Confirmed overnight, the American motorcycle marque, Buell, will join the Superbike World Championship and will debut at Australia’s Phillip Island at the opening round of the Superbike World Championship, February 21-23.
The Buell addition brings to eight the number of manufacturers lining up on the world’s leading production bike grid. The innovative American will be join Italian icon, MV Agusta, as newcomers – joining established world superbike manufacturers Kawasaki, Suzuki, Honda, German marque BMW, and Italy’s Aprilia and Ducati.
“Having eight manufacturers committed is exciting news,” said Fergus Cameron, managing director of the Phillip Island circuit. “World supers delivers production bike racing that is spectacular and truly reflective of the bikes we ride on the road.”
Eric Buell Racing, under the Indian backed Team Hero, will be a two rider squad running the new 2014 EBR 1190RX, with riders Geoff May and Aaron Yates at the helm.
Both May and Yates make the move to the WSBK series after a number of successful seasons in the AMA Superbike series in America.
May, who is an accomplished AMA rider, has ridden the EBR machine in the US for the past two seasons claiming a podium finish at the Sonoma Raceway circuit in 2012 on his way to 5th position overall in the rider classification. Yates, who has over 20 years racing experience, joined the squad for their 2013 AMA campaign finishing a respectable 8th overall in the final standings, one point ahead of May.
The team will be run by Claudio Quintarelli, Team Owner, and Giulio Bardi, Team Manager, both proud to field the first American motorcycle to contest the World Championship with two American riders.
Team Hero EBR is bringing back Erik Buell’s passion to the world stage: the founder of the Buell Motorcycle Company is a pioneer of modern race motorcycle technology.
Former racer Buell has himself competed against some of the greats in the past, and is excited and optimistic about this challenge ahead:
“More than three decades of racing, engineering, and manufacturing experience goes into every EBR motorcycle” said Erik Buell, Founder, EBR Motorcycles.
“The EBR 1190RX has some very unique engineering technology, and how to optimize this for each race series is something that takes time to learn. With the winter testing ban, we will have to wait and see where we are in terms of current pace and performance. Nobody is expecting podiums, but we will be hard at work, learning and improving. We are confident EBR will bring a fun and exciting story to the series, and know the results will come.”
Tickets for the 2014 eni FIM Superbike World Championship, QBE Round, Phillip Island, 21 – 23 February are on sale now. For further info go to www.worldsbk.com.au or call the hotline on 1 300 728 007. Kids under 15 are free; while an adult can pick up a three day general admission ticket today for just $99*, purchased in advance and save $51 on gate prices.
*plus processing fee – offers valid till Wednesday February 19 at 2pm AEST.
Ffi Ingrid Roepers on iroepers@irpr.com.au or mobile 04 111 989 44
