WE head to Silverstone this weekend looking for our first win of the season. With the Parkalgar Honda team Sam Lowes has done a fantastic job this year and is within touching distance of second in the Championship, which is tribute to his commitment this year. Sam is gaining in track craft and experience and having raced at Silverstone twice last year (once as a wild card in WSS and in the British Supersport race which was wet) he has track knowledge in all conditions. Miguel Praia had his career best finish here last year with sixth place and his riding this year has taken another step forward. He has also built up a very good understanding with his crew chief Paul Williamson. The depth of field this year in WSS will not make it easy for Miguel to get his first top five result but I think it is fair to say we are all right behind him to try and achieve that. Our other team Bogdanka PTR Honda has seen its lead rider James Ellison struggle to make the impact both he and we all want him to have but we have sat down and discussed how we can get where we need to be. We go to Silverstone this weekend with renewed desire to challenge inside the top five and look for James’s first podium this season. His teammate Pawel Szkopek has ridden hard all season – in some cases too hard – and has on more than one occasion crashed out on the opening lap missing points scoring opportunities. He is also gelling well with his team now and we will be working with him to keep him calm and on what is a new track to him get some more points. We have a lot of data at his disposal and I know James, Sam and Miguel will be more than willing to help him get up to speed. That’s the beauty of the great team spirit we have built over the years. There was promise of quite a number of wild cards at this event but in the end it is down to Crescent Suzuki to try and hold up the honour of BSB on the world stage. Jack Valentine has certainly put his own pressure on here with his misguided comments on TV at the recent Oulton Pk BSB round where he stated that whilst WSB has in his words ‘a few good riders’ it does not have the depth of field of BSB. I am not quite sure what he had been taking when he came to this point of view but I would like some!!! Last year HM Plant Honda did a wild card performance and could only manage one 13 place for their efforts. John Hopkins is a quality rider and might make a challenge for a top six result but even if he rides to his best he will most likely be lucky to see a top eight. John Kirkham is a BSB winner this year but will be doing very well to get in the points. The best thing big Jack can hope for is rain to give him a better chance to save him from regretting his comments. None of the BSS riders have entered this weekend and maybe with their reduced electronics packages under the current BSS rules they thought better of it. They will all have seen just how far behind Sam Lowes at the Mallory Pk race of the Year that BSS race winner this year and title contender Billy McConnell was as another factor to influence their decisions not to enter. Maybe they should have for more track time and set up for the BSS race here later in the year. A shame for the British fans as I would have liked to have seen what the likes of Seeley, Wilson and McConnell could do against such a World class field of riders. That said we have four British riders all believing they can win in front of their home crowd – Sam, Chaz Davies, Gino Rea and James Ellison. This will give the home fans plenty to cheer about. In WSB our former rider Eugene Laverty has a great chance to add to his victories at Monza along with Camier and Haslam. Alex Lowes has another chance in place of the injured Jonathan Rea and he will be looking to impress in front of the home fans after a recent two-day test with Ten Kate in Assen. Looking forward to seeing you all there Simon Buckmaster