Mid-season musical chairs in BSB

DURING the past few weeks, Danny Buchan, Barry Burrell, Tommy Bridewell and experienced team manager Jack Valentine have all made a change in their British Superbike careers.

Danny Buchan has parted company with the Quattro Plant Kawasaki team and has changed back to British Supersport signing with Seton Tuning Yamaha following a successful test.

Quattro Plant Kawasaki said: “This season has proved to be very difficult for both Danny and the team to find a good setting along with some technical issues and some crashes.”

It was then said the team would announce a replacement alongside Chris Walker in due course.

Barry Burrell has signed with the Quattro Plant Bournemouth Kawasaki team for the next round of BSB.

Burrell was set to ride again for the Buildbase BMW team in 2013, however a last minute sponsor problem just after Christmas left him without ride.

Team owner Pete Extance said: “Following a successful test at Oulton Park we are pleased to welcome Barry to the team for the next round of the championship.”

Former 848 Challenge rider Jamie Poole and his team QBSD Motorsport are moving from the Superstock 1000 series into the Superbike class and continuing to run their Kawasaki ZX-10R.

However, Tommy Bridewell became the first rider this season to announce he would part company with his team making the move from Bathams Honda to Halsall racing.

Bathams Honda issued a statement saying: “…following a recent test and appearance at Imola World Supersport round, Tommy Bridewell has decided to leave the Bathams Honda British Superbike team. After careful consideration and with mutual agreement, Tommy will leave with immediate effect.”

Bridewell had not been finishing as high on the Bathams Honda as he did with the Supersonic BMW team last season.

Bridewell said: “I'm massively excited to be joining the Halsall crew. It feels like a refreshing re-start to the season for me and this is just what I need. For various reasons, so far 2013 hasn't gone the way I wanted it to but this is just what I needed.”

Bridewell’s moved came just after the recent arrival of experienced manager Jack Valentine to the team but unfortunately, after only a couple of weeks in the job, Jack Valentine stepped down as manager of Halsall Racing.

Valentine couldn’t come to an agreement with team owner Martin Halsall as Valentine said he wanted to have more of an input into the operation and be more than just a front-man at race weekends.

The experienced Jack Valentine said: “It's really frustrating for me to have to make the decision to step down from my role with the team, but I know what it takes to build a professional and title-contending team and I don’t feel I can use my experience to do this in the right way at this time.”