Andrews and Cummins joins RAF Racing

TT hero Simon Andrews will bounce back from life threatening injuries suffered at Le Mans last year to join the MCE British Superbike Championship with RAF Reserves Honda.

However, Andrews won’t be the only TT star in the team, as Conor Cummins joins as his teammate in the National Superstock series on Honda’s all-new Fireblade SP.

Cummins will also ride the team’s superstock machinery at the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT alongside his factory Honda superbikes, while Andrews will join the the Penz13.com BMW team for the roads campaign.

Andrews said: “I am feeling good about the season ahead and I think that my experience in the World Endurance Championship will benefit me, as we have seen that consistency pays off particularly with the Showdown format. The Honda Fireblade makes a good package in BSB and Alex (Lowes) showed that last season and so this is the perfect situation for me to make a comeback in the Championship and for the team to make the step up – it is an exciting time! I am definitely setting out for at least a couple of trophies this year; the body is feeling pretty good now and I feel like I am in the best place I have been for the past few years. I am coming back to MCE BSB with a strong head and a strong attitude and I am looking forward to it.”

Cummins said: “I feel brilliant and after a couple of years away from racing in the Superstock Championship I want to come back and give a good account of myself. In 2010 I was running up the front and getting results, so there is no reason why we can’t be up there again and challenging for the results. It is a competitive field and lots of us want to do the business but I am definitely coming back to really fight for results.”

Team owner Lee Hardy concluded: “We are all delighted to announce our plans for the forthcoming season with the RAF Reserves Honda team moving up to the Superbike class. We are new to this class after racing in Superstock but Simon obviously has a huge amount of experience and we believe that the Honda will be a contender for results. It has always been my ambition to move our team into MCE BSB and with the help of sponsor Andrew Martin of Mother Hubbards Swaffham it is now achievable, I have seen other teams make the transition successfully such as Martin Halsall and that is inspiring. It is the right time for us to make the move up and we are realistic that it is a very competitive championship but at the same time we aim to be consistent and keep pushing for the top ten in our debut campaign.”

The Carole Nash MCN London Motorcycle Show concludes tomorrow with Superbike Sunday, a full day of activities centred around the British and World Superbike Championships, including talk shows and team reveals.