Rory Skinner became the youngest ever Quattro Group British Supersport Championship last season and now the 19-year-old is set to make his debut in the premier Bennetts British Superbike Championship this weekend (July 25/26/27).
The young Scot arrives at Cheshire’s Oulton Park circuit all set to make his debut with the race-winning FS-3 Racing Kawasaki team, raring to go following his pre-season testing programme ahead of the opening three races this weekend.
Skinner said: “It feels like such a long time since I signed for FS-3 and now I just can’t wait to get out there and start my first superbike race. There is so much you can do with the set-up of a superbike and we did lose time with some of the conditions at pre-season testing. As a rookie to the superbike class, I need as much time on the bike as possible and to come away from three days at Snetterton with just 23 laps under my belt was very frustrating.
“I have to really thank the team for making the trip up to Knockhill for the private test at the beginning of the month. We did around 180 laps in the sunshine and had time to try out loads of things on the superbike and do some good race simulations around a circuit I know well. I came away really happy, feeling like the ZX-10RR is now my bike and building up a good working relationship with my team. We carried that on to the official Donington Park test, where we did some more good race runs and continued to feel more comfortable with the team and the bike.
“We had a day’s testing at Oulton Park last month and now I can’t wait to get back there and finally get the season underway. The British Superbike Championship is full of very fast and experienced riders and I’m not going with any real expectations in terms of results. We’ve got three races at every round this year so the important thing is to focus on making progress every session. I don’t feel under any pressure, so I want to go out and enjoy myself this weekend, and to learn more about the ways of the superbike.”