The JG Speedfit Kawasaki duo of James Ellison and Peter Hickman head to Oulton Park this weekend full of hope that they can secure their places in the Showdown.
This is the final round of the MCE British Superbike Championship before the Showdown comes into effect and all is still to play for.
Ellison currently finds himself just inside the Showdown places, in sixth place, and he is aiming for three strong results at his local circuit.
He said: “Oulton Park is my local track and a circuit I really love riding so I always look forward to racing there. We had a very positive test at Cadwell at the start of the week and we’re narrowing down on the problem that’s been affecting us and I think we’re now in a position to get back to where we belong this weekend.
“Obviously the Showdown is our goal, but I’m not approaching this weekend any different. Our aim is to be on the podium every round and I feel we’ve now made that step so we can be challenging for the rostrum again and start getting our Championship challenge back on track!”
Peter Hickman is currently just 12 points adrift of the top six and has his sights firmly set on sneaking into the championship Showdown.
A determined Hickman said: “This is the big one! We’re only 12 points off from the Showdown and although that doesn’t sound like much it’s not easy when everyone this year is so fast. We know it’s more than possible though and we’ll be aiming for three great results this weekend.
“Oulton is a brilliant circuit and in May we were really fast in the dry – unfortunately in the wet conditions I just couldn’t get the same feeling, but we’ve made some big steps since then and I’m really looking forward to getting out there and seeing if we can get three JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s in the Showdown!”
Should both riders make it into the Showdown, it would be the first time in history that three riders from a single team had done so.
This weekend is a triple-header round, which means there will be three races instead of the regular two. The first race is scheduled to take place on Saturday afternoon, with a start-time of 16:00.
The remaining races will take place as usual on the Sunday, at 13:35 and 16:35 respectively.
