Friday, January 06 2012

Club MSV have announced an outline for a new motorcycle racing series, the Bike Trackday Trophy, aimed exclusively at trackday riders and novice racers.

There are plans for four race meetings in the inaugural season and these will take place at Brands Hatch, Cadwell Park and Snetterton, running through the summer months. A 45 minute endurance race will cater for riders wishing to race solo and a three hour race for teams of two, three or four riders. Both races will have practice / qualifying sessions all taking place on one day to reduce overnight costs.

A class structure has been outlined on the Club MSV website, splitting bikes into pre and post year 2000 categories as well as by engine size. To enter the series, each team must also have at least one novice rider who has competed in less than ten races. National and International licence holders will not be permitted in the series.

Club MSV Manager Alex Baker explains the logic behind the plans:

"Two years ago we launched the Car Trackday Trophy which has been an overwhelming success. We have introduced well over 100 new drivers into the world of competitive motor sport, many of whom have successfully graduated to other series and championships organised by clubs all over the country. Now we want to replicate this successful formula for bikes.

We have thousands of riders taking part in our trackdays each year and in 2010 the ACU issued Club MSV with the authority to administer ACU licence tests across the group of MSV circuits. With the introduction of the new series we'll be able to help riders from the first time they ride their bike on a race track, through their race training and preparation, all the way up to being sat on the grid waiting for the lights to go out.

The No Budget Cup (an endurance race series designed for novice racers on bikes made during the 90s) ran two rounds in the UK last year and the format was obviously well received with full grids at both rounds. However, they are not returning to the UK in 2012 and therefore we'd like to offer a series for their riders to compete in with a few modest changes to the format and regulations.

Firstly, all riders must have an ACU or SACU race licence. Safety is our number one priority in whatever we do whether it be trackdays or racing. Therefore I felt it was important to ensure all the riders on the grid were capable and had the right level of experience to be racing.

Following an overwhelming amount of feedback from interested competitors we've also realised that a lot of riders want to race bikes made this century. That's fine with us - newer bikes should mean better reliability. However, we don't want to leave the riders of older bikes at a significant disadvantage with the technology (and ultimately) performance advantages that came about with the introduction of fuel injection. Therefore our class structure will reflect this by having classes for 90s and post 2000 bikes as well as splitting bikes by capacity.

It's also become clear that many riders want to race solo so we'll be introducing a new semi-endurance race format with races of around 45 minutes.

Having said that, we're still talking to riders, experienced racers and others industry experts about how it should all work. We want to create a series that is easy to get into, not too serious and ultimately fun for all involved."

Riders wanting to find out more should call 0843 453 3000 or click here.