Valentine delighted to have Guintoli back on track

Worx Crescent Suzuki boss Jack Valentine is delighted to be working with Sylvain Guintoli again this weekend but admits he would have liked to have kept Tommy Hill on board too.

The Englishman deputised for the injured Guintoli at the last two rounds, impressing considerably but with the Frenchman returning sooner than expected at Cadwell Park this weekend, he’s had to step aside as the former MotoGP rider makes his comeback having missed six rounds through injury.
 
Guintoli has been steadily improving throughout the weekend so far at Cadwell with top six positions looking more than a distinct possibility.

Having completed a number of laps around the Cadwell circuit last week to familiarise himself with the track and test out his healed broken leg, Valentine is confident Guintoli will be on the pace come race day.
 
“Some people will say Cadwell’s not the best, or easiest, circuit to make your comeback on but to a rider, a circuit’s circuit.

“With the exception of Oulton, all of the rounds left are on new circuits for Sylvain so as soon as we knew he was ready to race, we tested him out and thought ‘let’s get cracking’.

“It’s great to have him back and just like at Oulton at the beginning of the year, he’s been steadily chipping away during free practice.

“We’ve been trying different things all the time and I’m confident he’ll be able to get in the top six in the two races.
 
“I do feel for Tommy though as he did a good job for us and I’m sure that, given a bit more time working with him, we could have improved our results even further.

“Even though he’s young, he’s got quite an old school approach to his riding and if we could have done more testing, like you normally would at the beginning of the year with your rider, I’m sure he would have been challenging for the wins, just like Sylvain was.

“I would have loved to have kept him on board but we simply don’t have the resources to run two riders.”