Samsung Crescent Racing head to Croft in North Yorkshire this weekend for the third round of the 2011 British Superbikes championship. The GSX-R1000 Suzuki-mounted team is looking to build on the BSB win that John Hopkins sensationally captured at Oulton Park just over a week ago. Hopkins, making his debut at the Cheshire circuit took two podium finishes (2-1) to boost his position in the Championship to fourth, while team mate Jon Kirkham came back from a spectacular practice crash and lowly qualifier to grab two hard-fought seventh place finishes. This weekend, the team will be ordering more of the same – another two podiums for Hopkins, but hopefully two top-fives for Kirkham. Jack Valentine – Team Manager: “Oulton Park was a great weekend for us. Hopper more than delivered on his promise, and with good timing. Our main sponsors launched their Galaxy S II smart phone by way of special livery on our bikes and so we were able to match the fastest rider with the fastest bike and the fastest phone! Jon Kirkham underlined that in his own way by capturing the fastest lap in the second race. Samsung were over the moon with how it all played out. And, of course, so were we! “It’s a fresh start this weekend though; as always you start again from scratch. Hopper should be refreshed as he’s been home to the States to celebrate his mum’s 60th – he’s probably been skydiving a bit, too. And JK’s all revved up as he’ll have his bike equipped with the same chassis specs as Hopper’s had for the last meeting. So we’ll be looking for more podiums from Hopper and we think JK should find his way to the top-fives he very much deserves. In fact such is JK’s progress we’re sure it won’t be much longer before he too is on to the podium.” John Hopkins: “Croft will be more of the same for me – more searching for the race lines, more learning about how BSB works. And hopefully more podiums. We came here during pre-season testing so I know something of the track. And I know to respect it. There are some tricky sections – really bumpy – so I’ll not go too fast too soon. It’s going to be a weekend of detailed study.” Jon Kirkham: “I’ve got the latest chassis spec to try this weekend and I’m really looking forward to that. At Oulton I had some grip issues and that made it a struggle to make top-five, but with the new set-up hopefully I’ll make an improvement. “I’m finding that the team is very good with new technologies and set-ups. The electronics package is really impressive and making a big difference to my lap times. It comes down to the small details as well, like the thumb brake we first fitted for Oulton Park. I’ve never been a user of the back brake before, but with this device I’m finding it helps get that last little bit of performance.” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing is up and running and ready for round three of the British Superbike and Supersport Championship at Croft this weekend with Josh Brookes and Alastair Seeley already settled in at the North Yorkshire venue. The Northern Ireland-based team has enjoyed previous success at Croft and team manager Philip Neill say’s ‘his boys’ are fired up and ready to go. Philip Neill – Team Manager: “Alastair comes to Croft off the back of a decent run in the Supersport class on the all-new GSX-R600 Suzuki and Josh and his bike are good-as-new and ready for round three of the BSB series. We have had plenty of success at Croft in the past and the GSX-R1000 Superbike, as we know, works extremely well around here. As a team, we will look to re-group and all of us, including Josh, understand that it’s all about the Shoot-Out at this time of the year, so we’ll approach this round accordingly.” Josh Brookes: “Last year I didn’t have a great time at Croft but we had problems. This year I’m with a new team and I’m really enjoying riding for Relentless Suzuki and we’re making good progress with the bike. It’s not a matter of liking or disliking a circuit; as long as I’m riding my bike I’m happy. We know what we have to do this weekend: Be in the points.” Alastair Seeley: “I’ve had three podiums on the spin on the new GSX-R600 and I had a good time at Croft last year on the Superbike, so I’m looking forward to this meeting. Ben has been the man to beat so far this season in Supersport but we’ll go to Croft looking to ruffle his feathers and hopefully close the gap in the championship.” More, from a press release issued by Splitlath Motorsport: SPLITLATH READY FOR CROFT BATTLE SPLITLATH Motorsport are gearing up for Round Three of MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship as the series heads to Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire this weekend. Riders Hudson Kennaugh and Jenny Tinmouth are looking forward to continuing development work on the Aprilia RSV4 at a track which is expected to be one where the bike goes well. Last time the team visited Croft in 2010, Hudson Kennaugh won both BSB-Evo races on his way to finishing runner-up in the championship. “I’m hoping to just continue to chip away at it and get closer to the front this weekend,” said Kennaugh. “We have a few little things to sort out that came up at Oulton Park, and if we can get on it this weekend we should make some great progress. “I think the bike suits this track a lot more than it did Oulton. Last year both of our bikes were strong at Croft, we were alright there. We just need to keep working hard and hopefully we can deliver some strong results this weekend.” Jenny Tinmouth meanwhile is looking to build on her solid progress at Anglesey last weekend where she took part in a round of Thundersport GP to get some track time under her belt. After just missing out on making the grid at Oulton Park, she hopes this weekend will be her time to shine. “I’m excited now, especially after Anglesey. I had plenty of track time on the bike and I felt like we really had made some good steps in the right direction,” she said. “I can’t wait for Croft to get back out there and see what we can achieve. I’m obviously hoping for a better round, and Croft is as good a place as any to make my debut, especially since it’s a track which should suit the Aprilia.” Team boss John Dimbylow remains upbeat about his team’s chances this weekend. “I am a little concerned because we’re heading so far north, any further and I think it would give me a nose bleed,” he chuckled. “But I think we’re all optimistic. We had two good races here last season and we’ve just got to keep working on the set-up and pushing on. We will try a few different things and I know at some point everything will just click. “The team are feeling confident, Jenny is a lot happier now after Anglesey, and we’re all looking forward to seeing how much progress we can make this weekend.”