GSE Leaving World Superbikes

[f1manoz]

Picked this up off my Yahoo! page:

The World Superbike Championship has been dealt a body blow with news that GSE Racing will pull out at the end of the season.

GSE, who run the successful HM Plant Ducati team, will leave the series at the end of the current campaign following their failure to attract full factory support from Ducati.

GSE nurtured Troy Bayliss and Neil Hodgson in their role as an official Ducati satellite team with both going on to win World Superbike titles for the Italian squad.

With Ducati seemingly unwilling to upgrade GSE to full works status, the team have looked elsewhere for backing but, with uncertainty surrounding the future of the series, they have found no support.

Team principal Darrell Healey said: "The current situation surrounding the future of the World Superbike Championship has created a vacuum which has resulted in the demise of any future interest that GSE Racing may have in the series.

"We are unable to proceed with Ducati and there are no other manufacturer options open to us at this stage due to the uncertainty surrounding the series."

Healey blamed the success of the rival MotoGP championship for some of World Superbikes' ills, although he revealed the series' new rules package had not been satisfactory.

The World Superbike Championship have reverted to one tyre manufacturer and altered technical regulations in a bid to cut costs and help privateer teams.

But Healey said: "It would appear that MotoGP is attracting the interest of the leading manufacturers and therefore the future of international motorcycle racing lies in that class.

"I don't feel that GSE Racing, the other top teams and the manufacturers in Superbike have been consulted in what I would consider to be an appropriate manner.

"This has resulted in a position of stalemate which in effect has prevented the team in moving forward.

"GSE Racing is currently assessing its future position. There are a number of exciting opportunities open to us and I hope that we will be in a position to make a further announcement about this in the near future.

"We may be quitting the World Superbike racing scene but the future could still be a bright one within motorsport and the motorcycle industry at large.

"GSE Racing has been the number one British team over the past five years and the high level of expertise contained within the team should provide us with a stable platform for the future."