With practice well underway at Knockhill, we thought we’d take a few moments to pull together a few of the quotes from the leading riders, heading into this weekend’s MCE British Superbike Championship event. It will be interesting to see, how the quotes compare to the race results on Sunday evening.
Shane Byrne
“We have had a great start to the season and we keep making improvements to make sure we keep going. We are feeling really comfortable with the Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki and last year we had two good wins at Knockhill so the aim is obviously to do the same again. I never tend to rely on what has happened in previous years but if we do our job and work hard then we will be pushing again this weekend,” said Shane Byrne – MCE British Superbike Championship.
Stuart Easton
“I look forward to Knockhill as it is my one and only home round of the season and we are going into this weekend looking for a vast improvement on the previous round. It is still early days in the championship but we want to get back to having consistent results like we did at the first two rounds before we stumbled a bit at Snetterton. At the end of raceday there I wanted to get straight to Knockhill to get the next round underway as this is where we want to get everything back on track again. There is no reason why we can’t, so hopefully we can give the Scottish supporters something to celebrate,” said Stuart Easton – MCE British Superbike Championship.
Josh Brookes
“I am fine after the Snetterton crash and have no injuries at all so this weekend is business as usual. I think it is down to me and then how Shakey rides. I don’t have expectations because if you look at the form from last year, everything has moved on so much. For example if you use last year at Snetterton as a gauge, I beat Shakey but this year that changed. I was expecting us to be neck-and-neck though and that’s how we have been,” said Josh Brookes – MCE British Superbike Championship.
“It was nice to get on the podium at Snetterton and get that done for sure. At the moment I still feel we are missing that last bit to be 100% but we have made massive improvements now. I was riding so hard at Snetterton and I have been watching the races back to see where we are missing that last bit because we need to be fighting for podiums. I don’t really know what to expect for Knockhill, because if you look at last year it wasn’t a great result for the team, but if you look at the results Tommy Hill had then it’s a different story completely. I am confident I can ride to my absolute limit and if I can do that then we shouldn’t be far away. We have been building confidence and there is no reason why we can’t challenge again,” said Tommy Bridewell – MCE British Superbike Championship.
Ian Hutchinson
“After Snetterton I am looking forward to Knockhill. The biggest thing is free practice and to do the laps and really get into it like we started to do at the previous round. The Snetterton races were the first two I can say I have properly done this year and we have a good setting now to work with which made the difference. I hope that we can do the same at Knockhill and be pushing for the top ten again there, but the lap times will be so close. We need to have a better qualifying like we did at Snetterton as that gave us less work to do in the race as we were further up the grid. The last round was a great feeling to score those results so we want to keep that up now,” said Ian Hutchinson – MCE British Superbike Championship.
“I am feeling confident for Knockhill and we want to build on the results we have had already. We have been scratching the surface so far, even though we have had the run of podiums we just need to close that last little bit so we can fight for the win rather than second. We have proven our pace with fastest laps and the results we have achieved already. We have been fighting at the front and we saw at Snetterton just how hard everyone is pushing. Every weekend we are all riding at the limit and giving it everything and at that point I think any one of the top riders can win,” said James Ellison – MCE British Superbike Championship.
“Knockhill is one of my favourite races of the year, great little track, mega enthusiastic crowd and the ZX10 loves a hairpin!!! I’m just hoping to get the momentum going again that we carried over from winter testing into round one at Brands and get two strong finishes up at the sharp end. I’ve been training hard in the break and I’m ready for action…. Fingers crossed on the weather front, you can get all four seasons in one day up that hillside,” said Chris Walker – MCE British Superbike Championship
Yaylor Mackenzie
“I had my best result of the season last time out at Snetterton; so can’t wait for my ‘home’ round in Scotland. Knockhill should be a good circuit for the Tyco Suzuki, so l’m dreaming of a podium result in front of the Scottish fans. I know it will be difficult, but l’m brimming with confidence heading into the weekend and that means a lot,” said Taylor Mackenzie – Motorpoint British Supersport Championship,
“Am l favourite this weekend? I guess in a way, given that it’s a track l know so well; but rest assured, it won’t take the rest of the pack long to work out the quirks of Knockhill. Times will be very tight this weekend, a number of the boys have already tested up here this year; and some more than once. So they will be very quick from the word go. I know I’ll have my work cut out for me, but l’m confident that l might be able to squeeze a tenth here and there. Let’s hope that’s enough to give me a win or two come Sunday evening,” said Dennis Hobbs – Ducati TriOptions Cup.
“I had a brilliant time last week on my Dad’s track day, with my race bike; and to be honest that is the first time this year I’ve felt like ‘the boss’ on my WD40 Kawasaki. I was gutted when I couldn’t race last year, when my bike broke early on, so I aim to make up for that this time,” said Tarran Mackenzie – Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship.
Niall Mackenzie
“The hairpin is the most popular passing place, on the brakes, but there are at least two other spots where a good old block pass will do the job. If the weather holds, we could see some stunning new lap records across the classes, as the track is slightly shorter than last year. Needless to say, I love the place and never tire of riding round all summer on Superbike schools. I hope everyone has great time at this wonderful circuit,” said Niall Mackenzie – KMSC President and Ducati TriOptions Cup Ambassador.
Tickets for the event can be booked online via Knockhill.com or via the telephone (01383 723337, or at the gate on the day. A box office ticket collection service will be in operation for any tickets pre-booked from Wednesday (Midday) onwards.
Tickets are priced as follows:
Friday: Adult £5, Concession £3, Family £13 and under 12s FREE
Satuday: Adult £15, Concession £9, Family £39 and under 12s FREE
Sunday: Adult £32, Concession £18, Family £82 and under 12s go FREE
Weekend: Adult £35, Concession £19, Family £70