Motourage

As the long Easter Weekend draws to a close, the Buildbase BMW Motorrad team leaves Brands Hatch with their first British Superbike Championship points of the season and some much-needed track time on their new BMW S 1000 RR race bikes.

Monday’s first race saw Richard Cooper bring his S 1000 RR home in sixth position in the Superstock 1000 race. The first of the day’s British Superbike/BSB-EVO races was a mixed bag with Buildbase BMW Motorrad rider Barry Burrell finishing 21st overall and sixth in the EVO Championship. However, the race wasn’t so productive for the team’s two BSB riders, John Laverty and Ian Lowry, who were both knocked off by rivals at Druids on laps four and 27 respectively, which put paid to their race one hopes.

John Laverty lost the tip of his right index finger in race one and did not start race two

John Laverty was unable to return for Race Two having lost the tip of his right index finger in the race one incident, leaving Ian Lowry the sole Buildbase BMW Motorrad rider in the BSB class. As with the first race, his times were improving and he was steadily climbing positions until, late in the race, an electrical fault caused him to return to the pits. Barry Burrell brought his S 1000 RR home and secured his second top-ten EVO finish of the day with a 22nd overall/seventh place in class result.

Stuart Hicken, Buildbase BMW Motorrad team principal, said: “Richard Cooper did very well, delivering a solid race and taking home a nice haul of points. In the first Superbike race, both my BSB riders went down, both knocked off by other riders, which is very annoying as it was a good day until then! Barry did very well today, taking a respectable sixth place finish. He was a little nervous, I think, to be taking his first EVO Championship ride, and I think he’ll only get better.

“Unfortunately, in the second race – while John Laverty was being checked out at the hospital – Ian suffered from a small electrical gremlin which ended his race. But Barry finished in a similar way to his first race, bringing his bike home seventh in class.

“There’s a lot of positives to take from this meeting, the overall results do not do justice to the hard work and the huge progress the team has made this weekend. I’m not unhappy with where we are; our times were getting very close to the front runners and I see huge potential in the riders and the S 1000 RR.”

The Buildbase BMW Motorrad team will be taking to the track next weekend for round two of the season at Oulton Park.
Read more…

Buildbase Kawasaki are pleased to announce their 2010 British Superbike line up with John Laverty being partnered by Adam Jenkinson.

Laverty, who celebrated the birth of his first child last week, is delighted to be staying with the team that he rocketed to being a podium contender with during 2009.

John Laverty will remain with Buildbase Kawasaki for the 2010 British Superbike Season

John Laverty:
“After the 2009 season finished there was no doubt in my mind where I should be for 2010. I have a great relationship with the team and I’m sure it will only get better for next season. With all the data from 2009 we should be challenging for podiums from the start.”

Adam joins the team for 2010 after a strong season in the National Superstock 1000cc saw him take numerous podiums and a win at Silverstone.

Adam Jenkinson joins the Buildbase team after a successful season with SMT Honda in the Superstock 100 series

Adam Jenkinson:
“After joining the team for the Sunflower meeting in October there was only one place I wanted to be for 2010 and here I am! Bring on 2010 and let’s see what we can do. It will be great to be in the team with John and I am sure we can work well together to achieve the right results.”

Stuart Hicken, Team Principal:
“We have a great line up for 2010 with John and Adam, both riders are full of confidence and after a good season in 2009 I’m sure we can push on in 2010 with some top results. Our thanks must go to Buildbase who have proved to be an excellent company to work with and we look forward to working together for many seasons to come. We are working very hard with our technical partners pre-season especially Cosworth who are providing the expertise for our engine development program. We will be completing initial testing in the UK before attending the official Bitubo Suspension test in Cartagena in February.”

John Laverty secured a top-ten finish in the MCE British Superbike Championship with 10th and 6th place finishes before missing out on a possible 4th place when crashing out on the penultimate lap of the final race of the season. Seven places higher than his 2008 overall position, Laverty showed excellent pace throughout the weekend, again making the final phase of qualifying. Starting from 10th, John got away well in the first race of the triple-race weekend, before the race was red flagged. A poor get-away in the restart saw John battle his way back through to finish 10th just 1.5 seconds behind 5thplace. In race 2, John got way much better and was involved in a race long battle with Josh Brookes eventually getting the better of him and finishing 6th. In race 3, after the second red flag of the weekend – this time on lap 1 – John got away but soon became entangled in a battle with Sylvain Guintolo and Ian Lowry for 4th. On the penultimate lap, John pushed hard into Brittens chicane where he unfortunately crashed out of the race. A tough way to end the 2009 season but filled with promise for 2010.