Paul Veazey will return to the UK championships this weekend after inking a deal with Astro Racing Kawasaki. The 21-year-old from Middlesbrough will contest the British Supersport Cup with the squad, lining up for his first race this Bank Holiday Monday at Oulton Park, Cheshire.
The move comes after Veazey parted company with the Q Motosport team, with which he had entered the Spanish CEV Supersport Championship, following a massive crash in the opening round just over a week ago.
“It wasn’t really anyone’s fault, it was an amicable split,” he said. “The crash was so bad that the bike was written off, and neither myself or the team could afford to build another. If we’d put all our cash into building one we’d not have been able to finish the season so we agreed it was not a feasible arrangement for us to continue.”
Having initially been offered a ride with Stuart Tromans’ team at the end of last season, Veazey instead chose to pursue the Spanish offer. But having kept in close contact with the squad which took him to the runner-up spot in the National Superstock Cup in 2005, he called Tromans this week to see if the offer was still on the table.
“Stu has been great, he was very keen to get me back in his team and he has literally just built me a bike and said I can race this weekend. It’s all happened really quickly, and I’m very happy.
“He offered me the ride last year but I wanted to try the Spain thing, so I turned him down but I have been in close contact with him all winter. I’ve always kept in touch with Stu, ever since I left the team at the end of 06, and he’s always been supportive of everything I’ve done.
“It’s all been very last minute, which means I’m really just running a standard bike this weekend, but once Oulton is out of the way we’ll be getting stuck in to make it as competitive as possible. I’m over the moon to be racing British 600s, Supersport is very much where I see my future and I certainly don’t plan to let Stuart and the team down.”
Astro Kawasaki Team Principal Stuart Tromans is thrilled to have Veazey back in the squad, and had been so keen to snap him up he’d started building him a bike a few weeks ago. “I’m delighted, this offer was the one I made him last year, and I had always secretly hoped he would come back at some point this year, which is why I’d already begun to build him a bike.
“That said, I didn’t expect we’d have just four days notice to get it finished! All we’ll have this weekend is a standard bike with a quick-shift, but that will just be for Oulton, because we intend to get the Kawasaki as competitive as we can.
“I do believe Paul is much more suited to the 600 machines than he was to the 1000ccs, and I think there is a place for Paul’s style of riding in this class. I firmly believe that with our package and Paul’s talent, we should be challenging for podiums in the Cup and possibly top 15 in the main championship.”
