The exciting combination of Crescent Racing and Yoshimura are hard at work preparing for the start of their new adventure in WSBK racing, as are their rivals. The difference for Crescent is that almost everything is new for 2012, a fact that has presented the former BSB team with some unique challenges, according to Team Manager Jack Valentine.

"With the first round being a fly away at PI and with all the new partners like Yoshimura and new things which have been introduced, we are in the process of making that all gel together," said Valentine from the team's base in Dorset, England. "We are also in the process of changing workshop so we have quite a lot of things on our plate. We have to be realistic and we are aiming to be ready for Phillip Island. We will be testing the week before the official tests so we are flat out getting organised for that. It is not so much the normal type of logistics - as if we were going to Europe - the first round is a fly away, so we have to get out flight cases organised and start shipping the stuff. That is a new thing we have to adjust to and we have a lot of parts coming in now. It is just organisation now, to he honest. The start is such a short while away and everything just shuts down over Christmas. We have new suspension and braking systems and all the usual things before the start of the season and upgrading everything because we are trying to find that little bit extra. We are upping our game, so we have a lot on."


Yoshimura, partners in the new team, are responsible for the engine side of the technical programme, and they will be sending engines in two different directions soon.

"We will have two engines with us in January, to fit into the motorcycles before we leave for Australia," said Valentine. "That is to check out that all the systems are working all right before we to go to Australia, and our other engines from Yoshimura will be delivered to Phillip Island. We will be testing in PI on 13, 14 and 15 February. We are looking forward to it and we are working as hard as we can to be contenders, not just a new team coming into the championship to participate and see how we get on. We are entering the championship in as serious a way as we can, it is the only way we do things."

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