Monday, November 26 2018

Saturday's dedicated Bennetts British Superbike Championship day at Motorcycle Live at Birmingham NEC saw a raft of exciting announcements for the 2019 season including new riders, teams and partnerships.

The day was a feast for Bennetts BSB fans with rider signings, on-stage interviews and an exclusive Bennetts BSB competition featuring a money-can't-buy prize of VIP race hospitality, grid passes and a behind-the-scenes tour.

The championship's 2019 line-up is almost complete, with only a handful of riders still to be revealed following the weekend's flurry of activity.

Smiths Racing BMW announced that Peter Hickman will return for a third successive season alongside James Ellison, who moves from Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha after a difficult 2018 season that was dogged by injury and other challenges.

Ellison said: "The Smiths Racing BMW team have had another strong season with Hicky proving they are true title contenders and I'm delighted to be teaming up with Hicky again. We are really good friends off track but of course tough rivals on it and I believe we will push each other all year and work closely together to speed up the development of the all-new BMW S1000RR. The support from the fans has been incredible, even when I was struggling, which means so much to me and I can't wait to start testing in March."

TAG Racing unveiled new rider Dan Linfoot alongside Shaun Winfield, who stays with the Derbyshire-based team for another season. Linfoot moves from Honda Racing, where he endured a tough season blighted by injury and bad luck.

Linfoot said: "I'm really happy to have signed with TAG Racing and Rob Winfield. 2018 has been a disastrous season for me so I'm really happy to have agreed a deal for 2019 with a new team, providing a new challenge and a new feeling on a different bike."

The vacant seat at Honda Racing is taken by Xavi Forés, where he'll challenge for the title alongside Andrew Irwin aboard the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2. The 2018 WorldSBK Independent Riders champion brings a wealth of racing experience with him to the series, after claiming five podiums and finishing seventh in the World Championship this season.

EHA Racing was announced as a new name on the 2019 Bennetts British Superbike Championship grid, entering the premier class for the first time with 23-year-old series rookie David Allingham. EHA Racing and Allingham enjoyed a podium-finishing season in the Supersport class, and both team and rider are looking forward to rising to the challenge.

Allingham said: "If I'm honest, I've had one eye on this move for a couple of seasons. We've won races in Supersport and competed at the sharp end with the likes of Mackenzie, Dixon and Andrew Irwin, to name a few, who have all shown great promise in BSB. I've no illusions at the size of the task but I'm confident we can, with a lot of hard work, match those I've already mentioned and establish ourselves in the series as a worthy team and rider package."

Another pair of new names on the grid are Matt Truelove and Raceways Yamaha. Matt will make his Bennetts British Superbike Championship debut in 2019 with new team Raceways Yamaha, which will run as a satellite to the McAMS Yamaha squad of Jason O'Halloran and Tarran Mackenzie.

After riding a Superstock specification Yamaha YZF-R1 with the team this season, Truelove makes the step up to the blue-riband class with the Lancashire-based squad.

For full details of all the new signings and team announcements, visit the official Bennetts BSB website here.

Tickets for all 2019 MSV rounds of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship are now on sale and make the perfect Christmas gift for superbike fans. Tickets and camping prices are frozen at 2018 rates until the end of the year and will be posted in a special presentation wallet in time for Christmas if ordered before midday on Wednesday 19 December. Click  here to book!