Team Suzuki Press Office
The Buildbase Suzuki team heads to Assen, Netherlands this weekend for the penultimate round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, with Bradley Ray looking to re-join the title fight while his team-mate, Richard Cooper, will be aiming to have a say in the destination of this year’s championship.
Omens are good and in turn confidence is high going into the weekend. The team took its first victory with the all-new GSX-R1000 at Assen in 2017, turning the brand new machine into a race-winner in its first year. Richard Cooper also got his first taste of the GSX-R1000 in Superbike-spec at the Dutch circuit last year; the then National Superstock 1000 championship challenger making a wildcard appearance and coming away with two solid points-scoring finishes.
Armed with even more knowledge, data, and development time under their belts, both team and riders are keen to build on past results and get back into podium contention.
Bradley Ray:
“I’m hopeful we can have another good weekend this weekend. We’ve been fast but just not quite had the results since Cadwell for one reason or another, despite being on pole at Silverstone. So we’re clearly fast enough, we just need to regroup here at Assen and build through practice and qualifying, and try and come away with two podiums, hopefully wins. Of course, it’s going to be difficult to win the championship now, but we’ll keep fighting and really there’s no pressure on us, so if we can go out and enjoy the racing, the results should come and we’ll see where we end up.”
Richard Cooper:
“I feel confident about this weekend. The results, with the crash especially, last time out at Oulton weren’t what we wanted, but we had our best qualifying of the season and had good pace all weekend. One of the big things we changed was how I rode the bike and it definitely worked. We intend to build on that again this weekend; all we need to do is ensure we turn it into results.”
Steve Hicken – Team Manager:
“The aim is very much to be back in contention for the podium this weekend. Winning the championship is going to be very difficult and require a dose of good fortune. However, it’s not an impossibility. But if we can finish in the top three it’ll be a good result. We’ve got good form here, winning with the new bike last year. We know it works well, and if the weather remains dry and sunny there’s no reason we can’t be back on the podium, hopefully the top step.”
* There is no Superstock 1000 race at this round, but Billy McConnell will be back onboard his Buildbase Suzuki GSX-R1000 at the final 12th round of the BSB and British Superstock Championships at Brands Hatch, Kent on October 13-14th in the UK.
