As you might have recently seen or heard, the team headed out to Navarra in Spain last weekend, Before we tell you all about that, lets give you a flavour of the past month.

Three weeks ago we announced the unfortunate shoulder injury to Zak Corderoy. We now know that Zak will be out for the rest of the season, which has been very tough to take for both Binch Racing and Zak. He recieved advice from a couple of shoulder specialists but unfortunately the diagnosis and advice was consistent. Zak will need to undergo surgery and he will require a minimum six months’ recovery. We wish Zak a speedy recovery and hope to see him on the tracks again in the very near future. 

As he prepares for his first reason in the paddock, Ollie Barr has been concentrating on his fitness over the winter months, spending a lot of time on bikes, both pedaled and horsepowered. Sadly, whilst doing some off road training he sustained an injury to his foot. Quick to react, the inury has been operated on and his recovery is going very well. We are not going to rush it, as much as we would like him back on a bike, it is vital he is 100% fit and ready. 

So, that left us with a vacancy. The response to our social media post was nothing short of overwhelming. We were quite taken aback by the sheer volume and calibre of riders approaching us from all over Europe. 

On Friday April 12th we welcomed none other than two times British Supersport Champion and twenty nine time victor of the North West 200, Alastair Seeley !! 

Alastair and Dave have agreed terms for the 2024 season and we are all very excited about this opportunity. Alastair has a wealth of racing experience, particularly on Yamaha machinery that we can all learn a little from and he will be a great mentor for Ollie.  

With no time to spare, that April weekend was spent loading the vans and booking ferries to get one third of the team and Alastair across to Spain for round one.

MSVR acquired the spanish circuit back in 2022 and they have been busy making subtle infastructure changes whilst tweaking the track and the surface to bring it up to a BSB standard. 

In recent years, testing in the UK has been less than productive due to the inconsistent weather. The organisers added a two day test on to the front of the race weekend which was ideal for us. Having two days in the sun at our disposal to adjust and tweak the bike for Alastair would prove to be very useful.

Day One of the test was just as you would expect with the two forty minute sessions being used by Alastair and the team for familiarisation and adjustments. Like us, Alastair had never been to Navarra before, in fact, when he arrived at the garage that morning we had not even met him …

Day Two was a slightly different story as Alastair’s pace started to quicken. It did not take him long to put setup to the back of his mind and twist the throttle. 

The Supersport class this year is full of great riders, some young, some not so, and some that Alastair has raced against before. Let’s just say he is not phased by reigniting some old rivalries …

As the test drew to a close, of the thirty three strong field, Alastair was eighth fastest and the fastest Yamaha! Not a bad start …

Saturday’s qualifying went equally as well with Alastair lining up for Sunday’s first from eighth on the grid having a achieved a low 1.40sec lap time. The progression in his lap times throughout the weekend was superb. 

Sunday morning’s first race was very exciting, the whole team (all three of them) were grinning from ear to ear. Race days are why we do what we do, nothing compares to that energy and anticipation as we roll the bike and equipment on to the grid.

Alastair got away safely and tipped into the 130mph turn one bang in the thick of it. Careful not to get too caught up, he patiently waited until the end of lap one to see where he could build. Once the pack started to spread out, Alastair would focus on his markers and braking points to ride his own race. 

As the chequered flag brought the twelve lap sprint race to a close, Alastair finished seventh. We were all absolutely delighted. To get a seventh seven days after agreeing to work together was a tremendous achievement for everyone involved.

The feature race later that day would see Alastair improve once again to cross the line in sixth place after a clean and fair battle with Harry Truelove on his homoligated GSX-R 750. 

As are the current rules, there are a number of larger capacity machines in the class which typically sees them have more power out of the corners. However, our Yamaha R6’s are superbly balanced to give us more corner speed, which, once Alastair gets even more comfortable, and makes the machine his own, will be where we can take advantage. 

All in all, a very perculiar few weeks to navigate but we got there! We made it to Spain and we came home with two finishes, twenty six well earnt Championship points and we are sixth in the standings. We will absolutely take that !!

This week we will be heading over to one of Alastair’s favourite circuits, Oulton Park. We have a test day on Thursday and racing gets underway for a three day Bank Holiday barn stormer on Saturday. 

We hope to have Ollie back with us for Donington on May 17th – 19th. 

On behalf of all the boys and girls within the team, we would like to thank you for your continued support, we all really appreciate it. Thank you !!

🔥🔥🔥🆙🆙