SPLITLATH Motorsport Aprilia riders Hudson Kennaugh and Chris Burns are fired-up and ready for battle as the Mirror.co.uk BSB-Evo Championship reaches its penultimate round at Silverstone this weekend.

With Kennaugh now back in the title fight following his two wins at Croft a fortnight ago, and Burns looking to add more wins to his collection at a track which suits his riding style, the team can’t wait to get out on track.

Kennaugh, who sits second in the championship on 322 points, just 34 adrift of leader Steve Brogan, is looking to build on his double victory at the North Yorkshire track and take another large bite out of his rival’s lead.

“Yeah, I’m really up for it this weekend,” he said. “We tested at Silverstone recently and I was pretty happy with how we went. Of course, we are looking at a power disadvantage here compared to the BMW, so we just have to hope we’ve got the horsepower to give him a good fight.

“We are expecting a tough round but hopefully it will bring us what we want. I think we need to capitalise on the momentum we bring from Croft, and try and stay on this roll.”

Burns, who has the same fears about the track and the power disadvantage of the Aprilia RSV4, also believes that the corners could play into his hands. “It’s strange because it is a fast track, but out of this and the next one, Oulton Park, this is the one which suits my riding style better.

“When we tested my bike was going really well. The others will have the speed advantage on the straight but I’m confident I can be the best man through the corners. I need two wins this weekend, that’s about the size of it and I’ll be chasing them all the way.”

Team Principal John Dimbylow shares his riders’ enthusiasm. “We have to be realistic and admit that this is going to be our more disadvantageous circuits,” he said.

“However, the lads are raring to go. We’ve done plenty of testing here and there is no reason we can’t do well. We’ve just had some new parts delivered from Italy which we will be testing on Friday, so we’re all optimistic that the team can have a good, solid round.”