NO AMERICA YET – “Last year I expected to fight for the title, but something went wrong and now I feel like there’s still some business to be finished“, admitted James Ellison. 2009 British Superbike runner-up was sure he would have fought to become 2018 Champion, but TAG Racing Yamaha package wasn’t as competitive as in 2017 with Josh Brookes and the season-opener podium scored by Ellison at Donington Park had no follow. “I couldn’t leave BSB that way“, admitted Ellison, who has decided to wait for next year to move to America with his family.
VETERAN – Who has given him one more chance to reach his goal is Smiths Racing BMW, the main BMW Motorrad team in Great Britain following the results they scored in road racing and British Superbike (they contested 2017 and 2018 BSB Showdown thanks to Peter Hickman). Ellison hasn’t won a BSB race for two years (his last win dates back to 2017 Cadwell Park Round) and the Brit will try to end his break from victory on the brand new BMW S1000RR. His team-mate will be Peter Hickman and 2019 will be their second year in the same team, as they had already shared the GBMoto Kawasaki box back in 2016. With 250 races, 15 wins and 54 further podium finishes in his name, almost 39-year-old Ellison will be the real veteran of 2019 British Superbike Championship…
Translated by Alessandro Palma