Reynolds will defend title at Brands Hatch - March 27/28

British Superbike Champion cleared to race in Easter Monday season-opener

21/03/2005 - Reigning British Superbike Champion John Reynolds has has confirmed he will be on the grid at Brands Hatch this weekend to defend his Championship crown despite breaking his leg last month.

The miracle return to action is the final piece in the jigsaw of a race meeting which is set to be a real thriller, with one of the strongest BSB fields in years and five manufacturers involved in the series. Interest in this opening round of the season has been very high, with sales of advance weekend tickets well over 300 percent up on last year.

Rizla Suzuki ace Reynolds broke his right leg in five places when he crashed his GSX-R1000 during testing at Valencia and since then has undergone an operation to have his tibia pinned, with his fibula left to heal naturally.

He is having a special boot made for his right leg which will act as a cast and provide him with the ability to balance he needs to race. After consultations with his doctors, Reynolds was given the all-clear to race on Easter Monday today (Tuesday).

Reynolds told Motor Cycle News earlier this month: "I want to race at Brands. But from everything I've been told my target of racing at Brands is 100 percent realistic."

The British Superbike Championship race promises an explosive start to the season. With the British Superbike field looking stronger than ever this year, the famous 1.2-mile Brands Hatch Indy circuit is the perfect place to catch one of the best national motorbike racing series in the world.

The championship offers some spectacular action the 1000cc, 200bhp Superbikes will reach around 140mph as they plunge into Paddock Hill Bend at the end of the start/finish straight.

For Maidstone rider Scott Smart, his home round at Brands Hatch will mark the beginning of a new and exciting chapter in his career, as he begins his first season with the 2004 title-winning Rizla Suzuki team alongside reigning champion John Reynolds.

Smart, 28, who was sixth in testing at Brands Hatch on his Suzuki GSX-R last week said: "I'll have lots of support at Brands Hatch, but sometimes that adds to the pressure. You might think that being from Maidstone would mean I know this place like the back of my hand but actually I only did club racing for one season, and didn't race here much, so I'll have no home field advantage."

Meanwhile, pre-season testing has been dominated by HM Plant Honda star Ryuichi Kiyonari, who topped the test at Brands Hatch by breaking the Indy circuit lap record with a time of 45.973s.

Tickets for the British Superbike Championship weekend cost £8 per adult on practice day (Saturday, March 26), £10 per adult on qualifying day (Sunday, March 27) and £25 per adult on race day (Easter Monday, March 28).

Children aged 12 and under go free on all days.

British Supersports The British Supersport are like their British Superbike cousins; production based 'showroom look-alikes'. Changes are permitted to the tyres, exhausts and suspension internals. They are powered by engines 401-600cc, four-stroke, four cylinder, or 600-750cc, four-stroke two cylinders.		British 125GP The 125GPs are light, ultra-competitive machines which provide some of the closest racing and with riders as young as 14-years of age the series is home to some of the UK's youngest racing talent. In terms of specification the bikes are over 80cc and up to 125cc, two-stroke and one cylinder, with six gears maximum.		Yamaha R6 Cup The popular one-make series is hotly contested with the whole grid running identical Yamaha R6 motorcycles. The series has already crowned two champions, Tommy Hill and Richard Wren who by winning the title now line up against some of the best riders the UK has to offer in the British Superbike Championship.

National Superstock Production machines with race tyres and a minimum 10 percent weight reduction, with an increase of power by an equal amount. The engines that are permitted are 601 - 1000cc four-stroke four cylinders maximum, 751 - 1000cc four-stroke three cylinders maximum or 851-1200cc four stroke, two cylinders maximum		National Superstock Cup Run to exactly the same regulations as the Superstock championship. The Superstock class always attracts bumper grids, so much so that last year organisers were forced to create a secondary series for the bikes, hence the Superstock Cup's creation.		Superbike Cup Run to the same regulations as the main championship, the Cup class offers privateers the chance to mix it with the big boys on the biggest stage in British motorbike racing. Always a chance too for a privateer to spring a m,ajor surprise by getting on to the podium.

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