We sat down with David Johnson before the start of the Isle of Man TT races, and the Australian explained to us the pressures that come with a factory ride.
On Thursday though, Johnson took his factory-backed Honda CBR1000RR to the podium in the Superstock TT race, thus fulfilling a major goal in his road racing career.
It wasn’t an easy feat, especially considering the horrid weather that has been hammering the Isle of Man for the past fortnight.
Episode 102 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one is a WorldSBK show. As such, this means that we see Steve English joined by Gordon Ritchie on the mics, as they are now our WorldSBK reporting duo for the 2019 season.
Recording straight from Italy, the guys talk about the on-track action at Imola, where we saw a surprising turn of events.
First there is the race result from Saturday to discuss, and unbeknownst to the fellas, racing for Sunday would be canceled (we remind our listeners that our WorldSBK shows are recorded mid-race weekend).
Episode 100 (woohoo! one hundred shows!) of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one is a WorldSBK show. As such, this means that we see Steve English joined by Gordon Ritchie on the mics, as they are now our WorldSBK reporting duo for the 2019 season.
Recording straight from The Netherlands, the guys talk about the on-track action at Assen, where once again (how many times have we said that now?) it was a sweep by Alvaro Bautista and the factory-spec Ducati Panigale V4 R race bike.
This race weekend came with a twist though, as it snowed during Saturday’s events, which caused a cancellation of the day’s World Superbike races.
As such there is a limited amount to discuss, so we recruited Ducati rider Chaz Davies to the microphones for an interesting interview that you won’t want to miss.
Episode 97 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one is another WorldSBK show. As such, this means that we see Steve English joined by Gordon Ritchie on the mics, as they are now our WorldSBK reporting duo for the 2019 season.
Recording straight from Motorland Aragon, the guys talk about the on-track action in Spain, where once again (have we said that before?) it was a sweep by Alvaro Bautista and the factory-spec Ducati Panigale V4 R race bike.
Episode 95 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one is a WorldSBK show. As such, this means that we see Steve English joined by Gordon Ritchie on the mics, as they are now our WorldSBK reporting duo for the 2019 season.
Recording straight from Thailand, the guys talk about the on-track action at Buriram, where once again it was a sweep by Alvaro Bautista and the factory-spec Ducati Panigale V4 R race bike.
Obviously the speed from Bautista is a topic of discussion, as is Jonathan Rea’s efforts to stop the onslaught from the WorldSBK rookie. Is the season over though? Not by a long shot, with the European rounds certain to offer some new challenges to all the riders in the WorldSBK paddock.
Episode 93 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and in it we see Steve English joined by Gordon Ritchie on the mics, as they are now our WorldSBK reporting duo for the 2019 season.
Before we get into the show details, we should apologize for the audio quality on this episode. The circumstances of the weekend meant that it had to be recorded in a busy café, rather than a studio setting.
Rather than kill the show, we thought we’d publish it for those who can get through the clamoring dishes and noisy kids, because there is some really, really good WorldSBK knowledge shared between these two industry veterans.
Steve sent us these photos from the WorldSBK test at Phillip Island, and it seemed like a good excuse to try the new “gallery post” function we’ve been working on for the site. Let us know what you think of the snaps, as well as this new feature.
Also, get excited for looks to be a cracking year in the WorldSBK Championship. The Australian round should be a real scrap, and it will be interesting to see the new Superpole Race format in the flesh. All that being said, who is your favorite to win?
Photos: © 2019 Steve English – All Rights Reserved
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Episode 91 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and in it we see Neil Morrison, and Steve English on the mics, as we ramp up for the 2019 World Superbike Championship season.
With the WorldSBK paddock descending on Phillip Island this week, we see the riders getting their last pre-season testing done, before they head into the weekend’s season-opening round.
Who are the hot favorites? Who will be the dark horses? Who has made the most progress? And who remains a complete mystery? The guys discuss all that and more in this edition of the podcast.
One of the more intriguing story lines we are following in the coming WorldSBK season is the arrival of BMW Motorrad in the superbike paddock. For the 2019 season, BMW has partnered with the Shaun Muir Racing team, with riders Tom Sykes and Markus Reiterberger.
With an all new superbike platform to develop and work with, our attention is on what this machine can do, especially with such a high-level team and duo of riders.
With SMR officially unveiling the team at their preseason test in Portugal, we sent our man Steve English into the pit box to get some up-close photos of the WorldSBK-spec BMW S1000RR for the 2019 season.
As you would expect, the details on this bike are very interesting.
Episode 90 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and in it we see David Emmett, Neil Morrison, and Steve English on the mics, as we look towards the 2019 racing season, as well as look back on the big moments of 2018.
The show is short in duration, and the guys’ conversation give us a jumping-off point for the upcoming racing seasons in both the MotoGP and WorldSBK classes.
With the winter doldrums though, we don’t think you will mind a little racing talk in your earbuds, and don’t worry, the Paddock Pass Podcast is now gearing up to bring you more news from the preseason tests, team launches, and first paddock gossip as it comes to us.
Episode 89 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and in it we see David Emmett, Steve English, and Jensen Beeler on the mics, as we cover the 2018 WorldSBK Championship season.
The conversation starts with the champions, Jonathan Rea and the Kawasaki Racing Team, and we discuss how this has become the wining package in the WorldSBK paddock, especially with the contrasting fortunes of Tom Sykes.
The discussion includes a short interview with Leon Haslam, as he got his leg over the KRT-spec superbike during the Jerez post-season test.
