Motourage

Prior to the British Superbike season opener at Brands Hatch this weekend, Simon Andrews will be swapping his MSS Colchester Kawasaki Superbike for the WSB machine of the Paul Bird Kawasaki Racing Team during their two-day test at Valencia this week.

The twenty-five year old Evesham rider will step in for the injured Chris Vermeulen during the test. Andrews has a year of experience on the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R Superbike and knows the machine extremely well.

Simon Andrews will swap his MSS Colchester-liveried Kawasaki for a Paul Bird-branded model this week at Valencia

The test is extremely useful to the MSS team, giving more track time to Simon ahead of the British Superbike opener this Easter weekend at Brands Hatch. The test also shows the very close relationship between the two teams which was highlighted over the winter as MSS inherited the WSB squad’s Magneti Marelli advanced engine management system.

Andrews has impressed the Kawasaki racing family, having given the UK squad their best recent British Superbike Championship position of sixth last year and regularly mixing it with the top riders through the season. Andrews said, “This really is a great opportunity and I intend to give the team as much feedback as possible. It also gives me valuable track time prior to the season opener at Brands next weekend.”

MSS Colchester Kawasaki Team Owner, Nick Morgan, added, “We’re supportive of Simon helping with the testing at Valencia and we think it’s a win-win situation. Ultimately it helps Paul Bird to have another viewpoint on the bike, it gives Simon a great opportunity to showcase his skills and it will possibly give us more direction and a race focused rider.”

Simon has a very busy period ahead as he tests at Valencia, races at the Easter Friday-Monday meeting at Brands Hatch, before the second British round at Thruxton, all in a two week gap.

MSS Colchester Kawasaki riders Simon Andrews and Gary Mason got to test the new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R complete with Magneti Marelli electronics, but only after snow was cleared from the circuit of Guadix in Spain.
Gary, Simon and new Superstock rider Howie Mainwaring each rode more than 30 laps in the test to dial in the new electronics systems.
On Tuesday, the team awoke to a thick blanket of snow, but unlike in their British home, the show soon melted, allowing the riders to gain meaningful practice and log valuable data.
MSS Colchester continues testing through Thursday.

MSS Colchester Kawasaki are busy putting together plans for an intense racing season with new riders, sponsors, high-technology and a focused development schedule as they attack British Superbike (BSB), National Superstock and the Isle of Man TT.

The Essex-based team stepped up a level in 2009 with their riders regularly running at the sharp end of the pack resulting in a creditable BSB series finish of sixth and seventh. Star rider Simon Andrews lead races, finished on the podium and would have had an even stronger Championship position had it not been for injury.

For the 2010 season, Andrews will again spearhead the team, backed up by Privateers Cup winner Gary Mason, while the squad will also run a professional effort in the fiercely competitive Metzeler National Superstock Championship, having signed up Howie Mainwaring.

MSS Colchester Kawasaki hopes all the pieces have finally come together for 2010

Away from the short circuits, the team will run a fourth Kawasaki ZX-10R in the varied roads circuits of the Isle of Man TT, Ulster GP and NW200 utilizing the talents of roads specialist Ryan Farquhar.

During the winter, the team have picked up two state-of-the-art electronics packages, which have been developed by the Kawasaki World Superbike outfit of Paul Bird Motorsport. The Magneti Marelli Marvel system handles all on-board electronics to tackle both data collection and system management, with a myriad of datalogging and fine tuning options available. The electronics systems have been installed and the technicians have acquainted themselves with the technology, the team now track time to hone their set up.

Winter testing is scheduled to start on the 9th March at Guadix in Spain, which will give the team the opportunity to explore the new electronics for the first time.

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