Hunt in Euro series

Brighton racer Leon Hunt (18) makes his debut in the European Superstock 600 series this weekend at Donington.

Hunt will be onboard a CBR Honda for the Italian-based CRS Grand Prix team.

After several years of racing in the UK, Hunt got his first taste of overseas competition by guest-riding for the Somerset-based Beowulf Racing team in three rounds of the European 600 series last year.

Impressed by the strength of the competition and the opportunities the series had to offer, he decided to make an assault on the full championship this year.

The series runs at all the European rounds of WSB and is open to riders between 15-20 years of age and aims to bring new blood into racing, breeding world-class competitors along the way.

Hunt has been kept busy with pre-season testing at the Cartagena and Valencia circuits in Spain as well as Donington Park and Brands Hatch in the UK.

“It’s brilliant being part of an established, international squad,”
he said.

“Although the team is comprised of lots of different nationalities, the language barrier is not a problem – in fact, most of them speak English better than I do.”

Additional mid-season tests at Assen and Brno means that Hunt will have had prior experience at nearly all of the circuits which the 11-round championship visits.

And Hunt said: “The squad’s passion for racing really shines through. In addition to the vast experience of team manager Sandro DiStefano, who’s been involved in the 250 GP championships as well as European Superbikes, I will also have my own personal coach.

“He’ll set up timing traps around the tracks we test at and analyse my every move, which should help me to understand exactly what is going on.

“I love the bike the squad has prepared for me too – I find the Honda far easier to turn compared to the Yamaha I was aboard last year.

“The fact that the team also runs Jesco Guenther in the companion Supersport world series means there’s a clear path for me to move up on to the full international stage in 2008.

“I really have to thank my personal sponsors for making of all of this possible – Charterhouse Resource Solutions, SETS (Southern Electrical Trade Suppliers), Keys Bros Motorcycles and Steve Conway.

“I’m absolutely full of confidence at the moment – now it’s just down to me to provide the kind of results which will repay everyone for all the faith they’ve placed in me.”

The 10-lap ESS600 race will be the final event of the Donington Park World Superbike weekend, set to begin at 4.45pm on Sunday, April 1, 2007.
 
The series returns twice to the UK during the year, at Silverstone and Brands Hatch, before concluding at the French circuit of Magny-Cours in October.