I went on to speak to Rizla Suzuki's former manager Robert Wicks, “Superstock is obviously closest in engine capacity and everything else but the step up is a massive one. I mean we've had people like Hudson Kennaugh the former South African Superbike Champion ride the bike; we've had Brendan Roberts on it all be it for a brief period and I think it is a natural place to go and look but I think that most of the guys in Superstock are youngsters coming through. You almost want them to have that progression through Supersport or go somewhere else, like European Superstock and then come back so that they get more race craft and experience,” he said.
Billy Nutt (team owner and manager) also agreed with Wicks' view in that there is a huge gap between Superstock and Superbike, however Nutt was quick to point out that is largely due to the technical differences. “I think the biggest problem is people think they can hop off one bike and onto another and move up the pack right away. It is not as simple as that because in stock you run a treaded tyre where as you are on slicks in Superbike. But the biggest problem with Superstocks is there is not a lot of variation in the set up where with Superbike there is so much that can be done with set up,” he explained, “With the 600s there would be a bit more in the setting up of them but you are still running on treaded tyres which is not a problem but there is a bit of a difference in it.”
Wicks went on to emphasise the Supersport route and the possibility of running in Europe first, “You look at someone like Tom Sykes, Tom rode for Rizla Suzuki before I joined, he stood in and did a reasonable job. I think it has some impact, you look to someone like Cal Crutchlow, and he would get on the bike and be absolutely fine. It is just a period of adapting to it, there is no reason why Supersport guys couldn't make the step up. Or they could go to European Superstock and come back it is a good proving ground with lots of technical tracks and you get the experience and the benefit of being in Europe.”
