Danny Buchan is looking forward to the season ahead after joining BeWiser Kawasaki on a two year deal to compete in the MCE British Superbike Championship.
He will join Chris Walker at the team and team Manager and Kent’s own Tommy Hill and this week he was at a team networking event at Brands Hatch.
Kent Sports News caught up with him to get his thoughts on the season ahead and making the step up to the BSB’s.
He said: “It is very exciting for me and I am glad that I have been given the opportunity by the BeWiser Kawasaki superbike team to have a go at this year.
“It is hard to get a ride these days and obviously the BSB is a super grid this year with 40 riders it is going to be exceptional you know. It is nice that we have a good team and a good package and a good bike for this year, and I just can’t wait to get going now for testing.”
It is a step up for Danny from the British Superstock Championship to the British Superbike Championship an exciting prospect for any young rider to race with some of the biggest names in the sport.
He added: “To be honest no one bothers me, I am not scared of anyone, I never really have been I am out there to do a job and I am employed to do a job and I love racing motorbikes you know. I like to get out there and get stuck in with elbows out.
“I can’t wait to get up the front hopefully and stick it to them sort of thing. Obviously it is a lot harder than that the guys are very experienced. I have had 13 BSB races to the likes of Shakey who has had 270 plus and its. That is something that is new for myself and this year is just going to be about experience and doing the best than I can.
“We just can’t wait to get going now as a team, with my new crew as well I have a new crew chief, so testing is going to be about familiarising myself with him and him with myself of how I work and things like that.”
With the step-up that Danny is making he is not sure how much difference there is between the series until he goes racing.
“It is hard to say really, I know a lot of people talk it up and say it’s a massive step up, I rode my practice bike out in Spain and a couple of weeks ago and we were doing lap times competitive enough to the front of BSB and that was on my practice bike, which is 60% of a superbike.
“I think that people over complicate it and make it too much of a big deal, this year I am just going into it open minded and I am sort of speaking from experience here saying that people talk it up because I have been there.
“When I came from Superstock before I sort of thought slick tyres and better brakes and I sort of talked it up and made it a bigger deal in my head. Now I have ridden that bike I am just going into it very level headed and I am just going to the best I can each weekend and try and go as fast as I can.”
With experienced guys at the BeWiser Kawasaki team in Chris Walker and Tommy Hill, Danny is looking to learn as much as he can from the guys.
He said: “Obviously Chris Walker joining the team is absolutely mega, he came into a new Kawasaki team last year and he got himself into the showdown which just shows how his experience is and how much of a quicker rider he is.
“People say the older they get the slower they get but not Chris’ likes and Michael Rutter they are very quick guys, so that is going to be beneficial for sure. Obviously it is going to be nice having Tommy in the garage because I have never had a situation where I have had someone who has ridden with me you know.
“If I come in and say the bike is doing this, I can’t figure this out, it will be nice to have someone there who will just be able to say yeah I have done that before its fine it’s not you. It is definitely going to be nice to have that experience in the garage, and I have never had that before, to be honest the whole thing is looking really good, I just can’t wait to get going.”
Kent Sports News asked Danny his opinion on whether Kent’s very own Shane Byrne would be the man to beat again, having won his fourth title in 2014.
He added: “I am not too sure to be honest, obviously Shakey won it last year and he is going to be expecting to do the same thing but it’s hard to do back to back championships. I don’t know who is going to be there, until you go testing and find out.
“You could get someone who rode last year who comes out and wins every race by five seconds, you just don’t know what is going to happen its motorbike racing. I am not too bothered I am just going to the best I can and I don’t focus on anybody else, I focus on what I am doing each day and trying to better myself each day and then I will just get to the race track and see where we are.”
With a new team and a new bike Danny thinks that the Kawasaki ZX10 is going to be a rapid machine when it takes to the track.
“It is going to be fast yeah, obviously like NSS performance having been developing the bike and working on the bike and stuff and Nick Morgan at MSS performance manages me so he is always sending me pictures of the bike, and always keeping me updated on the bike.
“Which is nice because for a rider it is nice to know that your bike is being looked after and it is being well prepared, that is obviously another good thing for me. It is hopefully going to be as competitive as Shakey Byrne’s bike, Tommy has reassured me that the bike is going to be as good if not better.
“That is what I was saying about being given a package to challenge at the front, so now it is just down to myself and my team to do the best that we can.”
With the team at Brands Hatch for the networking event the next time Danny is there he will be out on the track racing and he is looking forward to it.
He added: “I can’t wait, hopefully the next time we come here I am standing on that box over there. I have been out training in Spain for the last month so my body has got less I am really cold all the time. Welcome back to England!”