Worx Crescent Suzuki is confident that they’re prepared and ready for action for this weekend’s 2010 British Superbike Championship opener at Brands Hatch in Kent. An extra fourth day is added to the usual practice schedule to give the teams every opportunity to be fully-ready when the Roll for Pole qualifying takes place on Sunday afternoon. However, the Worx Crescent Suzuki team are positive that they’ve overcome the minor issues that they experienced with their new electronic package in testing in Spain and are already 100% ready to go. Jack Valentine – Team Manager: “The last days before the start of the season are always hectic. But this year we’re well prepared. The GSX-R1000 hasn’t changed markedly from last season, but we have had to work hard to establish good base settings for our new suspension package from Ãhlins and new electronic engine management system from Motec. “Although we experienced some issues while winter testing in Spain, these were overcome and the test times showed that we again, for 2010, have a highly competitive machine. That really is very much due to the team, the mechanics, as they’ve worked really hard in demanding conditions – rain and snow – and delivered us a bike that’s so good. “Earlier this week we took in two days of testing at Cadwell Park with Tommy Hill and we were happy to find that the base settings from Spain transferred well to a British track and the solutions that we applied to our earlier issues have also proved lasting. The bike is exactly how we want it to start the season.” The team this year is substantially bigger than last year, now a two-rider team, which means two technical crews, but with the new one-bike-per rider rule for the Championship, the quantity of hardware virtually stays the same. For their part, the riders are exceptionally busy at this time: Hill has been much in demand for radio and general media interviews as he’s seen as the local man to the Brands Hatch venue and so finds himself acting as an ambassador for the Championship as well as for Suzuki at this time. Yukio Kagayama meanwhile is busy settling in his young family into a new apartment in West London. “For Yukio it’s been quite a tense time since winter testing. Immigration laws for the UK are quite different to when he was last here, in 2003-4, and like Josh Brookes last year, he’s found there are a lot more steps to gaining even temporary residency. In that respect we’d like to offer our thanks to Simon Morris at the British Embassy in Japan, who understood our need for fast tracking his application – without his intervention, there’s no way Yukio’s visa would have been completed within time. Yukio’s now moving into his new apartment and his children are enrolled in the nearby Japanese school.” The team will be hoping for a similar start to that they saw at Brands Hatch last season when Sylvain Guintoli took pole position and a race win in his first outing in BSB. “We’ve got the bike and we’re very certain we’ve got the right riders. Yukio has seven career wins in BSB and was third in the championship in 2004. He knows the GSX-R1000 intimately and he’s ready to go for podium finishes – as his fastest lap at the Cartagena tests showed. Tommy really excites us, too. He’s always been an exciting rider, but these days he’s balancing his speed with maturity; he’s become the complete package. He showed last year what he can do and there’s no question in his mind, this year he wants the championship. “From my perspective I’ll be happy to get Brands out of the way. It’s always a fast and furious round with the riders all seriously keen to get their championships started in a big way. So everyone’s on the edge. And around such a tight, short circuit that makes it tricky. Nonetheless, we’re confident in our riders and bike. It’ll be exciting.” More, from a press release issued by Swan Honda: SWAN HONDA READY TO ROLL AT BRANDS HATCH The Swan Honda team are getting ready to roll at Brands Hatch this weekend for the opening round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship as James Ellison and Stuart Easton begin their assault on a maiden title. The team have worked hard over the winter in preparation for the opening round with both riders making significant progress in recent Spanish pre-season tests. Ellison is keen to stamp his authority on the championship aboard the Swan Honda at Brands Hatch, whilst Easton is keen to put his recent crash in testing behind him and get his title campaign underway. Ellison said: “I am really looking forward to finally getting the season underway; I am excited but also nervous with anticipation at the same time. It is definitely going to be closer this year and there are a lot of us who genuinely believe we have what it takes to win the title. The Brands Hatch Indy circuit laps are frantic because they are so short which means that nobody can really get an advantage. I guarantee there will be fairing bashing on Easter Monday!” Easton said: “I have had nearly a week of healing now following my crash at Cadwell Park and already I can feel the difference. It started to feel better at the weekend and I still have some more time before we are out on track on Good Friday. At the moment I am just taking it as it comes, but my aim remains the same, and that is to go out at Brands Hatch and get the best results I can for the Swan Honda team.” Team manager Shaun Muir concluded: “I cannot remember a year when our pre season preparation has gone so well. We’ve had the scare with Stuart’s Cadwell Park injury, but that looks to be healing well. We expect the competition to be tough and times close, with everybody getting so much track time and it being such a short lap at Brands Hatch Indy. That being said, we can only look at our own game plan and would expect that both riders will make a solid start to the season. The pre-season talk and speculation is over and it’s down to business now, so fingers crossed for a dry weekend.” For more information visit www.swanhonda.co.uk More, from a press release issued by Honda: Easter Monday season opener for Honda stars in 2010 British Superbike title chase Ryuichi Kiyonari, the former two times winner of the title, returns to head up the factory backed HM Plant Honda team’s bid to regain the MCE Insurance British Superbike crown, the chase for which begins with a double race opening round on the short and undulating Brands Hatch Indy Circuit on Easter Monday, 5 April. The 27-year-old Japanese rider is excited by the challenge as he returns to the British scene for a fifth season with the Louth-based Honda team, riding their latest version of the proven race-winning CBR1000RR with Australian team-mate Josh Brookes aboard a similar specification machine. Brookes is back for a second term with the team which is looking very strong as they prepare to put Honda back on top of the British title standings, with that cause re-inforced by the privately entered Swan Honda team of last year’s runner-up James Ellison and Stuart Easton, third in the final positions then. Between them, they expect to be dominant forces, with Kiyonari, back from two tough years in the World Superbike Championship, relaxed and ready to start. “I feel that I am back at home now I am here with this team,” he explained. “I have the same people working with me and everything around me is good. “I am excited to be racing here, and although it will be hard, as there are many good riders in the championship, I want to win. I had some of my best times riding with this team and now I want that to continue,” added Kiyonari who, having made his debut in Britain in 2004, won the title in 2006 and 2007. Kiyonari will be hard pressed by 26-year-old Brookes who is keen to show his real potential after a difficult, incident-packed 2009 season. “I expect a lot of myself, probably higher than a lot of other people set themselves, but I take a great pride in riding for the team at this level for them.” Brookes, with ten podium finishes and a strong ending to his 2009 campaign, finished fourth overall last term. “I have to maintain and build on the momentum of last year and now I am anxious and excited to get back racing, although this opening round is on a circuit I don’t like too much as it is so short. “The lap times are so close here and that makes it difficult to make up any time, even to find a tenth of a second, but, that said, I am feeling positive from the start,” added Brookes who is expecting quite a fight with Kiyonari. “He wants to win, and so do I. Kiyo is a fun character, but being a double champion shows how strong a rider he is for both of us, winning the title is the target,” said Brookes. The home threat of Ellison, who rode for the Shaun Muir-owned Swan Honda team in 2008, returning to them after a season riding Yamaha, will be high. “It was a bit unexpected, as I had a two year deal with GSE but they pulled out, and I had the chance to return I am really happy about it, having a good team around me who get on with the job. “It will be a hard season, Kiyonari is back, as is another champion Neil Hodgson, but I am happy with my bike, which is just as I want it. I feel more comfortable on it than I did on the Yamaha, so I believe I will be stronger in the races. “The first round will be spectacular, the circuit is short and you cannot get away, so there could be a bunch of 15 riders up front with very little between them. It is difficult to pass, so a good qualifying performance is very important,” added Ellison. His team-mate, former British Supersport champion Easton, has been well on the pace in testing but suffered a set-back with a tumble in which he sustained a badly gashed left leg. “I consider myself lucky that it was nothing more, and now I am stitched up and ready to go racing. “My bike is much improved on last season, with work on the electronics, and having won two races last year, my clear goal now is to go for the title. I have a strong team-mate in James but we have worked well together in testing and development, but come the races, we will both be hungry to beat each other,” added Easton. Ranged against them on the 35 strong starting grid is a mix of the best of British and some top International riders. Hodgson, returns, a decade on from winning the British title, to ride for Yamaha, while Japan’s Yukio Kagayama, who graduated onto the World scene after his previous heroics in Britain, returns to ride Suzuki alongside Tommy Hill and Michael Laverty. The Lavertys are intent on making it a family affair as Michael’s brother John races for Kawasaki, as do Simon Andrews and Gary Mason. Michael Rutter rides Ducati, while in the Evolution class a back-to-basics formula designed to reduce costs, there are entries from riders aboard KTM and BMWs.