Chris Burns will be back on board the Team STP Racing MV Agusta this weekend as the Metzeler Racetec National Superstock Championship heads to Oulton Park in Cheshire.
The former MotoGP rider is hoping the rain can hold off long enough for Sunday’s race to go ahead, after an outing of highs and lows at Knockhill a fortnight ago.
Despite the race being cancelled after just three laps due to heavy rain which made the track unsafe, Burns proved he was more than capable of mixing it with the frontrunners in just his first event of the season.
The 27-year-old from Newcastle had been left languishing down in 27th spot through no fault of his own after electrical problems during first qualifying forced him to miss most of the session. Then, in a rain-drenched second session where there was no chance of anyone improving their times, Burns was consistently the fastest man on the track, finishing the session a whole 0.4seconds ahead of his nearest rival.
He was also second fastest in morning warm-up, and it had looked like he would be a fierce contender had the race gone full distance.
Burns, who stepped in to help the team with development of the new MV last month, is keen to get another shot at racing the bike. “Knockhill was a strange round, it was disappointing that we had the problem in qualifying which left us way down the grid, but it was also exciting to see how well the bike could go when all was going right.
“The bike is fast, and it goes very well in the wet, which to be honest, is very useful given the weather so far this season. I really think it can be a race winner and although I was disappointed that we didn’t get to give it a good show at Knockhill, I’m confident we can do very well this weekend.”
Team Principal Jon Strike was delighted at Burns’ performance at Knockhill, and believes a top three is easily achievable. “It was a very, very disappointing trip to Scotland, we had the problem with the bike in first qualifying and there was nothing we could do to improve once it started raining.
“Chris was fastest in the second session and second fastest in warm-up and I think he would have easily finished in the top ten had the race gone ahead.
“We’ve had to just put the whole thing behind us now and look forward to Oulton. Chris likes it around there and the bike is going well at the moment, so we’re all confident we can run up at the sharp end and turn a few heads this weekend.”
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