Four months after the planned start of the 2020 Bennetts British Superbike Championship, the opening round will eventually get underway this weekend with defending champions Paul Bird Motorsport in action at Donington Park.
The VisionTrack Ducati pairing of Josh Brookes and Christian Iddon are hoping to get the belated season off to a great start aboard their factory-supported Ducati Panigale V4Rs after a comprehensive test programme. Last week’s official test at Donington Park also gave them vital data going into the weekend’s opening triple-header.
2015 champion and runner-up to teammate Scott Redding last year, Australian ace Brookes stays with the Penrith team for a second year and will be looking to add to the ten victories he took last year. Meanwhile new recruit Christian Iddon, a double Rider’s Cup champion, goes for his maiden Bennetts BSB victory after a couple of injury-hit seasons in recent years.
Brookes said: “The focus in testing was to experiment in order to improve what is already a brilliant package so now that’s over, we will start with a refined set up and stick to what we know works. Our Ducatis were very competitive at Donington last year so I’m confident especially having found a few things in testing which work better.
“The shortened season and three-race format is different for everyone and we have a new Pirelli tyre to use also so it should be a fair and interesting fight. We’ve all had enough waiting around so I’m ready to get cracking but it’s just a shame we won’t be racing in front of the fans just yet.”
Iddon said: “It's been such a long time since I started a race, I’ve never known such a delay, but we all know the reasons for that and being honest, I’m a little apprehensive. The shortened series will be very exciting, and you need to be on it from the start.
“I know from racing against them last year, the Ducatis are fantastic around Donington so I hope to take advantage of that, although we do need to find the final piece of the jigsaw which we didn’t manage at the test. Once we find that good base setting, we’ll be OK so I’m hoping for a solid weekend which will allow me to push on in the remaining rounds.”