Round One. Oulton Park Cheshire.

What’s new after a long winter? On the rider front, Max Cook has moved up to team leader on track alongside highly rated rookie Joe Talbot.

However, the biggest change for the team is that our trusty Kawasaki ZX-10RR engines now sit in state-of-the-art bimota KB998 Rimini chassis. Homologation special road versions of the bike have been developed for racing by Kawasaki and its wholly owned Italian subsidiary company bimota. The bikes are operated on the world stage by Provec Racing in Barcelona running friend of the team Alex Lowes.

The new bike debuted in the hands of Alex and Axel Bassani in the 2025 world superbike championship scoring podium finishes, so it wasn’t long before questions were being asked about running bimotas in the British Superbike championship. As the official Kawasaki team for the past five years, FS-3 Racing was the obvious choice to run a pair of the new bikes.

After a lot of meetings behind the scenes and the renewed commitment of our title sponsor, AJN Steelstock, the decision was made to enter the new bikes in the British championship. That means there are now just four examples racing in the world. Exclusive stuff.

We’ve received significant help from bimota supplying enough parts to run two bikes and Provec with practical help building and setting up the new bikes. Akrapovic have developed a BSB version of the factory exhaust system and Speedfibre have provided sets of the bodywork used by the world team. The chassis is paired with our K-Tech suspension, OZ wheels and Brembo brakes and we’ve been able to adapt the existing wiring looms. 

With everything ready to go by the end of February, we were invited to shakedown our bikes alongside the world team at a world superbikes official test at Portimao, Portugal. Max immediately loved the feel on track ‘it’s a race bike’ was his immediate feedback while Joe was just amazed by the speed!

After that it was a matter of preparing for the official BSB tests at Donington and Oulton Parks. To everyone’s delight, Max dominated the Donington test finishing up fastest after the two days and with Joe just outside the top ten. Oulton is a different sort of test with all the dips and rises but day one ended well. Max P4 and Joe P12. With new Ducatis joining the grid in experienced hands we were looking forward to finding out the running order with everyone going for it in the final session. Unfortunately, we had an unexpected issue on day two and after Joe crashed at Old Hall, we decided to call it a day and sort out things back at the workshop.

With everything mechanical sorted out we were ready to load up and set off back to Oulton Park for round one of our 11 round championship series.

Free practice testing

So here we are, ready to go with our bimota KB998 Riminis. Cool dry weather and not too much wind, perfect. The new day one format provides two sessions without competitive pressure as the times don’t count towards qualifying positions. A proper opportunity to try new parts and set up changes, and rehearse race runs to collect data that helps with optimising tyre wear and grip over a race distance.

The bikes in their race livery and our garage presentation looked special as we prepared for the first session. Joe was passed fit to ride. We knew he’d take the two day one sessions a step at a time as he had a very sore back following the testing crash. Max was immediately on the pace and at the end of the first one-hour session he was a comfortable P6 and happy with his bike.

Good progress from Joe; feeling more confident with a session under his belt. By the end of the day he was 0.25 faster than his best time at the test but still with more to come as he continued to get up to full speed. Max recorded a comfortable 1.33.6 for P3, 0.3 from Ray’s best time, and well under his best lap at the test.

Pre-qualifying

25 minutes to sort out the top 12 going through to the second phase of qualifying, Q2. The rest of the field go first in Q1 with the fastest three moving up to Q2. 15 riders fighting it out for those all-important grid positions. Really need to be on the first rows - top six - to stand much chance in the races.

Lots of traffic initially. Max did 6 laps and parked it - P3, eventually P5 so safely through to Q2. Joe did two runs and ended up P13, one position short of going straight through to Q2! He was frustrated as he got held up on his best lap, but he still posted his fastest time to date.

Qualifying

Always a late start at Oulton on a Sunday morning out of respect for the church service in the village. 10 minutes warm up at noon before qualifying at just after 1pm. Overnight rain had left the circuit wet most of the way around. With the prospect of a dry afternoon, we didn’t risk going out in the ten-minute warm up session as we knew conditions would have changed by the time we got to qualifying over an hour later.

Joe’s P13 in pre-qualifying meant he’d have 15 minutes in Q1 to post a top three time and move into the second part of qualifying. Initially running with an intermediate front tyre and a used rear, after a look at the track Joe was in for brand new slick tyres during a red flag period. Back out and it was a question of pushing to the flag. With just over a minute to go, Joe posted the fastest time only to be bettered by Brookes and O’Halloran in the final moments with track conditions improving by the minute, but still one of the top three who progressed to Q2.

Out into Q2, both on new tyres, Joe tucked in behind Max for the first few laps. He was already fast but time behind Max might help Joe find a bit more speed. By now the track was nearly in perfect condition all the way round so the times were tumbling. Max and Joe were running P6 and 7 before Joe eased off and Max pushed on. With seconds to go Max was P3, on for a front row start, in a time just 0.6 shy of fastest man Ryde but Haslam just pipped his time so he’d start from the second row, P4. Great effort especially as unlike several others he only used one set of new tyres. Joe raised a few eyebrows with a terrific lap of 1.33.9, good enough for P7 on the race one grid. Quite an achievement for his first qualifying session for the team and carrying an injury from his testing crash.

Race one. Result Max P6 Joe P10

18 lap feature race to kick off the season. With decent grid positions, the next challenge for Max and Joe would be getting a good launch off the line and putting in a strong first lap, keeping out of trouble.

In the event, both riders had average starts but were soon battling for positions. Max dropped back a couple of places but by lap five he had passed Redding and Stacey to move up to P4 and was closing on Haslam and Ray, battling for second place. Joe was getting on with it too. From his P7 grid slot he’d dropped back to P10 in a group with Skinner, Vickers and Iddon. Passing Iddon and then Vickers for P8 on lap six.

Lap eight and Max was right with Haslam and Ray but the gap to them opened up on lap nine; had a move on Haslam gone wrong?  Unfortunately, it was the first sign of a braking issue which hampered Max for the rest of the race. That meant Stacey and Redding were able to get back past – Redding halfway around the final lap – leaving Max to cross the line P6 seven seconds behind winner Ryde but only 2.5 from P2 and over six seconds ahead of Skinner. Frustrated but happy that he had been able to run at the front in his first race on the bimota KB998.

By the line, Joe had dropped to the back of his group but was only two seconds from Skinner in P7. For his first proper outing on a superbike in a new team and on a new bike, plus carrying an injury, it was a very impressive performance. Joe is going to take some stopping in the Rising Stars rankings.

Based on race lap times, Max would start the sprint race from P3 on the front row of the grid. His best lap in the race was less than 0.2 slower than race winner Ryde’s pace. Joe would line up P7, heading up row three.

Race two. Result Max P6 Joe P9

Quick 10 minute warm up ahead of the day’s action. No dramas and minimal changes to the bikes which had performed so well for Max and Joe in race one.

12 lap sprint race. Max certainly got a good launch this time and stormed into turn one, Old Hall, in the lead. Building up a small gap to Ryde, his moment of glory didn’t last long as Ryde caught and passed him half way around lap three. Soon Haslam was with him, putting in a move which surprised Max and pushing him back to P3 and immediately into the clutches of Ray. They touched going into Hissy’s Chicane on lap five causing Max to run wide, losing him four places as he recovered to slot in behind Vickers – P7.

Joe held his own through the opening corners – elbows out – but losing a place to Vickers, dropping him to P8. That’s where he stayed all race long, shadowing Vickers but unable to get by. All the while Skinner had closed in on Joe and at the final corner he just managed to out brake Joe into Lodge and the two crossed the line separated by 0.061! Joe P9 another top ten finish.

Joe would start the second 18 lap feature race from P6 based on an excellent lap time early in race two. Max meanwhile would have a job on his hands as he had only managed to set ninth fastest lap time so he’d be going off row three, immediately behind Joe.

Race three. Result Max P7 Joe P13

Couple of decent starts. Joe lost a place to Vickers, again, P7. Max had a tussle with Skinner and cleared him for P8. That meant Max was closing on Joe for a bit of teammate-on-teammate action. We knew Max wouldn’t do anything silly and he made a clean pass into Lodge, the final corner, only to run wide and give up four places – P12. Now he really would have work to do.

Joe, starting to feel the effects of a third race and his nagging back injury got picked off by the more experienced riders but battled for every place, included with Iddon who he’d replaced in the team. A recovering Max got back past Joe on lap eight and was really in his groove as he closed up to Skinner with three laps to go. Losing out by 0.1 at the line and only eight seconds back from winner Ryde, despite his excursion, Max was a bit disappointed with a P7 finish. However, he was delighted by how he had ridden and how his bimota KB998 had performed.

Joe was a bit crestfallen to get picked off and drop back to P13 but he’d had a fantastic first race weekend with the team. One of the best rookie performances anyone could remember.

Big thing for us to take away from the weekend is we now know for sure that our bimota KB998 Riminis are fully competitive – fastest in the main speed trap – and Max and Joe are more than up to the job.

Championship standings

The now established points system keeps things tight throughout the main season. 18 for a win, 15 for second and so on.

Max P6 on 29 points and Joe P11 on 16. Points in the bag now are important for later in the season. Let’s see how things develop over the first three or four rounds.

What next

Fans favourite Donington Park in two weeks’ time, our local round. Max was fastest at the recent test there. Joe has three races under his belt and his injury will have had more time to heal so he’ll be determined to continue his impressive progress as a superbike rider.

We can’t wait. Hope to see you there.

Regards. Nigel Team Principal.