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Burns on fire in battle for cup
NEWCASTLE'S Chris Burns is
looking to turn the performance
table on its head this weekend at
Oulton Park and continue his relentless
charge towards the Superbike
Cup.
The 29-year-old former MotoGP
rider, who has teamed up
with former World Endurance
champion Warwick Nowland to
form a new STP Superbike team,
has endured a frustrating start
to the new campaign.
Due to a lack of funding in the
close season, Burns, who last
year failed to finish in all six of
his British Superbikes races, is
the only rider in the series competing
with simply a road bike.
Burns, who finished 18th in
race one at Thruxton two weeks
ago, claims his new-look bike is
improving by the day and predicted
a close battle over the
coming months with James
Buckingham and John Laverty
for the coveted Superbike Cup.
"The target remains to win the
Superbike Cup and by the end of
the year be scoring points in the
main Championship," said
Burns.
"We came 14th in qualifying at
Oulton Park and 18th in race one
on a standard bike, so I have
high hopes.
"There'll be tracks that suit
the bike and others that don't -
hopefully this weekend we'll be
competitive. Our performances
already this season show just
how good the bike is anyway.
"We didn't test the bike at all.
All the other teams tested in
Spain and we didn't even get
chance, the first race was our
first test.
"For every event we're going
to have something new on the
bike, so we're going to get
stronger," added Burns. "It's a
shame we didn't have it all at the
start of the season. It might take
half a season to get all the parts.
"This year is a learning year
and next year we'll enter the
Championship after a full season
of training.
"Last year I was promised the
bike would be done before November
and we'd go testing in
Spain and then I started to get
the phone calls saying we
haven't got the money yet, we
haven't got the money yet. It can
only get better from now on."
Leon Haslam, meanwhile, is
looking forward to winning
again'' at Oulton Park.
Haslam said: Oulton Park
has a fantastic layout and always
promotes good racing.
I've always done pretty well
there in the past. I know after
the disappointment of Thruxton
I need to get my championship
going so I'm looking forward to
winning again.
It's a long season and we're
making progress each time I'm
out on the bike.''
* Tune into Eurosport 2 for Bennetts
British Super Bikes Coverage
on Monday from Oulton
Park at 12.30pm or for updates
head to:
www.uk.eurosport. yahoo.com
9:47am Saturday 3rd May 2008
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