The Milwaukee Yamaha team head to Silverstone this weekend for the penultimate round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship feeling confident of a strong performance; James Ellison is bidding to close the deficit in the standings at a track he recent celebrated victories at the MotoGP support race.

Ellison showed podium pace at the opening Showdown round at Assen; claiming a podium finish in race two which was later promoted to the victory after the disappointment of a retirement in the opener. Ellison arrives at the Northamptonshire circuit this weekend 21 points adrift, but confident that the team start the event in the strongest possible position having competed in the Silverstone 200 race earlier this month.

Tommy Bridewell is gearing up for his second round with Milwaukee Yamaha and after scoring a front row position in qualifying and a podium finish on his debut at Assen, he is eager to build on his opening performance.

Ellison said:

“We go to Silverstone treating the event in the same way as any other so far this season. We have had great pace but on paper our results don’t look as good because of the DNFs, but if that’s all the bad luck out of the way then that is good especially now for the Showdown. At Assen we had a problem in race one and then it equalled out by having the extra points in race two. I think now that has made us want the results more; we were lucky that we had the recent event at MotoGP because we start the weekend ahead in terms of track time and that is a massive opportunity. I am really happy ahead of Silverstone and we need to win every race now but we are ready to roll.”

Bridewell said:

“I am looking forward to Silverstone and working with the Milwaukee Yamaha team again. This weekend I am ready to go to the circuit with less nerves than I did at Assen and I already feel more relaxed now I have some laps under my belt and some experience on the bike. We showed at Assen that we could run the pace and I can’t see why we can’t go to Silverstone and do the same and fight for a top position. At Assen we had a podium in race one, and yes I was a bit eager in race two, but now my main objective is to be strong in the two races at Silverstone and do the best job I can for Milwaukee Yamaha.”

.