Team Traction Control unveils 2016 Supersport line-up at Motorcycle Live!
Team Traction Control owner Keith Flint today (Thursday) has revealed his much-anticipated line-up for the 2016 British Supersport Championship of James Westmoreland and Joe Francis at the Motorcycle Live Show in Birmingham before taking centre stage himself with The Prodigy in town this evening.
The all-new line-up for the team owned by the Prodigy star will feature multiple Supersport race-winner Westmoreland, who returns to the class he last appeared in during the 2010 season when he finished runner-up in the title fight. The 27-year-old returns to the Supersport grid after five seasons in the MCE BSB class, which recently included his first podium finish at Thruxton.
Chester-based Francis remains with the team for his first full season in the British Supersport class; the 18-year-old stepped up for the final three rounds of the 2015 season after battling for honours in the Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship. He instantly impressed, securing top ten finishes in each of the six races with a best result of sixth at the final round at Brands Hatch.
The team will also return to the three major international road races in 2016 with Ian Hutchinson again lining up for Keith Flint’s squad in the Supersport class at the Isle of Man TT, North West 200 and the Ulster Grand Prix. The 11-time TT race winner celebrated success with the team this year when he completed a dominant double in the Monster Energy Supersport TT races.
Westmoreland said: “I am really excited to be joining Team Traction Control next season. Before the end of this year I decided that I wanted to be back in the Supersport Championship, and with the rules how they are, I wanted to be back onboard a Yamaha again. That is where I feel like my heart is and so this is fantastic for me as it is a very similar situation to when I last races in the championship with Raceways Yamaha and we had a lot of success.
“This does feel like I am coming home and I have come close to winning the title before, but I knew the move had to be right and with PJ (Pete Jennings) and Keith Brown working with me in the garage I feel we have an unbelievably strong technical team. I have never been so excited to get testing and start the season and I really believe we will be ready to fight for the championship in 2016.”
Francis said: “I am really looking forward to next season and to be back working with Team Traction Control again in the championship. I feel that it will be a really good year for us as I have never had the consistency of remaining with a team for a second consecutive season and I really feel that we can build on last season and come out fighting.
“The move into the Supersport Championship last season was a new challenge and I felt that I really learnt a lot but that has also given me confidence to start 2016 where we finished this year, moving up the order and getting closer to the podium. I feel that we have a strong team and I can’t wait to get started; I want to be up at the front and I think with Westy in the team as well we should be one of the teams to watch out for!”
Hutchinson said: “It was an obvious decision to join the team on their Supersport bike after the results we had this year. Before the TT I had never ridden the bike until the first lap of practice and then we won both Supersport races so this feels perfect for me. It was so easy coming and riding with the team and we know what we can improve together for next year so we can move the job forward again.”
Team manager Grant Bunting commented: “We are really excited about our next season in the British Supersport Championship; it is great to have a rider of Westy’s experience joining us especially with his proven success in the class in previous seasons. Joe did a fantastic job moving up into the Supersport championship during 2015 and he really impressed us with how he adapted and continued to move forward against some riders who have been in the class a lot longer. We believe with this pairing as a team we can build on our win and podium finishes last season to really come out and fight for the title in 2016.
“We are also really happy to be working with Hutchy again; we had a fantastic result with the clean sweep in the Supersport races at the TT last season and we know he will only come back stronger next year.”