AMERICAN road racer Mark Miller invigorated the Splitlath Motorsport squad with two dogged performances at Knockhill this afternoon as he made his Mirror.co.uk BSB Evo debut at the Scottish track.

The Californian race ace rose to the challenge in completely alien conditions in his first short circuit race in 10 years after joining the squad last week.

Having arrived at the Dunfermline track on Friday morning and hitting the track in wet conditions which continued throughout Saturday, the American had to suddenly get to grip with the dry as the rain cleared up this morning.

Retiring from the first race with a few problems linked to the wet set-up, Miller was back out for Race Two later this afternoon, and immediately began to improve his times lap by lap, eventually crossing the line 24th at the chequered flag.


In a race day which doubled up as a test for the rider and his new team, Miller exceeded all expectations as he continued to push his Aprilia RSV4 machine all the way to the chequered flag.

“It’s been an interesting weekend, and I’ve had to use this as a test session with the bike,” he said. “Normally you have three or four tests before the season starts but we came here and got straight on the bike and went straight out into a race weekend.

“This has been my first short circuit race for 10 years so I’m feeling happy that we didn’t crash or make anyone else crash...it’s been a big learning experience for me. It certainly wasn’t a complete cluster and I’m feeling pretty good about the whole thing

“It’s always hard on very short tracks like this because when you’re about to get lapped you ease off to let those guys through, but then the next few guys down the road get the chance to get close to you because you’ve eased off, and that was the problem here for me today.

“I have to say thanks to all of the crew at Splitlath Motorsport, it’s a cool team, they’re a great bunch of guys and it’s been a good experience for me. And I can now say I’ve finished a British Superbike race!”

Team boss John Dimbylow believes Miller’s attitude has had a positive effect on the squad.

“Mark’s been brilliant, he’s got the right attitude and has pushed it all weekend. His lap times have got progressively quicker all weekend and we’re amazed at how well he has coped with the difficult conditions the Scottish weather has thrown at him,” he said.

“You have to remember that Mark hasn’t ridden a short circuit for 10 years and until this weekend had never ridden the bike, never ridden on Pirelli tyres and hasn’t ridden in the wet for a decade. He has inspired the whole team with his never say die attitude and we’re all thrilled with his efforts and subsequent result this weekend.