BSB: Rider of the Year: Fourth

MCN’s Sports Desk rank the five riders who have impressed them most in the MCE British Superbike Championship during the 2017 season.

Number 4: James Ellison

Best Result: 1^st (x2)
Wins: 2
Podiums: 8
Championship Position: 3^rd

At times, 2016 looked like it could be one of James Ellison’s worst seasons in the British Superbike Championship so for the Cumbrian to turn things around at the end of the year to finish third in the series overall was an impressive effort.

Suffering from a mid-season slump in results after struggling to solve a number of throttle connection issues with the 2016 ZX-10R, it had looked like Ellison may even miss out on the Showdown for 2016 until a surge of pace at Oulton Park saw him fight for victory in all three races, twice finishing second and retiring with a technical problem in the third.

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He’d return to the podium at Assen, but it was Brands Hatch where he’d thrive the most as he returned to the top step with a double victory in tricky conditions on Sunday.

While Ellison’s recovery was impressive, in some ways Ellison’s 2016 was disappointing. Heading into the year for a third season with the GBmoto team, it was expected the Cumbrian would be much closer to the title fight but the technical issues, plus two non-fault crashes made that difficult. 

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