Bournemouth Kawasaki Announces Plans to Step Down in 2020 as the official Kawasaki team
Bournemouth Kawasaki team owner Pete Extance has announced that his team will be stepping down as the official Kawasaki UK BSB entrant for 2020.
In a statement Pete said it’s purely a business decision based on plans to expand his Bournemouth-based Kawasaki dealership.
“For the last four years we have been asked by Kawasaki UK to open another dealership in nearby Hampshire which is an open point for Kawasaki and an important area for motorcycle sales,” he explained.
“So far, we have managed to hold off opening a new shop but we feel that now the time is right and we need to make the move, or another dealer may be appointed by Kawasaki UK which wouldn’t make good business sense.
“We have had two amazing seasons in 2017 and 2018 as the official team, culminating in winning the BSB title with Leon Haslam last year which was the proudest racing moment for our Bournemouth Kawasaki squad.”
In May this year the team dominated the North West 200 winning the Superbike and Superstock races before going on to add to their impressive tally of 14 podiums at the IOM TT.
Unfortunately, however, the 2019 BSB season has not gone according to plan for Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki, but Pete said this has nothing to do with his decision.
“If we do decide to carry on racing, the options are to continue in the BSB championship on a much smaller scale or just concentrate on the roads,” he said.
“Whatever we decide I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all my staff for their incredible hard work, along with Kawasaki UK for entrusting us with the official team, and all of our sponsors who are still standing by us waiting for us to confirm our plans for 2020.”
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Notes for editors:
- The line-up for Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki consists of British Superbike riders Héctor Barberá and Ben Currie, road racing specialist James Hillier, and sidecar teams Ricky Stevens/Ryan Charlwood and Ben Holland/Lee Watson.
- The team is owned by Bournemouth Kawasaki Racing.
- Héctor made his MotoGP debut in 2010 and in 2016 had his most successful MotoGP season finishing with 102 points.
- He competed in Moto2 in 2018 before switching to WorldSSP with the Kawasaki Puccetti racing team while Australian Ben Currie finished second overall in the 2018 Dickies British Supersport Championship.
- 2015 and 2016 British F1 Sidecar Champions Ricky Stevens and Ryan Charlwood are being retained by Bournemouth Kawasaki for the third year running under the Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki team.
- Stevens/Charlwood will be aiming to reclaim the championship title, alongside new teammates Ben Holland and Lee Watson, after finishing fourth overall and second in the 600 Cup in 2018.
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