Silverstone awaits the Samsung Honda team this weekend for the penultimate round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship as Alex Lowes bids to continue his winning streak in his quest for a maiden title.

Lowes has been on dazzling form recently, with six consecutive race victories before getting excluded from his race two win at Assen last time out, and goes to Silverstone just one point behind series leader Shane Byrne.

Unfortunately, his Samsung Honda team-mate, Ryuichi Kiyonari, has been forced to withdraw from this weekend’s encounter after sustaining a shoulder injury whilst training. The Japanese ace is one of the six BSB Showdown riders and is hopeful for a return at the season finale at Brands Hatch on 18-20 October.

Kiyonari will be replaced at Silverstone by Freddy Foray, who is currently riding a Honda CBR1000RR in the German IDM Superbike series. The 29-year-old from Sèvres in France is a double World Endurance champion who contested several rounds of last season’s British Superbike championship, although he has never raced at Silverstone before.

In the Motorpoint British Supersport Championship, Samsung Honda’s Jason O'Halloran continued his recent good run of results with a double podium at Assen. The Australian is aiming to go one step higher and take a debut victory at Silverstone.

Alex Lowes

I am feeling pretty good ready for Silverstone and that is what we are focused on now. I am feeling confident because we have shown the pace of the Samsung Honda at the past three rounds. We have won the last six races on track and that shows how strong we have been and if we keep working hard we shouldn’t be too far away from trying to win again at Silverstone. We also can’t take it for granted because the races are sure to be close and I think we will have some tough battles again at Silverstone. Myself and Shakey have had some great races this season and we know it will be close again at Silverstone. I can’t wait to get back there!

Freddy Foray

Of course, I want to wish Kiyo a quick recovery but I am grateful to Samsung Honda for this opportunity. I have not ridden at Silverstone before but I have done many laps on my MotoGP game on Playstation! I am excited to ride the Samsung Honda, which will be a little bit different to my IDM machine, but I am not so worried about the change in tyres. I think the difference between Dunlop and Pirelli tyres is not so big as a few years ago. Both are very good, so I am looking forward to this weekend.

Jason O’Halloran

Coming off the back of a double podium at Assen we are obviously looking forward to the weekend at Silverstone. That was a great weekend for us so the aim is to try and be on the podium twice again as I feel that we have the pace to be challenging for the win. We just need to work on the feeling of the bike over the first few laps as that is where I need to make some more progress.

Havier Beltran – team manager

The Samsung Honda team are very much looking forward to Silverstone and continuing the progress that we have been making in both the Superbike and Supersport classes. Alex arrives this weekend still very confident because his momentum has been growing over the past few rounds and that was always the aim; to end the main season strongly and carry that into the Showdown. Of course, we’re sorry that Kiyo won’t be with us this weekend, but we’re looking forward to working with Freddy and hoping he can support Alex. We did offer it to Jason but he declined as he feels he has unfinished business in Supersport and wanted to focus on achieving a race win before the end of the season. Jason has been getting closer to the win over the past few rounds and another determined effort from him could mean we see Honda’s first win in the class in 2013.

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