“Sure I'm going to miss that,” he reflected. “I'm leaving a series where I was really happy – the championship was good, the teams were good, everything was good about it – but this year I'm just taking it to the next level, and to come back to what I've left behind is going to be quite special. For sure there will be a lot more friendly faces about and people that I know, and a lot more Ulster flags up in the crowd at
Donington and Brands than there will be in Qatar.
“I think the
Brands Hatch World Superbikes round is the biggest event for the circuit. It's going to be cool to ride in front of a sell-out crowd there as the support event for World Superbikes, and it's going to be even better for the British fans with myself, [Craig] Jonesy, Tommy [Hill] and Chris [Walker] to support. It's only going to benefit me as well. I can't wait to get back, but equally I'm really excited about seeing the rest of the world too and some of the really good circuits that the world championship races on.”
As to his ultimate ambitions for the challenge that lies ahead, the man from Ballyclare is unequivocal. BSB may have been tough, but the forthcoming months, he reckons, are going to be ‘crazy'…
“The British Superbike Championship was really strong,” he mused, “but WSS is known as the axe-murderers because the guys are just crazy! Last year there were four guys – myself, Kiyo, Greg [Lavilla] and Leon [Haslam] – who could win races, but I think this year in World Supersport there are going to be five, six or seven guys who can maybe win races. That's going to be interesting, but I know I'm with one of the best teams and one that has a lot of information and data from previous years, so we'll see what happens.
