MIST Suzuki Racing 2009
FIM SuperStock Cup regulars MIST Suzuki Racing are unlikely to retain their spot as the largest British team in the World SuperBike paddock in 2009 but plan on returning to contest one of the most closely fought championship in the World.
Recent events in the World economy have made things hard for the team, particularly having just lost their major sponsor and one of their planned riders before the 2009 season really gets underway. Unfortunately this has put paid to their anticipated World SuperBike wild card entry for the US round at Miller Motorsports in Utah but the team hope to make up for this disappointment by contesting as many rounds of the British SuperStock Championship as their finances will allow.
2008 proved a challenging season for the team. Some of the highs included running a close second to Leon Haslam in pre-season testing at Almeria, regular points and top ten finishes during the year, fastest laps and topping the speed trap times in wet and dry conditions before lapping faster than Michael Schumacher in testing at Magny Cours. Lows ranged from being knocked off whilst in a points scoring position at Monza, multiple crashes in difficult conditions at Donington through niggling rider injuries taking the shine off their hard work for the season.
The team are often overlooked racing mainly in Europe and, whilst it is always hard to make comparisons, at the Brands Hatch World SuperBike round Matt Bond was able to lap the circuit on a patchy damp track on intermediate tyres within 0.06 seconds of the third place podium finisher in the British SuperStock class in dry conditions earlier in the year. Australian Gareth Jones finished the season as 3rd placed Rookie in the class helping the team to 7th place in the unofficial privateer standings. With results like that everyone involved with the team has reason to hold their head up high and be proud of their achievements.
Testing for 2009 begins this weekend in Portimao. The team having paid to have the first production GSXR1000K9 flown in to enable them to get their preparations started as early as possible. With no race fairings available yet and no exhausts, suspension, or other performance parts available yet, even the team’s new data logging equipment has been delayed, the test will still allow everyone to get used to the new bike and carry out some back to back comparisons with last year’s bike.
MIST Suzuki Racing have further tests planned for March, including a trip to Valencia and a position in the British team at the inaugural ‘MotoSix Nations Championship at Donington Park over the weekend of 28th and 29th March 2009. In the meantime the search for additional sponsorship for this high profile team continues as does the difficult task of finding a second rider to complete the line up.
We would like to thank our previous sponsors for their continued support for 2009, including GPR Steering Dampers, Steve Jordan Motorcycles, LeoVince Exhausts, Silkolene, Tsubaki Chains & Renthal Sprockets. We would also like to introduce new sponsors in the form of Valter Moto and Sharkskinz bodywork.
Mike Edwards
Team Manager