The Bennetts Suzuki team heads to Oulton Park this weekend for round three of the MCE British Superbike Championship, with Richard Cooper leading the way in the National Superstock 1000 championship standings, while teammates Taylor Mackenzie and Sylvain Guintoli have continued to work on development of the new GSX-R1000 in superbike trim.

An official test at the Cheshire circuit last week enabled the team to try different directions with machine setup, providing insightful and useful data to take away and evaluate. It means the team heads into the weekend with fresh ideas and a new base setting for the undulating Oulton Park circuit, and with a clear focus on the direction to head in with the new GSX-R1000's ongoing development.

Taylor Mackenzie,  

"At the recent test we were still playing about with the chassis and the electronics, mostly. The test was quite difficult; it was damp in the morning and then I got a session in where we struggled a little bit. We made some changes for the second session we got out for, and in the few laps we got in it felt loads better, but I tangled with another rider and ended up in the gravel and that was that. The Superbike engine's so linear and makes so much power that when you open the throttle it just wants to wheelie everywhere, so we're working on mapping to try and manage that power more and make it a bit more usable. And Oulton is so different to the likes of Donington and Brands that we also need to improve our chassis setup. At Donington it was working mega and I felt like I could out-brake anyone. But Oulton's very different and we're coming to these circuits for the first time with this bike. We wanted to be further up the field a bit sooner than we are, but we also knew it'd take time. I'm desperate to be fighting for the podium and I know we can do it and the potential is in there, it's just taking us a little longer to unlock it."

Sylvain Guintoli, 

"We tried a lot in the test, and we're still working on the same areas to try and get the bike working better with the electronics and also keep improving the chassis, especially for somewhere like Oulton Park. We are making progress, but BSB is so competitive. You only have to be a little off the pace and you can be outside of the top 10. I have raced at Oulton before, but it was good to ride the track again at the test. Hopefully, with the work the team has put in, we will start in a better position this weekend."


Richard Cooper, 

"Oulton Park is definitely a riders' favourite, and I'm looking forward to getting back on the new Suzuki there. We had a few issues at the start of the test, but they were ironed out by the end of the day and we were on the pace we need to be on around there. It was nice to be able to test at a track before we race there. We need to remember this is a brand new bike and it's never been around these tracks until we get there, so it's good to be going into this weekend with a base setting and we'll be ready to go from Saturday morning."

Team manager, Steve Hicken, 

"The test last week was good for us. It was difficult and hard work, because we tried a lot of things and went in various directions with setup, but it's a new bike and we're still learning so much about it all the time. We've collected a lot of data and done a lot of work back at base ahead of this weekend, and we should be in a better position going into the first practice session. Rather than starting scratch in FP1, it's good to be going to a track we've managed to do some laps of beforehand, and hopefully we'll see the benefits."



The first National Superstock 1000 practice session takes place from 10:40 on Saturday 29 April, with the British Superbike class taking to the track for the first time from 11:15