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Written by Nigel Jones on July 17, 2008 at 07:07
Having come away from Mallory Park with a win and a third place in the Daily Star Superbike Cup the STP Motorsport MV Agusta British Team is confident that more success is around the many corners at Oulton Park this weekend.
The MV Agusta F4 1000 has shown a lot of potential throughout the first half of the season and, as the development of the bike into a full-blown superbike continues, this potential will continue to be realised. The team has been handicapped so far by the excess weight that the ‘stock’ bike has had to carry. At about 20 kilos over the weight of its main competitors the bike has not been as agile as it could have been, making the result at the stop/start Mallory Park even more impressive.
With that in mind, the team has put the bike on the motorcycle equivalent of a diet over the past two weeks. This high [carbon] fibre, magnesium and titanium menu has resulted in significant weight reduction, which should make Chris Burns’ job a little easier at Oulton Park this weekend.
Warwick Nowland – Team Manager:
At this halfway point in the season we are very happy with the success that we have had with the MV Agusta F4 1000 but we all know that there is more to come. We are continuing the development programme and part of that includes reducing the overall weight of the bike by replacing parts with lightweight alternative materials. In doing this we will give Chris a bike that has much improved handling characteristics and overall performance.
When this is added to the success we had at Oulton Park earlier in the season the whole team is confident that we can deliver good results again at the Cheshire circuit. There is no reason why we cannot win both Superbike Cup races and also gain points in the main championship.
Chris Burns, Rider:
I'm really looking forward to Oulton Park and building on what we have achieved so far this season. We had a fairly good set up last time we visited here and I am confident that we can build on that to improve our position in the championship. It will be interesting to see how much improvement we can get from reducing the weight of the bike. Up until now the MV Agusta was easily the heaviest bike on the grid, which has made it a bit of a handful over a race distance. As a result I have been practically living in the gym to make life easier on the track! So, if the guys have managed to take off a few kilos I'll be very grateful. Seriously, I'm looking forward to riding it with a little less weight and plan to repay the great job everybody at STP Motorsport is doing for me, on a limited budget with some good wins over the next few months.
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