Crash.net managed to collar one very busy man at the recent
Croft round of the Bennetts British Superbike championship and that Rizla Suzuki's Mark Hanna, chassis technician to John Reynolds.
With JR back in the saddle, Mark explained how important it is to have your number one rider around from the outset: "It's been a bit of a struggle with John injuring himself at the beginning of the year and Scott new to the team. Scott had an up hill battle to try and get all the data from the bike to make it better for himself.
"We really needed John there from the start because he is familiar with the characteristic of this engine as it is very similar to what we had last year. Not having John around we just struggled basically and that is why we are a little bit behind. You can cut out a lot of things that you don't need to be testing. John knows a lot of things that need to be put on the bike and he can tell us straight away just be testing it, within a few laps really. Where as Scott maybe it has taken him maybe a day to sort things out."
The Rizla camp this year has had two riders sub for JR. "So far this year I've had Gregorio Lavilla on John's bike and I've had James Haydon on the bike," says Mark.
"Every rider is different to their style you know. The bike more or less stays the same in respect to the engine and the chassis, you've got to make the bike bigger or smaller for them or longer or shorter because they are big guys or short guys."
The question had to be asked, who is the most demanding rider. "I'll have to say it's little JR, the little sh*te!" he laughs. "He knows what he wants but that is why he is British champion. It doesn't come easy and he expects the best out of you."
