SHOP4BIKERS TITLE SPONSOR

British Superbikes 125GP rider, Simon Low, has secured a sponsorship deal that will help him to establish himself as a key contender in this years competition. A UK firm that specialises in the supply of secure storage sheds for motorcycles and has a thriving Internet-based business selling motorcycle clothing, accessories and models, has teamed up with Simon and provided much-needed funding ahead of the new season.

Simon (23), who steps up from Thundersport GP3 to the BSB 125GP class this year, will carry the Shop4Bikers.co.uk brand on his new, orange-liveried Honda Dutch-2-UK Racing machine throughout the coming season.

Shop4Bikers.co.uk was one of a number of co-sponsors last season but, following the rapid growth of their business, has increased their commitment and will be Simon’s main sponsor for the new season, which opens at Brands Hatch over the Easter weekend.

Caroline Moore, company secretary and board director of Securit GB, which operates Shop4Bikers.co.uk, said: “We were really proud to help Simon Low last season and it is wonderful that our business has made the move up to the main sponsorship deal. It will be tremendous to see our name racing in BSB this year and we expect Simon and his team every success in a highly competitive field.”

 Simon Low has every chance of staying with the pace in 2010 as he will be riding a new high spec Honda RS125 machine supplied by Dutch-2-UK Racing. As he says: “Team mate Edward Rendell and myself will be riding two of only four fully kitted disc valve Honda GP125 machines in the world and I’m aiming to be in the points from the off. By the end of the year, I expect to be consistently placed in the top 10 or higher”.

 Low back in the points with stirring ride at Cadwell
Simon Low put in a brilliant ride at round 9 of the British 125cc Championship at Cadwell Park on Bank Holiday Monday when he took the Team Shop4bikers/Dutch-2-UK Racing Honda in to a superb 13th place. The result was even more the impressive given the fact that ignition trouble had kept him down in 25th place in qualifying and, had it not been the engine slightly losing power in the closing stages of the race, he could well have taken his second top ten finish of the season.

A strong start to the weekend saw Simon take 19th in a rain-affected opening free practice session on Saturday and with a lap of 1m39.684s in the afternoon's second session, he was able to improve to 18th. However, qualifying on Sunday morning was hit by cold temperatures and heavy drizzle and he could only manage 24th place whilst whilst ignition problems throughout the day meant he was unable to improve in the afternoon's final qualifying session. So, his morning time of 1m41.478s meant he lined up in 25th place and on the ninth row of the grid.

Changes to the ignition enabled Simon to post a morale-boosting 16th place in morning warm up, where he lapped quicker than what he had done in qualifying, and a superb opening lap saw him move up to 20th place. An even better second lap saw him overtake no less than five riders and he was up to 15th and inside the points when the safety car came out due to an incident involving Taylor Mackenzie. When it pulled in at the end of lap 4, Simon wasted no time in moving further up the leaderboard and was soon up to 13th, a position that became 11th on lap six when race leader James Lodge crashed out taking fourth placed Deane Brown with him. At half race distance he moved up in to the top ten and for the remainder of the race he battled hard with Kyle Ryde, Ben Barrett and Jon Vincent as positions changed on each and every lap.
 
Briefly pushed back to the rear of the group and to 14th, Simon continued to battle hard and his spirited performance, which included a superb fastest lap of 1m36.894s, was rightfully rewarded at the chequered flag when he crossed the line in a hard-earned 13th place. It was the third time he'd scored points this season and the three points move him on to a total of ten for the season.
 
Talking afterwards, a pleased Simon said: "I'm definitely pleased with that result and if I hadn't have messed up the start, I think another top ten finish could have been ours - my reaction to the lights going out was pretty good but the bike launched, pulling a wheelie, and I must have been about 28th going in to the first turn! I went round the outside of a few people there and passed about the same number of people on the second lap so when the pace car came out I was already up inside the points. I was hoping the safety car would bunch us all up but the rider in front of me didn't close the gap up as much as what he could although I still managed to get another couple of places soon after the car pulled in."
 
"I tried to latch on to Sam Hornsey but his bike was just too quick so for the rest of the race I just concentrated on trying to keep as many riders behind me as possible. The bike did lose a bit of power towards the end and, as I was going quicker, I found the suspension wasn't quite right and the bike was beginning to bottom out in places. I dug deep to hold for 13th though and my lap times were not only way quicker than what I'd gone in qualifying but also the same as what many of the top ten were running. The ignition changes worked perfectly so all we need to do now is concentrate on the suspension. I've never been to Croft before but I'm determined to maintain this form and have a strong run of points-scoring finishes until the end of the season."
 
The next round of the 125cc British Championship takes place at Croft, North Yorkshire on September 10-12.

Picture by Glynne Lewis
 
Phil Wain
Freelance PR