GBmoto Move Fast on Superstock Technical Breach

After being stripped of points for a rule breach on engine modifications after the Oulton Park round of the Metzeler British Superstock 1000 Championship on Sunday, GBmoto moved quickly to diffuse the crisis and get their highly successful inaugural season in the class back on track.

Specifically, the rule breaches were undercutting the cam timing bolts to alter standard timing and the fitting of a non-standard cylinder base gasket.

While it was Tristan Palmer’s bike that was pulled into technical scrutiny, team principal, Mark Smith Halvorsen immediately informed the BSB technical team that Johnson’s engine had been prepared by the same supplier and was therefore almost certainly also in breach, so Johnson’s points were deducted too.

The statement by Smith-Halvorsen is reproduced in full below, but the reason for giving further coverage here that the way the crisis was handled was exemplary. Although the statement refers to pressure from the BSB Technical Team for the last few rounds, there was no carping or finger-pointing (GBmoto’s early success has ruffled feathers amongst the established factory-backed teams) and no complaining that the breaches were so minor as to have made no difference to the results. There were just straightforward apologies to the organisers, promoters and the other teams and to the riders who are explicitly exonerated from knowledge of any wrongdoing. The sponsors are also thanked for their support.

It was a grown-up, decisive, 21^st Century response to a crisis that other teams would do well to take note of. And it is a lesson in life: if you do something wrong, say sorry, don’t blame anyone else, don’t do it again and communicate your backside off to ensure that your supporters stay with you. You can be sure that behind the scenes the team is taking lessons from the crisis to tighten controls over suppliers to avoid a repeat.

Until the storm broke GBmoto had brought colour in more than one way to the paddock, being consistently among the leaders right from the pre-season success in the World Superbike supporting races at Donington Park. Until the points deduction, Tristan Palmer had a four point lead over MSS Colchester Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan, who also failed to score points at Oulton Park because of a DNF.  After the penalty Buchan sits on top, with 117 points, two ahead of Palmer, with Buildbase BMW’s Richard Cooper, who finished fourth yesterday, on 110. The next closest Honda is Jason O’Halloran’s HM Plant machine on 61 points and Padgett’s Adam Jenkinson on 56.5 points.

There is a summer break until the Brands Hatch GP circuit round on 5-7 August when battle will resume.

Official Statement from Mark Smith-Halvorsen, GBmoto Racing Team Principal

On Sunday afternoon, the engine of Tristan Palmer’s bike failed technical scrutiny on two counts – relating to a cam sprocket bolt and a base gasket. It is true to say that we have been under some pressure from the technical team at BSB for 3 or 4 rounds regarding our bikes’ performance, but sought to change nothing as we were very confident that our engine preparation was strictly within the championship guidelinesThe result of their inspection shows that we were wrong and they are not. At that point we communicated that all three of our engines (including an unused spare) would almost certainly have been built to the same specification. On that basis, the decision was taken to remove David Johnson from the results too. GBmoto Racing will continue to work with our chosen partner, to prepare freshly modified race engines, which fulfil all of the technical regulations and controls – these will be in use from the next round at Brands Hatch.We chose a Honda CBR1000RR to contest the championship, as we believe it has the best compromise between chassis and engine characteristics. We have always sought to maximise that balance, whilst clearly giving away straight line performance and outright power and speed to other manufacturers teams and riders. This has been borne out very consistently throughout the year in relation to our competitive lap times, versus our mediocre speed trap performance. To this end, we will continue in exactly the same way.Firstly I would like to offer a formal apology to the organisers, officials and teams that make up the BSB paddock and in particular our competitors in the Metzeler National Superstock series. It was and is our intention to ‘bring something to the championship’; certainly not to abuse or discredit it. I understand that we have a long, hard journey ahead of us to re-establish credibility, trust and recognition amongst our peers and want you to know that we are committed to doing just that.Secondly I would like to apologise to Tristan Palmer and David Johnson who have made a fantastic effort this year to deliver the goods on track and have in no way shape or form, contributed to the issues we currently face. I hope their reputation and skill is still respected and admired in just the same way. Finally I would like to thank our sponsors and suppliers for their continued support. We will make every effort to continue our professional promotion of your goods and services and can only ask for your patience and understanding at this difficult time.