The Quattro Plant Kawasaki team head to Oulton Park this weekend for the second round of the 2016 MCE British Superbike Championship and after a successful test at the Cheshire venue last week, all of the team members are in a confident mood prior to the race action.

Currently lying in sixth place after the opening round at Silverstone, where he took a best finish of fourth, Luke Mossey ended the test day in sixth place overall and was just half a second off the top spot. Having topped the timesheets in the second of three sessions, the Cambridge rider is in a confident frame of mind as he looks to capitalise on his strong early season form and grab a podium spot, at least, in the two races.

Team-mate Filip Backlund also enjoyed a successful day as he made his return from a broken collarbone sustained at the beginning of the month. The Swedish rider completed 52 laps in total on the Quattro Plant Cool Kawasaki and is now relishing the prospect of getting his season underway in earnest.

Dickies British Supersport Championship team member Andrew Reid got his campaign off to the best possible start at Silverstone with victory in the solitary race and with two races on the schedule at Oulton, he’s in the ideal place to extend his early season lead. Indeed, he topped the timesheets at the test day last week by a healthy 0.329s and with Oulton being the venue of his maiden victory in the class in 2015, it’s clearly a circuit he enjoys.

The squad is also up to its full complement for the first time this weekend with Oulton hosting the first round of the Hyundai Heavy Industries Sidecar Championship. Reigning champions Ricky Stevens and Ryan Charlwood will have the target on their backs this year but with 12 wins during their championship-winning season, everything’s in place for a repeat performance.

Luke Mossey: 

“After a good first round, I’m looking forward to the weekend especially after the good test day we had at Oulton last week. We didn’t make many changes to the bike as it’s already working very well so I just concentrated on putting in the laps and after ending the day in sixth overall, I feel there’s more left in the tank for race day.”

Filip Backlund: 

“I was happy to get some laps in last week and it felt brilliant to be back on the bike! I didn’t really look at the lap times and just focussed on building myself back up so I can’t wait for race weekend. I had no pain from the injury but it will take a bit of time to get the muscles working 100% so I’m confident we can have a solid weekend and take two points scoring finishes.”

Andrew Reid: 

“We had a good test at Oulton and came away with everything we needed to. We tried a few new components on the bike and made a few changes and everyone in the team is working really hard. Last year’s meeting was extremely positive, taking my maiden Supersport victory and giving me probably the most satisfying win of my career so I’m feeling confident heading into the weekend.”

Ricky Stevens: 

“After seeing the season for the team get underway at Silverstone, both Ryan and I are looking forward to joining the team at Oulton. Winning the British Championship last year was simply superb and whilst we know it won’t be easy, we have everything in place for the season ahead and are confident of defending our title. Getting a win first time out at Oulton will be the perfect way to start.”

Pete Extance, Team Owner: 

“After a really good start at the first round at Silverstone, the whole team is now really looking forward to round two at Oulton. The solo riders all had a good day at the circuit last week whilst we also look forward to being joined by Ricky and Ryan for the first British Sidecar Championship round where there’ll be looking to get the defence of their title underway in fine style.”

Free practice takes place on Saturday with qualifying and races on Sunday before Bank Holiday Monday sees the full programme of events take place.