Chris Burns returns to Dutch Superbike championship

Chris Burns will return to the ONK Dutch Superbike Championship this season after signing a deal to remain with the GS Racing Team with official support from Ten Kate Racing.
 
The Newcastle rider finished third in his rookie season of The Netherland’s leading motorcycle series in 2011 on board the team’s Honda, but this year has unfinished business as he returns with his eyes firmly on the title.
 
This year his machine will be built by Ten Kate Racing and the team will also receive extensive support from Dunlop following a successful partnership in 2011 where Burns was consistently the highest-placed Dunlop finisher.
 
“I am going out there hell-bent on winning the championship, second or third place doesn’t interest me,” he said. “Last year we had some good results together and turned the bike into a race-winning machine which was always up at the sharp end. This year we all want the same thing. We all want the title.”
 
The team, headed by Gijsbert Spilt, has been working hard over the winter to secure the deals with Ten Kate Racing and Dunlop, and Spilt believes he has found the winning combination with his British rider.
 
“This is a very exciting year for us. We have our bikes being built by Ten Kate and we are receiving a lot of support from Dunlop and with Chris on our bike we have all the tools to win,” he said.
 
“Chris is such a good rider, he is the man who can get the most out of this and I really believe he will be the man to watch this year. To be working so closely with Ten Kate and Dunlop is a great opportunity for us all at GS Racing Team and we want to be the leaders in 2012.”
 
Burns and his new team-mate Dutchman Peter Politiek will get their first taste of their new Honda CBR1000RR machines in a two-day test at Valencia this Friday and Saturday, before heading to Aragon next Monday and Tuesday for an official Ten Kate test.
 
“The Valencia test is with Dunlop so we’ll get a chance to get some early work done before we go to Aragon with Ten Kate,” Burns added.  “I’m really looking forward to getting on track with the World Superbike Honda team because we can probably learn a lot from them.
 
“The deal we’ve got this year gives us our best chance yet to win a Superbike title and I’m determined not to squander it. I want to be ready for when the season starts next month because I want to be leading from the front from the start.”
 
The 2012 ONK Dutch Superbike Championship season begins at Assen on April 9, and the team also plan to enter the Assen round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship in September with a bike built to BSB-specification as well as enter a round of the IDM German Superbike Championship later this year.