for tomorrow’s two British Superbike races at Croft. James Ellison secured a second row spot, qualifying 5th.

The Airwaves Yamaha pair made it through to the final qualifying phase with James 2nd fastest and Leon 3rd. In the final 10 minute Roll for Pole, Leon immediately went to the top of the timesheets. He then produced his fastest time, 1:20.124 on his second flying lap. James best time, 1:21.079 initially placed him 2nd. He was unfortunate not to improve and dropped down the order after experiencing a technical problem with his bike.

After qualifying James said, “I’m pretty frustrated with final qualifying. Like Cadwell Park, I’ve produce the 2nd fastest time of the day, but in the wrong session! Overall I’m pleased with how much we’ve progressed over the weekend. My time in Qualifying 3 was easy, and I know I can go consistently quicker so I’m confident ahead of the races tomorrow.”

Reflecting on his 8th pole position of the season, Leon said, “The times weren’t as fast as we were expecting, but another pole start is awesome. The circuit seems to be well suited to the Airwaves Yamaha, but the high track temperature made it quite slippery. There were a couple of moments when I scared myself a bit! We’ll keep pushing tomorrow and look to make a few set-up changes depending on the track temperature. As usual, I’ll probably get a bad start to both races but I’ll be pushing the guys around me and hopefully Airwaves Yamaha can get another good result.”

Race One is scheduled to commence at 1330 and Race Two at 1635.

Qualifying Results:

1. Leon Camier – Airwaves Yamaha 1:20.124
2. Simon Andrews – MSS Colchester Kawasaki 1:20.974
3. Stuart Easton – Hydrex Honda 1:20.980
4. Josh Brookes – HM Plant Honda 1:21.072
5. James Ellison – Airwaves Yamaha 1:21.079

The British Superbike Championship visits Croft in North Yorkshire this weekend. Scoring a win apiece last time out, Leon Camier and James Ellison head to the 2.1 mile circuit determined to continue their remarkable run of results.

Aboard the factory-supported Airwaves Yamaha YZF-R1, the pairing has won all but one of the races held so far this season. Leon now sits at the top of the Championship table on 399.5 points with James in 2nd on 302 points.

Speaking ahead of Round 10, James said, “I didn’t have much luck at Croft last year; we struggled all weekend with set-up problems. But this year I’m a lot more comfortable on the Airwaves Yamaha. I’m looking forward to getting on track. I’ve really got nothing to lose, but everything to gain in terms of the Championship so I’ll be pushing to try and win some more races. Getting a victory at Cadwell Park was fantastic in that I closed the gap in the standings to Leon, but I desperately want to win on merit rather than being handed the victory because of someone else’s bad luck.”

On the weekend ahead, Leon commented, “I like Croft, it’s got a bit of everything; it’s fast and flowing and I think the Airwaves Yamaha will work well round there. I’ve also got some great memories of racing at Croft, especially from my win in 2008. I think this weekend is going to be one of the toughest yet. Josh Brookes is back and he’s going to be fast, as is Ryuichi Kiyonari and of course my teammate James. I’m really looking forward to it. We should have two really exciting races.”

Round 10 of the British Superbike Championship takes place on 11/12/13 September at Croft.