Riders ready for restart as flag drops on British Superbike championship

Following a five-month exodus, all the biggest and smallest teams will be ready for the flag to drop once across the classes.

Round one of the BSB series begins this weekend at Donington Park for all the classes, with practice, qualifying and racing taking place today, tomorrow and Sunday.

Cannock-based Rich Energy OMG Racing will have one of the biggest set-ups in the paddock, with two BSB riders and another competing in the National Superstock 1000 series.

And the team enjoyed a successful outing during last week's official BSB test at Donington, which put them in good stead heading into this weekend's opener at the same track.

Following a strong performance in Spanish testing back in February, BSB riders Luke Mossey and Héctor Barberá turned the wheels on their Superbikes for the first time in almost 150 days.

However, there was no 'lockdown-hangover', with both posting times which were within 0.5 seconds of early pace-setter Lee Jackson.

Barberá, in his first full season in the championship, picked up where he left off in Jerez, enjoyed a positive day back on British soil testing a number of different set ups, which saw him regularly feature in the top 10 throughout the day.

The former MotoGP rider eventually finished the day in third after an improvement in the final session took his fastest time to a 1:06.600, just 0.017 off the pace.

Barberá said: "Today I'm very happy because Donington is a very special track for me and throughout the day we have improved. We finished P3 and the team worked really well with me to make changes to the bike so it is very comfortable for me to ride.

"I think we're ready for the battle next week and to challenge for the podium, for sure."

His experienced BSB partner, Mossey, also relished the opportunity to climb back onboard the team's BMW S1000RR, enjoying similar pace to his teammate for the majority of the day, ending the test in 12th, with a 1:06.993.

Mossey said: "It's been a really good day! Definitely nice to get back on the Superbike after such a long delay.

"We got a lot of things done today and I'm going home really happy.

"In our debrief we found a big change that we can make at the start of next week's practice sessions that should bring us right into contention.

"Me and Héctor haven't been on our superbikes since Spanish testing unlike some of the other teams and riders, but I think we're in a great place right now and I'm really excited to be back here next weekend."

The test also saw the return of Billy McConnell in the National Superstock 1000 class, following on from an injury-hit 2019 which saw the Aussie miss almost half of the season.

Finishing the day in eighth on a 1:08.586, 'Skippy' posted 49 laps as he continued to build towards his 2020 title challenge.

McConnell said: "It's been a good day today, the track stayed dry and the team worked really hard to test and trial new set ups throughout the day.

"This is the first time we've run with the electronics package working fully, and I think there's still a lot of pace we can find.

"I made a couple of little mistakes where I tried to put the power down too early, but it's only a test and we'll be at the sharp end in round one."

Fans from Black Country and Staffordshire will also have plenty of other riders to cheer when the flag finally drops.

Brierley Hill’s Michael Rutter will be leading the charge in the support series, entering the National Superstock 1000 championship as both a rider and team boss of Black Country-based Bathams Racing.

Twins Kurt and Matt Wigley, from Hednesford, in Staffordshire, will be back competing in the British Supersport championship – but in slightly different classes and on slightly different bikes.

Kurt, 24, will again be riding a supersport machine while Matt has opted to try riding one of the prototype GP2 bikes.

It means they will be on the same start line but their results will be split into their respective classes.

Stacey, 17, from Eccelshall, Staffordshire, has been rewarded for just missing out on National Superstock 600 title at the final round in 2019 by being handed a ride in the main BSB championship with GR Motosport.

Ben Taylor, 15, from Kidderminster, will be riding with SBX RACING, on board his Kawasaki Ninja 400, in the British Junior Supersport Championship.

Stuart Tromans, from Brownhills, owner of the Tromans’ Astro JJR (James Jackson Racing) team, is supporting New Zealanders Shane Richardson and Damon Rees, both aged 24, in the National Superstock 1000 series.