OMG Suzuki expands Assen line-up with Elliott

Josh Elliott has landed his Bennetts British Superbike championship return with OMG Suzuki expanding its efforts for a two-bike attack at Assen.

Elliott will join alongside Gino Rea for the penultimate round of the BSB campaign at the Dutch track having competed for the OMG Suzuki squad in the National Superstock 1000 class this year.

“I’m buzzing for this unbelievable opportunity that the team has given me; I’m really looking forward to riding the OMG Racing Suzuki Superbike as it will be a great experience and I enjoy riding on the Assen track too,” Elliott said.

“There’s not too much of a difference between the Superbike and the Superstock bike with the Suzuki so the transition shouldn’t be too big.

“It will take a wee bit of learning and I’m sure the team will help me with that; Ray Stringer will be working with me, so we will set little targets and try to achieve those step-by-step. I’ll be looking to learn off Gino Rea too as he’s been on the Superbike all year. If we are able to pick up some points then that’d be really nice.”

With the OMG Suzuki squad targeting a two-bike attack next year in BSB, team manager Paul Curran says the Assen round provides the ideal opportunity to get up to speed with an expanded effort along with rewarding Elliott for his Superstock 1000 campaign this year.

“Moving forward, OMG Racing want to move into a two-Superbike team,” Curran said. “Josh has been on the podium at pretty much every round we’ve been to and has gelled really well with the bike and team.

“The National Superstock 1000 title is now mathematically not possible and was unlikely anyway so we always thought that we would give him a chance on the Superbike.

“There are no expectations of him and in all honesty, it’ll be a first for us as we will be running two Superbikes. We are under no illusion that British Superbikes is competitive and if he gets a good result then that’ll be great but if he doesn’t, then we will just learn from it and take away what will be a valuable experience.”