Team owner reflects on nearly 20 years in the British Superbike paddock
Approaching his 20th year in British Superbike racing scene, Stuart Tromans is back for more – and this time it has quite a continental feel about it too.
And that's because Tromans' Astro JJR (James Jackson Racing) team has acquired the services of two highly-rated, young New Zealanders to race in the British Superbike (BSB) support classes.
The Brownhills-based team will be working in partnership with Rybrook Motorrad BMW in Wolverhampton, which will help supply parts and support when needed for Shane Richardson and Damon Rees, both aged 24.
Tromans, owner of Astro Van Centre, also in Brownhills, is already looking forward to the new National Superstock 1000 campaign, raced on the under card of the main BSB championship – which is currently in limbo – along with co-team manager, James Jackson.
But his affiliation with series and racing in general goes back a lot further than that.
During his near 20-year stint in the BSB paddock, he has supported the likes of Isle of Man TT star Peter Hickman, giving him his first ride the British series, as well as personal sponsorship to MotoGP rider Cal Crutchlow and former World Superbike champion, Tom Sykes, to name a few.
"I first started sponsoring rider in 2002, helping out Pete 'Pesky' Ward, from Rugeley, who was riding for Steve Langley, of Chase Accident Yamaha in the then Junior Superstock 600 class," he said.
"I was asked if I wanted to help him, so I backed him in the stock 600 class and in the Yamaha R6 Cup the following year.
"I also started sponsoring Australian Glen Richards who had just signed for Hawk Kawasaki, also in 2002, and backed him until 2015, when he retired."
Tromans then launched his own team for 2004 in conjunction with Hawk Racing, coming into contact with Peter Hickman, through fellow team owner Stuart Hicken, who was good friends Pete’s father, Dave Hickman.
"He asked us if we could help and so we formed a Stock 1000 team under a joint banner, the same year also ran Cannock’s Jon Boy Lee in the Yamaha R6 Cup," he said.
"Jon Boy, ironically, is currently one of the top technicians with OMG Racing BMW, also based in Cannock.
"We were hoping to run Pesky but he had some injury problems so in the end we just went with one rider, which happened to be Hicky, plus Jon Boy in R6 Cup
"Hicky was just 16 at the time and was too young to ride a 1000, unfortunately meaning he missed the first round at Silverstone that year.”
Hicky went on to sin the Superstock 1000 Cup Championship that year on the New Kawasaki ZX10R, which had just been released, while Jon Boy had a very good year on the Yamaha until injury forced him out early
In 2005, as well as running Hicky again along with new teammate, Paul Veasey, the now independent Astro Racing team also backed Australia's Billy McConnell in the R6 Cup.
"He was probably one of the most talented riders I ever came across," said Tromans. "Hicky is also extremely talented but is also much more measured in his approach than Billy,
"The likes of Cal Crutchlow, who I also supported, are just completely fearless and only know their limits sometimes when they crash and smash themselves to bits.
"Hicky is so confident in his own ability and is in my opinion probably better than the likes of Michael Dunlop – the only thing is Dunlop is braver than anyone else. He just jumps on a superbike and rides the life out of it.
"We also sponsored Brendan Roberts in the National Superstock 1000 in 2006, who eventually went to the European Superstock championship for the factory Xerox Ducati team in 2008.
"He was riding with Guandalini Ducati in World Superbikes until he had a major accident at Monza, which contributed to his decision to retire subsequently.
From 2006 to 2008, Astro Racing fielded a number of strong teams in the British Superstock 600 and 1000 paddock, becoming Kawasaki’s official superstock team in 2008, with Alex Gault and Kenny Gilbertson scoring solid results on not always the most competitive bikes.
Another acquaintance with a star name followed in 2009, when the team ran current Moto2 MotoGP rider, Sam Lowes, who went on to win the British Supersport Cup Championship and then the main Supersport championship the following year.
"This year was also our first with Brierley Hill-based rider Luke Quigley, who rode with the team in our favoured superstock 1000 class, until he retired in 2015," said Tromans.
"We backed then Matt and Harry Truelove in the National Superstock 600 and supersport classes under the Astro-TTR banner, in 2016 and 2017, before the Trueloves moved to superbikes.
"We then reformed the race team properly to run Alex Olsen in 2018, under the Astro JJR (James Jackson Racing) banner for the first time, when he came a brilliant fourth and top privateer in the highly competitive National Superstock 1000 Championship on a BMW S1000RR.
"With help from Hicky and Smiths Racing, Alex now rides in British Superbike series alongside Pete."
And it was Tromans' connection with Hicky that eventually brought about the current Astro JJR line-up, of New Zealanders Richardson and Rees.
Richardson rode for the team last year and had been leading the National Superstock 600 championship, racing against the like of Stafford's teenage star Storm Stacey, until disaster struck during the final lap when he had a mechanical failure.
Richardson ended up finishing the campaign in second, with Stacey, who has moved into the main BSB series, coming third.
"Hicky went over to race in the Carl Cox Motorsport winter series in New Zealand, which was when he met Shane’ when we then lost Alex to a competitor team he recommended us to each other as sort of a matchmaker And this year we're also adding Carl Cox sponsored rider Damon Rees to the Kiwi line up," said Tromans.
"Shane has moved up from the National Superstock 600 championship, after finishing second for us last year despite having that mechanical failure on the final lap which cruelly robbed us all of the championship he deserved.
"Damon was rookie of the year in the Australian Superbike championship, finishing 11th overall. Both will be riding in the National Superstock 1000 series this year on the new model BMW S1000RR, provided through Rybrook Motorrad Wolverhampton."
The team have also decided to support Irish star Caolan Irwin for 2020 on a Kawasaki in the National Superstock 600 class.
