2021 BSB Season Preview

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Bike Social and welcome to Silverstone. Here we are at the 2021 pre-season test and it's the first of four ahead of the new season. We've got Snetterton, Old Park and Donington to come and this is our season preview. Chris and I are going to be walking up and down pit lane introducing you to the new riders, teams and seeing who's really got the best package for the season ahead. Obviously Chris will be making his terrible predictions as is now becoming traditional. So can you believe it's already been six months since we last saw these superbikes in action, riding in anger at any kind of circuit. That's when Josh Brooks wrapped up the 2020 Bennett's British Superbike title back at Brands Hatch all those months ago and thankfully we're back and we're here. Chris, it's great isn't it? It's great to be back, it's just great to see some familiar faces as well, the riders, the teams, you know this is one big family of the BSB paddler. We travel around the UK together and it's great to see some bikes back in action and we're set for another fantastic season. It never fails to disappoint and you know the first round's not till the end of June so we're again we're a couple of months away from that at Autumn Park but you know there's good reason for that, that's a decision made a long time ago and it's all because of the fans isn't it? It's great to have the spectators, you know you guys are going to be able to get back to the trackside action and without the fans it was a difficult year wasn't it last year? It was and I know there was great TV coverage but it's just not the same as being here and you know we felt very fortunate we were at some rounds and seeing this fantastic season that unfolded so yeah back this year and the riders, everyone in the paddock just can't wait to welcome them back trackside and let them watch another great season unfold. Back stronger. All right stay with us we're going to introduce you to all the teams and riders. Christmas start outside the Paul Burr Motorsport team and it's the reigning champions of the Vision Track Ducati team. Such a strong package this isn't it really? It's a beautiful looking thing and we spoke to Josh Zubin pre-season and he seems mentally so prepared for this season. He's not taking liberties, he's not taking it as a given that he's going into the season as a title favourite. It's great to see him on the number one plate by the way and I'm just, I was impressed by his attitude. Yeah it's a team to beat this season yet again and Josh he won it but when we actually look at the sort of results he only actually won five races last year. He's Mr Consistent, he'll be the man to beat yet again and Christian in the other side of the pit box he'd done exactly what he needs to do last year. He performed at the level that this team expects and what Paul Burr expects. So Christian won his first race didn't he as well last year was it Snetterton right? He famously won his race and then decided to high-five a Fireblade at about 100 miles an hour because he got caught in the back wheel of Glenn Irwin. Whilst we're at this pit box by the way there's a pretty special prize that Bennett's customers or Bennett's Rewards customers can can have this year can't they? Yeah they get literally get to have a go on that bike so one of our customers, one of the Bennett's customers can have a ride on that bike at Donington. Five of the entrants will go to Donington to ride a Ducati sports bike for the day and then one of them will be whittled down to on Josh Brooks's championship winning bike. Chris FS3 Racing they've got the new Kawasaki ZX10. This is the double R so it's the it's the race version of course but I love the standard road bikes. You rode this yesterday didn't you? I didn't ride that yesterday unfortunately wouldn't let me out on that one but I rode the standard R and the double R. Yeah phenomenal upgrades to the to the road bike but of course these are these are bespoke racing machines so there's very little that's on both of them. Anyway you've got Rory Skinner here who obliterated the field really in Super Sport last year and he's he's deservedly in my opinion got his chance at Superbike level which is great and his teammate Lee Jackson who who ran really well last year didn't he? His fellow riders come off you know finished the race and was talking just how how aggressive and and great Lee looks in the race and Rory Skinner yeah I mean sort of a revelation last year we've known he's had the talent for many a year now I think he won the Super Sport championship by 100 points so he's got his riding Superbike can he adapt to the Superbike? I mean the way he the shapes he got that Super Sport bike to pull last year and I remember up at Druids he was backing the R6 into there it was incredible to watch and if he can bring some of that style to the Superbike it'll be great to see how he gets on this year. Rory Talent he's got you're absolutely right he's deserved this chance for a long long time and I'm really pleased he has and he's a nice guy too which is great I spoke to him at Knock Hill last week and the guy's got his head screwed on he'll be he'll be scoring many points in this in this uh in this championship and the team around him as well that's that's the thing to point out depth of knowledge there that they can slowly just uh transfer that knowledge over to him help him develop the bike and understand like you say there's so many different variables you can change in a Superbike compared to a Super Sport Super Sport bike so I think he is going to put more pressure on himself than may be necessary but uh yeah it'll be interesting to see how these two relatively young guns perform this year Chris the McCams Yamaha team established well established now in the paddock and uh and they've retained their same two riders haven't they for this year Tara McKenzie and Jason O'Halloran and Jason what a revelation he was 11 podiums I think he got in put together a fantastic season and came really close to to snatching the championship right at the end but there's only a few small sort of tweaks they've made to the bike it's a great package in terms of handling and performance so there wasn't made major sort of differences they want to make for this season and then across the other side of the pit box Taron he finished fifth last year I think he had two race wins obviously wasn't the season he was expecting but just needs built together a really consistent season this year um and these two will be fighting for podium throughout the season. Taron's very much an old head on young shoulders isn't he again a young man with a lot of experience and um and you know this he's been with the team for a long time now he's well established he knows how these things work and he's a proven race winner he you know he's he's going to be up there oh yeah 100 percent and yeah he feels like he's been in for years now which he has been and like you say he's um he's got the raw talent he's got the bike underneath him the team around him as well they're real real professional outfits Steve knows how to put together a great team so expect some big things from this team this year. Chris Zenetic BMW team uh we've got so this is a factory-backed BMW team and as you can see as Danny Buchan rolls in we've got the uh and his his teammate or new teammate for this year's Andrew Irwin and they've got the new M1000RRs which of course you can tell because of the the wings on the side last year Andrew had a fantastic season really on on the Honda and really showed he was a sort of championship contender I think this year he just needs to adapt to the new bike I mean he did it last year with the Honda that was a new bike out of the box so it'll be interesting to see how he he gets on this year and Danny we spoke to him a few weeks back Danny's really impressed with the effort that BMW putting into into this team and I think he was a Kawasaki from 2008 so it's a it's a big change for him and he felt in his racing career it was the right time to do it and and a fresh start new bike new team it's just gonna be great to see how it unfolds you got when you got talented pros like this they're going to adapt themselves very easily I usually to to whatever machine they're on but it's interesting when you've got the likes of a BMW backed a factory backed team they were almost do you think they're under a bit more pressure to perform yeah I guess I'd say with the BMWs for the last few seasons they I guess they they've underperformed and and that's why I think they're really mean business with this new M1000RR from the outset they've built this bike to win championships and and the performance the stats the kit the technology it's got on it they've almost gone here you go this is what you know you riders want and have asked for go out and do the business yeah and that part of that kit of course is those are very obvious appendages out the side there those wings Darrell who's one of Andrew's chief technicians is talking just now about about how they're just they're really they're basing this test this Silverstone test on understanding how the wings work so they can know how it's going look again another slick looking package uh and I think that uh BMW you know an enormous company with enormous aspirations um from world superbike level all the way through IDM and here in British Superbikes uh they'll be wanting this thing to perform won't they and Taika as well let's not forget they've got some great racing history I guess they've been in the paddock for years and they they know what it takes to to put together a championship so hopefully they can start really showing that that form of a few years ago Chris we move down to Honda Racing and such a slick setup here they've got their Honda Fireblades that were very competitive straight out of the box last year of course race wins early on uh they've retained Glenn Irwin for this year he's very much the I was gonna say granddaddy of the team but he's got two young Japanese compatriots this year Ryu Mizuno and we see him at the back of the pink carousel just there and Takumi Takahashi both over from Japan well experienced on that side of the world on those kind of circuits and I think they're extremely handy around the likes of Suzuka but they've not been to Canberra Park and Knock Hill it's gonna be very much a learning season and the bike like you say last year come out of the box fantastic I think it even surprised uh you know the riders and the team just how great Glenn this year he's obviously all the experience now you know he led that championship for a long time last year and I know he missed out on the last couple of rounds and it was sort of I think it's Alton Park and Brands Hatch to sort of fit as much as they had in some of the other circuits so if he can sort of fix some of the issues that they found at those circuits and put together that that rounder season that he's looking for then then he'll be a contender I mean Takahashi's got world superbike experience he's done MotoGP World Cards, Rio's done Moto2, Moto3 and the All Japan Championship which is the equivalent of BSB in Japan so I'm thinking when we come to some of the tracks second time around the likes of Alton, Donington Park they've been there before they would have been there early in the season and they can look at really attacking those um those rounds at the end towards the end of the season again I'm sure Glenn will be looking forward looking for you know a real a season he puts together where he can fight for that title he's obviously got confidence in the motorbike he's got the this this slick Honda backing and I think he's coming to this kind of place with with his own belief as well he's he's now he's kind of got this leadership role in the team but he's very much he knows that he's out for number one and it's in his his name that's going to be up there in lights if he does a good job I think he's he's certainly got the right kind of attributes and again a level head he's had a few years where he's been up and down and he's it seems like he's found his home now with Honda. The team boss has been a real valuable part in that he's you know he's been around the planet for many a year and he knows what it takes to build a season and build a rider you know there's a lot of talk obviously we're talking about how great the bikes are and how the performance of them and the statistics of them but actually you know you've got to put a rider on top of it that's got to ride and get those performances out of the bike and and that you know the mentality of a rider is about 90% of their their sort of input really if you can get a good happy rider on the bike that's a lot of the hard work done. Just looking at Tom Neve in the background there in the garage he's not riding today because he's still still recovering from a knee operation but he's their super stock rider and again had a good season last year didn't he he'll be he'll be you know I know that he's been begging for a chance at superbike level so you know he's got an incentive as well. That's it and I mean it's such a big BSB grid we haven't got time to touch on some of the other support classes during this episode but yeah the super stock 1000 grid this year looks phenomenal it's almost like a BSB grid times two some of the riders have got multiple British championships and are on new machinery and it's just it's amazing the depth of talent and machinery and teams all across this paddock is phenomenal really and we're in for some season Chris we're outside the garage of the well it's got vision track written on it but it's the Hawk racing team isn't it the Suzuki's? Yeah that's correct Gino Ray and Danny Kent super stock 1000 last year I think he finished sixth in that in that championship he's really eager to to learn and adapt to the bike and Gino now he's he's been in and around the paddock for a while he's got got a really good team underneath him hawk racing have been in the paddock for many a year and I mean the Suzuki now is it's it's getting a bit long in the tooth you know it's probably one of the oldest models on the grid but that's still a very competitive package and it'll just be interesting to see who how these two work together and put the season together. It's a bike that's performed well here at Silverstone for the last few years we've seen race wins for the car ride last year on this particular bike and and you mentioned it already that Gino Ray's got some again he's a man with good experience good knowledge a good understanding of how racing works so I think that he's again a bit of a dark horse he's he's if he can consistently score points you never know where he might end up at the end of this season and of course this season 33 races we haven't mentioned that yet so we've got 11 rounds of three races each and what we haven't spoken about is the the sort of slightly different format we've got eight races now instead of six in the showdown and and there's a slight amend to to to the qualifying setup as well. Gino Ray is crazy enough to do endurance racing so he's used to riding these super bikes or stock bikes for 24 hours so three races a weekend there's gonna be a walk in the park for him yeah there's a lot of changes this season to free practice and qualifying means you have to be quick straight out of the blocks you can't be caught slacking at the start of a race weekend now. Chris FA2 Racing a new team for this year well a revision of an existing team let's say obviously formerly I guess known as Smith's Racing Team but first off what a great looking bike it's set up there is there I mean they look fantastic you have to see these bikes in the flesh to really appreciate them but they're on the new M1000RR this year Hickman we all know how great of a rider he he can be and and he he hates it that people class him as a as a road-going guy he's had some some really good results in in superbike over the years and this year got Forres next to him in the in the pit box and Forres is a Forres is a rider that doesn't necessarily focus on single lap pace he really builds into the weekend and develops that race pace so definitely one to watch on Saturday and Sunday this year I hate you and Peter's again he's already mentioned to us that he's uh he's he's always wanted or he's longed for a really really competitive teammate who can push him who can beat him and then that will egg him on to make him that bit better as well so I think with with with Xavi Forres here he's again an experienced guy he knows how to set up a bike he knows how to he's got a very methodical approach there's also Brian McCormack who we saw roll out just a minute ago he's part of the team he's a fellow road racer and a guy that I think we'll learn a lot this year from from the likes of Forres and Hickman if they can adapt to that new M1000RR this year and get it um get it set up ready to kick off the season then they'll be expecting great results Chris the other Ducati V4R on the grid is that of Tommy Bridewell and it's the uh Oxford Products Racing Ducati team isn't it? I say he'll be disappointed with um the season he had last year but off the back of 2019 when he had such a fantastic season it wasn't the result that he was expecting last year so round one the final race of that round he absolutely dominated and cleared off we thought this is this is a year it could be a similar year for him um example throughout the rest of the season but for some reason from that round he then struggled and they've been chasing set up um I think they switched switch suspension um companies so they're now with KTEC so a bit of a restart this year for Tommy but great team they've been in the paddock for a long long time so this year he can just build a build a good season and get that consistency back he's a man with a lot of experience in this paddock and on that bike it's his third I think season third full season now with the team uh so he will be hoping for for well no he won't be hoping for podiums no racer does they want the wins but I think realistically he's got to be up there hasn't he? Yeah he has to be like you say he's he knows what to what's required of him to to get on the podiums and like you say he's he's got the belief there because he he'd done it in 2019 when he was breaking sort of lap records with the likes of Brooks and Redding so he's got the mindset and he's got the uh the passion and the ability to do it so yeah one to watch this year Chris we're uh moved down the pit lane and this is Tag Racing is Dan Linfoot and he's got a Fireblade this year yeah they switched to Honda machinery this year they were on Yamahas last year and that Honda actually has uh official UK support so the the team next door the official Honda team um have helped them put together this package and and it's got to be one of the the packages on the grid to have really that Honda machinery last year like you said it was fantastic out of the box and Dan's a really experienced rider last year when he wasn't racing the super bikes he was racing super stock keeping bike fit um and he's he's he's really confident about this season I managed to speak to him a few weeks back um filing things called zoom calls I think that's all the only way we can talk to riders in the off season so it's nice to to see him in the flesh and see him out on a really competitive package this year and Tag Racing I mean a few years back with Josh Brooks they they were titled they were title contenders they only just missed out winning that title they're a really great uh great team of course he's run with Honda before hasn't he was part of the Honda racing team so he's familiar with the the setup of a Honda and how a Honda will perform so I think that actually we've got a bike and rider here which could be which could be you know a real a contender for some big points I'd expect I mean Dan himself is setting some real big um sort of standards and high standards Chris from all BMWs we've got the the new M1000RRs of the Rich Energy OMG Racing team and they've got two new riders for this year yep they've got Carl Ride and Bradley Ray it was here at Silverstone that Carl secured his first race win and it's it's going to be a really interesting season for these two because they're both relatively young riders Brad showed some you know back in his Hawk Suzuki days when he sort of set the world alight really beating the likes of Shakey on that Suzuki and last year on the BMW it didn't go to plan but he was the only in the early part of the season the only BMW riders that could could make that S1000RR sort of tick and now on the new M1000RR him and Carl will just be looking to set up that bike um and and yeah they'll they'll be there or thereabouts I think this season again we've got two we've got two young lads with a fair bit of experience and and both of them have won races so they know how to do it um I can't see why well look it all depends on how that BMW beds in and how quick it is out the out the box but again we've got another two competitive riders on another really well put together team it's it's a common theme we're talking about I know I know and and just small things like the M1000RR has um has the wings on it that I think every modern superbike seems to have or riders demand that they have but some of the performance stats that the new wings show is that I think Tom Sykes when he tested the previous model and then tested one with wings on it was like three hundredths of a second difference between lap times which okay over one lap might not seem that much but over the course of a race and that's that's really going to add up to some valuable time um in the pocket for these riders and going to circuits like Alton Park and and Brands GP where having that extra downforce and and that ability to control the bike over some real um tricky terrain is going to definitely play to their advantage so this is the Lee Hardy racing team aka the RF regular reserves they're running Kawasaki again and you can tell from the fairing alone it's the it's the new uh it's the new double R for this year the new ZX10. Brian is another one of those guys a very likable character I think he's well he's well liked around the paddock. I saw at the end of season he showed me some of his scars of his collarbone I mean he was riding with a broken collarbone for god knows how many rounds and really when you look at the results with what what kit he had in his in his collarbone it was an impressive year so we know he has the natural talent you know he zoomed up the the the ladder classes just because he was he was phenomenal in some of the the stock 600 and if he can put together you know a consistent season stay stay injury free which is easier said than done for some of these riders the limit they're constantly pushing and racing up he'll be able to have a great season. It's a great point uh Brian again another young gun a guy with clearly an enormous amount of talent uh and that bike I think it's gonna be good for this year. Unlucky with injuries so far but again a good point you need because of this the compactness of this season a bit like last season you can't afford to start stacking it early in the early early rounds uh and you know and almost crippling yourself for gathering those important points. That's it and I think it's what what you also find then is if like you say the start of season you you have the odd spiel and it ruins the first part of your season you then start chasing your tail and then you start overriding them and it's a real difficult predicament to be in because like you say you want to want to impress and you have to keep impressing in this pattern. It was funny at the end of last season he uh we gave away 93 CBTs to some riders and he did our CBT with us so yeah it was that was a funny day seeing um instructors tell Ryan Vickers how to ride away how to do your safety checks and CBT training is going to stand him in good stead for um this this Chris we're outside the garage of GR Motorsport we've got Brent Gladwin team owner right here in front of us they've got a super bike and a super stock bike tell us about it. I think he's 18 now he's getting on a bit isn't he Storm so last year he was only just 18 as well literally last week yeah he was the youngest point scoring superbike rider ever and I think it was here at Silverstone that he secured that point so uh did himself justice last year to adapt to superbike like he did was was really really um great so he'll he'll want to put together another great season this year he's like I said he's on the new new machinery yeah yeah that ZX10 he's been well developed by Jonathan Ray they put a lot into it I learned a lot about it only yesterday having ridden the new the road bike the R and the double R but this is the this is the double R so this is the new bike but it as Brent was just telling us off camera uh that's got the older fairing he's still waiting for the new fairing he doesn't think that'll come until uh after the Stettington test next week but again it should be a very competitive motorbike and whether they can they can get Storm hooked up with that again he lacks experience but he's uh he's got a lot of desire he's got a lot of raw talent and I'm sure these are the guys who can who can help him Chris another one of the new BMWs on the grid is is that of the PR racing team and Joe Francis now they've expanded this year they've got Brad Jones who's moved up from Supersport um they are what Joe's told me they're running the M1000RR but not with the wings just yet I think they're probably just trying to find a base level compared to the S1000RR that they ran last year. I remember seeing Joe race superteams back in the day and he was struggling with the previous model I think on the braking in that area and he said if I can improve that area I reckon I could be on for sort of top six finishes so that'll be really interesting to see how Joe does and then on the other side of the garage Brad Jones making his debut in the Superbike class. I've known Brad for quite a few years now and there's lots of short in Superbike he was really consistent in Supersport for the last few seasons just losing out to sort of Jack Kennedy who's probably one of the greatest Supersport riders we've seen in the BSB sort of paddock for many a generation so yeah no discredit there to the way he performed in that championship and a really talented rider who this season just needs to learn the Superbike and learn the team and get a good sort of few races under his belt. Joe's another one of those young riders who's got the natural ability and I was talking to him last week and he's got the confidence in his ability as well he knows that he belongs in this paddock he knows he's a good rider he just needs to make sure that the package is underneath him to give him that confidence to push on he was talking about running last year I think at Donington he was running sort of p6 p7 he could catch the group in front but he couldn't pass and he it's that do or don't you know do I or don't I kind of setup so I mean I'm impressed with his his his approach to racing and I hope the BMW works for him this year. This is the Powerslide Catfoss Suzuki of Bjorn Estement the South African and he's on a package it's a Suzuki like we've mentioned it might be one of the older models on the grid but for an all-round package it's a very very good bike and Bjorn will be looking to learn the bike learn the team as well as the championship and yeah just put together a really consistent season. Chris is Dean Harrison heading out on the Kawasaki we know him as an incredibly fast roads rider at the TT so he's going to be he's going to be looking I guess for a bit of road time now that the roads I say road track time now the roads road season's not really happening this year Josh Owens as well on the rapid training bike here. Caught up with Josh last season and and he's a former two-time British champion so he knows there's no way he knows his way around some of these British circuits and yeah the depth of talent up and down the the pit boxes is incredible Joey Thompson as well here he's making his superbike debut this season on the BMWs like Dean Harrison next to him renowned for his road racing credentials and he said it's a dream come true to ride in this in the superbike. This is a BMW he's got here yeah this is a BMW yep and he said it's a dream come true to finally race in this series and he had a really good season in Moto2 last year so so like we were saying that the depth of talent up and down this this paddock is incredible. It's easy to forget how how brilliant some of these riders are okay they might be with some teams that have got a slightly smaller budget they don't have that progression in terms of development or the latest kit but in terms of their talents then what a great place or what a great showground to demonstrate what they can do so there we have your runners and riders for the 2021 Bennett's British Superbike Championship and I'm sure you will agree it's going to be a belter we can't wait for you to be back in the stands we can't wait to be back here uh ready for well round one Alton Park end of June we're going all over the country as usual Snetton, Brands, uh Thruxton, Silverstone, Donington, Alton, Knockhill, Cadwall, there we are got them all um yeah mate look it's looking good I'm really excited I can't wait to see the uh the guys in action and um well come on then prediction time you've lost handsomely for the last two years give me your give me your top three I know after I've just gone up and down pit lane and spouted all the knowledge and well hopefully knowledge I've given and said who do I reckon I've you know I've said it last week I reckon Glenn Irwin's going to take the championship this year followed by Jason Halloran and Josh Brooks there we go I've said and now I've just now that I've said that I've just made an argument for another three riders that I want to want to say who's going to win it what about you what are you thinking predictions yeah so you've gone with an actual placing of one two and three so I thought you're just going to give me three names and it didn't really matter which I read I reckon this year it's going to be like um yeah look we say every year it's going to be close uh and there's a lot of people out there there's a lot of a lot of great riders a lot of great bikes who are doing who are doing some great stuff and unfortunately unfortunately I think I'm going to predict that the Ducatis will be one two and three you can't do that you've played that same for a few few seasons now okay what about a wild card who do you think is going to surprise us this year who's going to be the who's going to be the rookie of the year Roy Skinner Roy Skinner and yeah without without a shadow of a doubt I think that uh if I don't want to put too much pressure on him not that he'll probably pay attention to what I'm saying but I think that um I think that he's got the talent I think that Kawasaki team is a really is a really really good team and I think that uh he'll be the one to watch well despite being absolutely freezing here today it seems to be warming up nicely doesn't it uh the track action is warming up nicely good stuff all right thanks so much for being with us hope you've enjoyed it hope you've learned something uh don't forget to write any comments or questions and we'll do our best to get the official answer or you can have us make something up thanks again see you next time it's like vomitor rolling official team name oxford products motoropedia ducati oxford products racing ducati ah for racing are you ready uh chris the next uh the next team we're here next chris has moved down the paddock oh my god they started to start off the season um with yamaha's r1s and and they couldn't they