This weekend will see current British Superbike Championship front-runners HM Plant Honda return to the World Superbike Championship grid.
The outing at Silverstone will see the team return to WSB for the first time since 2008 at Donnington and Portimao, where they took a 2nd and 3rd place respectively. With HM Plant Honda’s Josh Brookes and Ryuichi Kiyonari currently sitting in 2nd and 3rd in the BSB Championship, they will both be hoping to continue their current form to see how they fare against their WSB counterparts.
And for Josh Brookes, it’s just another race weekend. “This weekend my approach and preparation will be no different to the BSB rounds as I am going there to do the best job we can. I don't have any expectations in terms of results before we go to Silverstone; we know we are a winning team in BSB and between myself and Kiyo we have won eight races and had another several other podium finishes so far this year, so it will be a good experience to see how we compare to the world championship teams. It is a great opportunity for the whole HM Plant Honda team and having already raced in WSB; it feels natural to be back racing in that paddock this weekend. I just want to get the best results I can.”
Ryuichi Kiyonari is confident that the Honda CBR1000RR will do the business, but isn’t getting complacent;
“I am looking forward to Silverstone and I really want to get two good results as it will be important to have a good performance there. It won't be easy and it is difficult to know how we compare to the other riders until we are on the track, but we have the potential to give them competition as we know from BSB that we are fast. It will be exciting for me and the team and we have improved all season so I want two good results this weekend. I am feeling nervous but confident at the same time as I have raced in WSB before, so that is not a problem. I want to show what the HM Plant Honda team can do against the riders in that championship.”
