Brookes And Redding All Set For Silverstone
This forthcoming Easter weekend sees the Be Wiser Ducati Racing Team commence their bid to regain the title they surrendered last year when the opening round of the 2019 Bennetts British Superbike Championship gets underway at Silverstone.
With a brand new line up of four-times Grand Prix winner Scott Redding and former BSB champion Josh Brookes, who will have at their disposal the exciting factory-supported Be Wiser Ducati Panigale V4 R, hopes are high of success following a positive pre-season testing schedule which saw both riders towards the top of the time sheets.
26-year-old Redding, from Quedgeley in Gloucestershire, teams up with the Lake District-based team once again, the pair resurrecting a partnership which saw team boss Paul Bird back him in various junior championships at the start of his career which started in minimotos in 2001. Scott has for the past five seasons raced in the elite MotoGP class, claiming two podiums during that time.
Meanwhile 36-year-old Brookes, from Bringelly in New South Wales, Australia, has a wealth of British Superbike experience to date including over 220 starts and is currently fourth in the list of all-time BSB race winners with a total of 39 victories. As well as his domination en route to the 2015 BSB title, Josh has been runner-up three times in his BSB tenure and last year finished fourth.
Scott Redding: “I’m really excited going into the first round and to compete in my first BSB races at Silverstone. It’s going to be tough as the format is different as I’m not used to doing two races in a day, there’s the new tracks I’m going to have to adapt to and of course, there are the fantastic fans to race in front of. The shorter track at Silverstone means there’s going to be lots of action and you need more balls than skill at times. The bike is good, the team is excellent and I’m ready so let’s get this started.”
Josh Brookes: “I’m quite pleased as everything is looking very competitive at this very early stage going into the season. To be so close to where we need to be is very promising considering we’ve found an excellent setup at all the tracks we’ve tested at, without doing massive changes. Both at Silverstone last week and previously in Europe, at totally different tracks and opposing weather conditions, we have been towards the top of the times, so we have a good working area so hopefully that transpires into a good result this weekend.”
John Mowatt, Team Co-ordinator: “These are exciting times for the Be Wiser Ducati British Superbike Team with a whole new rider line up and a fantastic brand-new bike for 2019. Scott and Josh have integrated well into the team and we have made excellent strides with the Be Wiser Ducati Panigale V4 R in pre-season testing. Hopefully the weather will be good over Easter and both Josh and Scott can make a great start to winning back the BSB title we last held in 2016 and 2017.”
There is live action on Eurosport throughout the weekend with Datatag Extreme Qualifying on Easter Saturday from 16.00 and the Bennetts BSB races live on Easter Sunday at 13.30 and 16.30. Free-to-air channel Quest will be showing the action live and highlights will be broadcast during the week including on ITV4 on Wednesday evening at 20.00.
For further information, please visit the team’s website, www.pbmuk.net and the official website of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship www.pbmuk.net