Aylesford’s Howie Mainwaring-Smart will part company with Smiths Racing it was announced today after this weekend’s MCE British Superbike Championship concludes. 

Although it isn’t yet clear whether Mainwaring-Smart will take to the grid tomorrow for the final couple of races with the team, that he has given his all to this season so far.

Unfortunately for him he didn’t make it through to the Datatag Extreme Qualifying earlier today, and a decision was mutually taken between Team Manager Rebecca Smith and Howie after free practice three this morning.

Speaking about the decision, Mainwaring-Smart said: “Everything we’ve tried this year hasn’t worked for whatever reason and I just haven’t gelled with the BMW so it’s not fair of me to waste the team’s time. I’m a bit embarrassed as we should be achieving a lot more, definitely top 15 and maybe even top tens.

“The most frustrating aspect is that we’ve all worked incredibly hard but haven’t been able to pinpoint the main problem. It’s difficult to stand down and the last thing I wanted to do was walk away but it’s time to take a step back and see where we go from here. I’ve got to say a massive thank you to Alan and Rebecca Smith for giving me such a great opportunity and also to the team who have never stopped working for me from day one. My own personal sponsors have been massively supportive and desperate for me to get results so I’d like to publicly thank them also.”

It is clear that both parties have parted on good terms and that is reflected by Team Manager Smith, she said: “It’s been a difficult first half of the season and we are not where we want to be. Howie has been very honest with us and we admire him for that and thank him and for his hard work this season. We genuinely wish him well for the future. We are very happy to honour our commitment and if Howie wants to race tomorrow, we will fully support him as well as Jakub and Luke. We have no plans to field a replacement rider at this stage.”

Images courtesy of www.psp-images.co.uk