BSB: 2019 Season Preview

As the new British Superbike season quickly approaches, I thought I would have a look at the ones to watch for the upcoming season. These are the riders I believe will be at the top of the standings come the all important showdown.

Scott Redding

Redding comes to BSB with a bit of a Rockstar mythos coming from the world of MotoGP he is the very definition of a “character”. He was known for his off track scooter antics and as someone who just had fun being a GP rider.

Despite his fun loving demeanour Redding has legitimately high end talent. At one stage he was the youngest ever winner of a GP race, winning the Donnington GP in 2008 at the age of 15 years 170 days. During his entire GP (125cc-MotoGP) career he racked up 4 wins 18 podiums from 189 starts. Despite this, he comes to BSB off a couple of down years in the top class, looking to prove his pedigree and regain the winning mojo he feels he has lost.

Josh Brookes

The Australian is coming into his 10th Season in the BSB paddock, in that time he has become a fan favourite for his no hold barred riding style taking no prisoners on the track. Brookes joins the PBM team from the McCams Yamaha squad. In 2018, he finished the year 4th in the championship, never really clicking with the outfit all season.

Brookes is a former champion in the class and has never finished below 5th in his entire time in Britain. Like Redding, who has experienced a V4 engine with his MotoGP experience, Brookes has ridden V4 albeit in a very different fashion riding for Norton at the Isle of Man TT. Whether this is any benefit to him is still to be seen.

Glenn Irwin

Irwin joins the defending champions JG Speedfit Kawasaki for 2019. Irwin starts his 3rd season in the Superbike championship after having a breakout year last season, finishing in 3rd in the standings. He was fighting at the front most weekends and taking the mantle of top rider in the PBM after Shane Byrne’s unfortunate injury.

Irwin will be hoping to push on from last season and will hope the already successful Kawasaki team can continue where they left off with last years champion Leon Haslam. Irwin hasn’t experienced anything other than the V-twin Ducati so is sure to take a bit of time to get used to the more conventional set up of the Kawasaki.

Xavi Fores

If not for the arrival of Scott Redding into the class in 2019, Fores might have been the most high profile rider to come into the series in a long time. The Spaniard teams up with the highly successful Honda team, joining from WSBK where he rode for a customer Ducati team. While there he competed with, and occasionally beat, the factory Ducati’s of Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri.

Like Redding, Fores comes in with a brilliant pedigree and a lack of knowledge of the more unique circuits like Cadwell Park, which may play against him. Coming from Europe it may take him a while to get used to the tight and twisty nature of these tracks, but should he gets to grips quickly he is sure to be a likely candidate for the showdown and a title challenger.

Jason O’Halloran

O’Halloran moves on from a relatively successful and lengthy relationship with Honda to join up with the McCams Yamaha squad. Despite suffering some horrific injuries during his time in Britain, he has always been one of the top competitors often taking an under performing Honda to much better results than the bike was capable of.

The move to Yamaha has proven fruitful in pre-season, with O’Halloran showing great pace in the majority of the tests proving what many have said for a while, that with the right machinery he is capable of challenging for a BSB title.

Tarran MacKenzie

MacKenzie is one of only 2 riders on the grid to remain on the same machinery for 2019. It could help his campaign, having recorded a strong 2018 season, where he challenged for podiums and wins on a regular basis, before a nasty crash at the final round ended his season prematurely.

MaKenzie dominated the 2016 Supersport title race remaining in the class in 2017, where continued to dominate before moving onto Moto2 part way through the year. He struggled to get to grips with the bike and circuits in Moto2 leaving the GP paddock before returning to the BSB paddock and starting his rookie season in BSB in 2018.

Bradley Ray

Ray is the other rider to remain on the same machinery for 2019. He came into the Superbike class in 2017 with the Buildbase Suzuki team. Never having ridden a 1000cc machine in his career he showed his class, often out performing his highly successful team mate Sylvain Guintoli.

2018 saw Ray make the step towards title contender opening the campaign with a brace of wins at Donington, He still showed some signs of inexperience at times, though the raw speed still showed through, ending up finishing 6th overall.

Luke Stapleford

Stapleford is a name most within the British paddock should know. Having raced in the Supersport class for many years, winning it all in 2015 on a Triumph. Since then he has been plying his trade in the world supersport class not ever finding his form like he did in the British series.

This is Staplefords’s first full season on a Superbike, though he has had a couple of wildcard rides for various teams in previous years and is sure to be, at the very least a dark horse, in the title race.

Plenty of Competition Throughout

I would include the BMW teams, but feel the lack of pre-season testing and late nature of their bikes arrival times will hinder them considerably. This is in no way questioning the talents of Chrisitan Iddon, Keith Farmer or Peter Hickman, but with how tight the series is now, one slight step behind could leave you chasing for the entire year.

This is purely a personal list if you think I missed someone leave me a comment and tell me why that person is going to challenge for the title this year.

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