All bikes built to a similar spec. plus spares. Would make the perfect starting point for a new team.

New 2008 models built in March. Engines already refreshed at least once this season with new valves, etc.

When last tested made 185 hp on the Arrow WSB dyno. All suspension maintained by Ohlins Sweden, Ohlins UK or Andreani Group.

Bob Farnham Prepared Engines
Ohlins 25mm Fork Cartridges
Ohlins TTX36 Shock
Leo Vince SBK CORSA Full Titanium Dual Exhaust System
Yoshimura EM-Pro ECU
Yoshimura Wiring Loom
Yoshimura Kit Head Gasket
Yoshimura Quickshifter
Yoshimura Air Intake Tubes
Yoshimura Engine Case Protectors
Yoshimura Lock Stops
Yoshimura Pair Valve Removal Kit
ValterMoto Clip Ons
ValterMoto Axle Protectors
GPR v4 Steering Damper
ProMach Rear Sets
HotBodies Racing Fairings
Active Quick Action Throttle
LighTech (or Active) Remote Adjustable Brake Lever
Fren Tubo Carbon (or Goodridge) Braided Brake Lines
Performance Friction Brake Pads
DNA Air Filters
Tsubaki Chain
Renthal Sprockets
R&G Crash Bobbins
R&G Stand Bobbins
R&G Chain Protector
Stomp Tank Grips

Can remove Yoshimura ECU and wiring loom and replace with standard if required for BSB SuperStock.

Also two full sets of Renthal sprockets plus duplicates.

Spares (currently) include:

Wheels with Discs (x 4 sets)
Stock Forks (x 2 sets)
Frame (x 1)
Swing Arm (x 1)
Leo Vince Titanium End Cans (New) (x 2)
Leo Vince RHS Titanium Link Pipes (x 4)
Throttle Bodies (x 1)
Air Box (x 1)
Yokes (x 1)
Standard Air Intake Tubes (x 4 sets)
Tank (Used) (x 1)
Tank (New) (x 2)
Tank Cowls (New) (x 2)
Clip On Bars (x 4)
Callipers (x 4) Updated
Brake Master Cylinder (x 3)
Clutch Master Cylinder (New) (x 2)
Brake Levers (x 4)
Clutch Levers (New) (x 2)
Screens (New) (x 6)
Rear Subframe (x 1)
Front Subframe (x 4)
Standard Throttle & Cables (x 4)

Plus four standard looms, lock sets, fuel tank caps and pillion seat release locks with matching ECUs.

In fact there are enough parts here to build a fifth bike, all you would need would be an engine.

Also available:

SuperBike Tyre Warmers (x 6 sets) - To be sold with above or separately once above bikes have been sold.

All bikes laser tracked to ensure alignment with regular visits to Maidstone Motoliners to be safe (usually with no alterations required).

£40,000 for everything (including spares, tyre warmers, etc.), or from £7500 to £9500 depending on specification (e.g. standard loom and ECU or Yoshimura parts), spare wheels, etc.

Team is VAT registered so potential sponsors may be able to reclaim the VAT… 

For Almeria we added a new Arrow race exhaust system, new Tsubaki chain and Renthal sprockets, new Stomp Tank Grips, new GPR steering damper, new Robby Moto rear sets, new R&G Crash Bobbins & Paddock Stand Bobbins, new Performance Friction brake pads and one of our spare fairings from 2007.

The bike covered approximately 400 kms at Almeria including an 80km race where the bike led Leon Haslam for 12 of the 14 laps and finished just 0.5s behind at the end. It also received a brand new ECU and idle valve just before we left in accordance with the factory recall for these models.

It may not be the cheapest K7 out there but it has just 400 km from new and never crashed. Most parts were brand new just before the Almeria test and it has not been used since then.

For sale now at £6500.

Also have a selection of other items that can be sold with the bike at extra cost:

- 2007 Ohlins TTX36 Rear Shock (used once since ground up rebuild)
- Andreani 25mm Fork Cartridges, with spare springs (used for four rounds only)
- Fren Tubo Carbon Brake Lines (used for less than six rounds) 
- Spare wheels with brake discs

Payment can be made by credit card if you will pay the additional 2.5% fee we are charged by the credit card company. 

Photos copyright © Ian Hughes 2008

The weekend started out wet, much to the team’s dismay, although it does seem to be the norm at Magny-Cours and can change quickly.

Being first out for free practice session wasn’t helpful although things have been delayed by fog in previous years so maybe 4 degrees and raining wasn’t all that bad.

Due to the absence of Team Manager Mike Edwards who had been admitted to hospital at the last minute the suspension duties fell back on the Andreani Group who didn’t have time to fit softer springs before the riders were due on track.

Despite this Gareth managed to get up to 19th in the first session, with Matt back in 32nd place after only managing 4 laps as he persevered with suspension set-up.

The weather didn’t improve much for the first qualifying session. Although the temperature was up, well I guess 12 degrees counts as up, gusty winds and a wet track proved to be challenging for the riders. Both riders struggled for set-up and the session ended with Gareth in 28th place and Matt 32nd after just a handful of clear laps.

Only a few laps were completed in the second free practice session as there is a limit of three sets of wet tyres per round and the team wanted to save the all important second set for qualifying in the afternoon. Nevertheless, with an improved set-up using softer springs, Matt was already in 36th place after 2 laps (out of 41 riders) and Gareth finished in 23rd having done just 8 laps.

The second qualifying session was finally dry and the team focused on working on dry settings for the first time. Both Gareth and Matt were building confidence, which was reflected in their final standings – after 8 timed laps, Gareth climbed to 23rd and Matt to 26th. Front-running regulars sat between them in 24th and 25th – BSB SuperStock and former SuperBike rider Peter Hickman and series regular, and podium finisher, Andrea Antonelli.

With a dry race, Gareth and Matt were able to achieve strong results, with 17th and 23rd respectively at the flag. Gareth battled with Davide Guiliano to lead the third pack for the majority of the race. At half the race distance, Gareth’s bike developed an electrical fault causing the electronics to go in to a reduced power ‘limp home’ mode, but he rode hard to maintain his position.

After being held up for several laps by Ronald Ten Napel letting the pack in front get away, Matt pulled out 0.5 seconds a lap, reeling them in over the next few laps. A couple of mistakes allowed Peter Hickman to catch up and a close fought battle ensued with Matt, Hicky and Pauli Pekkanen on the factory KTM. All three swapped places several times a lap for the remainder of the race. Still in with a chance he overtook both riders on the brakes at the end of the last lap, only to run wide, and was beaten to the line by a narrow margin.

Mike Edwards, Team Manager
“The team did a fantastic job, despite the weather conditions and my absence due to illness. The finishing positions didn’t reflect their pace or the close battles with those around them. Overall, it was a really positive weekend with much-needed improvements in the suspension set-up. The final round at Portimao is up next, where no team has tested. I am confident that both riders will score points next time out.”

Matt Bond
“Magny-Cours was a hard but good race. I made a couple of mistakes, which allowed Hicky and Pekkanen to catch up. They managed to get by, but I passed them on the final lap, only to run wide at the end, losing my position. A positive and enjoyable race overall.”

Gareth Jones
“This was one of the hardest races of the year. I almost got caught out by Guiliano a couple of times, but had a great battle with him, Schouten and Antonelli. Everyone’s results were all over the place, but I’m pretty happy considering the conditions throughout the weekend.”

After a disappointing result last time out at Donington Park where even the World SuperBike regulars struggled with the conditions, Gareth Jones and Matt Bond of MIST Suzuki are now looking forward to the penultimate round at Magny-Cours.

With each rider consistently making up considerable ground from the qualifying place to race result, the team has been showing great potential. Hampered by suspension problems and bad weather recently, both riders made great progress during testing at Brands Hatch and hope to continue this good run at Magny-Cours.

The wet weather and slippery surface at Donington meant Matt didn’t qualify after crashing out, and Gareth didn’t classify after sliding out of 16th place in the race. However, at the previous race at Brands Hatch, Gareth finished 11th and Matt 22nd in changeable conditions, both having made up a significant number of places over qualifying.

Testing at the Champion of Brands meeting recently was a positive step. Despite the race being cut to six laps, both riders performed well and the team gathered useful data on the new fork configurations being tested.

Gareth held off Steve Mercer, a British SuperStock regular, for most of the race, eventually opting to play it safe and take the final step of the podium with 3rd place. Matt was comfortably in 4th position until an issue with an after market brake lever caused him to drop back a couple of places, finishing 6th.

Mike Edwards, Team Manager
“Both Matt and Gareth achieved positive results during Brands testing, even though the session was cut to six laps. Now we just need some consistent weather to allow us time to set up the suspension after recent fork changes, using the data we’ve collected. Both riders were quicker than former F1 star Michael Schumacher who was testing at Magny-Cours alongside us, so we are looking forward to the race.”

Gareth Jones
“I managed a great 9th place at Monza earlier this season and 11th at both Brands and Brno. I’m confident about Magny-Cours, especially as we’ve already tested at the track this year.”

Matt Bond
“This season has been tough so far. During pre-season testing, I was fighting hard against Leon Haslam, but things have been so-so since then. I’m carrying a shoulder injury from Monza, which is still causing problems now. Onwards and upwards.”

With the first two of our 2008 bikes stripped down as part of the build process and two test sessions planned for March everything seemed to be going smoothly for the race team. A sudden change of plan was required when the first test was cancelled at short notice.

Our friends at Racedays.net kindly offered us space on their Almeria test but given the short notice there was little we could do to prepare the 2008 bikes in time so we opted to use the spare 2007 machine that we had bought when we needed another engine back in August last year. We fitted our spare rear sets, bodywork, exhausts and steering damper, loaded it in to the van and set off for the 1550 mile drive to the South of Spain.

We were concerned initially as to whether the test would be worthwhile as our Ohlins fork internals, braided brake lines, clip ons, etc. had yet to arrive and we still hadn’t managed to source the Yoshimura ECU and other parts we needed to build a competitive SuperStock bike. Regardless even some time on a standard bike would be useful as Matt hadn’t ridden since the last round in early October 2007 and was bound to take some time to get back up to speed.

It was the first visit to Almeria for both Matt and the team and everyone was soon running through regular process for learning a circuit, defining reference points and other drills we go through. There were plenty of well known faces in the paddock to help with the Racedays MasterClass, a more intensive level of tuition from respected racers, including Leon and Ron Haslam (Factory Honda rider in British SuperBikes and ex-500GP respectively), Jeremy McWilliams (ex-British SuperBike, ex-500GP and ex-250GP) and Iain Macpherson (ex-British SuperBike and ex-World SuperSport). The class was fully booked so we had to work on Matt’s riding approach and techniques together as a team.

Rather than being out of practice Matt took to the new circuit quickly and after some advice on a couple of corners was soon picking up speed. The format of the Racedays.net event is plenty of Open Pitlane time coupled with a qualifying session and a variety of races to keep things interesting. Initially I wasn’t keen on Matt racing but it soon became clear the only way he was going to be able to learn from the instructors was to race against them I relented albeit it under strict instructions to stay our of trouble. I have to admit to being swayed by the fact that he qualified second overall just behind Leon Haslam and 1.4 seconds faster than Jeremy McWilliams and Ron Haslam.

We sat out most of the final Open Pitlane session to conserve our last set of tyres although Matt did a couple of laps following some advice from Ron on one particularly complex section of track where he was struggling to turn the bike fast enough. After declaring himself happy with the new approach to the corner and spending some more time talking through his lines through each of the corners it was time for the race itself.

Matt got away well and led in to the first corner opening up a small lead while Leon Haslam dealt with the traffic through the first few corners. Aside from a couple of mistakes a few laps in it took Leon until lap nine to catch up with Matt and he only managed to pass when Matt backed off approaching a backmarker on the way in to turn one. With Matt on his tail and both riders struggling for grip Leon led for the final laps with the pair separated by just 0.5 seconds after the 80 kilometre race with Ron Haslam some 30 seconds back.

It was only after event that we found Matt had lost his knee slider early on in the race when he hit his knee on a kerb. He bravely continued to race on and still got his knee down along the way. By the end it had worn through all the layers of leather and also the outer skin of the protective armour. He did say it felt a bit windy down the back straight so he knew that he had probably worn all the way through but kept on going regardless! I hope we can persuade Teknic to supply another set of leathers before the start of the season.

Leon was very complimentary about Matt’s riding and declared that had he not been able to pass when he did it was unlikely that he would have had enough grip left to attempt the same move later in the race. Obviously the team were delighted and Matt was very happy at having ridden a great race and having the ability to watch and learn from Leon at such close quarters. It was an excellent start to the season and everyone is looking forward to testing the fully prepared 2008 SuperStock bike at Valencia next month.

We were even more delighted when we found out that Matt had managed to get within 2.5 seconds of the unofficial SuperStock lap record set by the 2007 SuperStock Champion, Niccolo Canepa, on his fully prepared factory Xerox Ducati 1098 in testing before the season started last year. Matt was also faster on a standard bike than the then reigning British SuperStock champion Brendan Roberts, also on a factory Xerox Ducati 1098, at the same test last year although it has to be said that Brendan didn’t manage to complete the second day of his test due to injury.

With another test scheduled with Racedays.net at Valencia in March prior to the first race at the same circuit the question everyone is asking is how much of an improvement the addition of Ohlins suspension, Pirelli SuperCorsa Pro race tyres, Yoshimura ECU, quick shifter and quick action throttle will make to those times.

1800 photos taken over the season combine to form the above image.

Our plans for 2008 had begun to come together in the middle of the season when we agreed to run Matt and Chris again in 2008. We were soon joined by another South African, Sheridan Morais, who opted to run with us after a season with the well established Pedercini team. Even Suzuki South Africa were on board with support in the form of supplying bikes and other goods to help our 2008 season.

Everything looked rosy until the final round when we found out that the organisers only wanted teams of two for 2008. Doh! We did persuade them that having two teams of two was a good idea so we set about looking for a fourth rider.

Having spoken with a few candidates we began working out a deal with a rider we thought would fit well with the team. Not easy and a potentially difficult situation, having spent so much money to plug the hole in the 2007 budget, it was looking impossible to do a deal for 2008 despite doing my best to subsidise the cost, probably more than I should have.

I thought we had reached an agreement, or were close to it, as the deadline loomed only to get a phone call from the WSB organisers asking whether all my riders were actually riding for me after all. Rather frustrating to find that at the same time the sponsor that was enabling us to run Chris and Sheridan had pulled out.

In the space of one day our four rider team had been reduced to one rider. At least Matt Bond is still on board and F G Sport have been good enough to confirm MIST Suzuki Racing would be racing in 2008 with a two rider team in the FIM SuperStock 1000 class at World SuperBikes.

The hunt for a second rider is back on and preparations begin in earnest in January to buy, build and set up the bikes, buy and fit out the new race truck and embark on our planned testing schedule.

Oh, and somewhere in amongst that lot we need to keep on with our search for sponsorship as it is vital that we get as much track time as possible before the season starts and during the year.

Fingers crossed!

With contracts signed on time and commitment from Suzuki and Ohlins to deliver us the new for 2007 GSXR1000K7 before they were available to the public along with Ohlins making sure we would have the first 25mm fork internal kits and TTX36 rear shocks we were all set. Or so we thought…

With delays getting the GSXR1000K7 ready due to parts availability plus the World SuperBike organisers opting to add an additional date at Donington Park it meant things would be ready later than we planned and the first round would be much earlier than we planned. The GSXR600K7 had been available for a while but things were delayed waiting for the rider to pay the first installment of the money they owed the team before testing could begin.

The GSXR1000K7 arrived about six weeks before the first round but it was several weeks before the suspension arrived and could be fitted. With no bodywork available we had to heavily modify a fairing from an earlier model bike and adapt a seat unit from our 600 from last season. With less than two weeks remaining before the first round we went testing albeit with the stock exhausts and our temporary fairing.

By some bizarre coincidence our 600 rider was there riding an R6. Curiouser and curiouser. After confronting his Dad we were assured that they had no other plans and that they had been having meetings with sponsors and had one more planned in order to get everything sorted. It was a surprise then to see the same rider appear in the press announcement for the R6 Cup the following day. Mmmm, ten days to go before the first round and no rider. Yikes!

Arrow and the UK importer, B & C Express, did a sterling job of making us an exhaust and shipping it over in time for the first round. Well, it arrived on the Tuesday and we were due to be at the circuit on Thursday morning. The only bodywork we could get was from Sharkskinz in the US and that arrived on Wednesday.

We arrived at Donington Park, unpacked the bike and headed off to pick up the race awnings we had ordered. We managed to get the bike prepared sufficiently to pass scrutineering later that afternoon and then burnt the midnight oil to finish everything else off in preparation for first practice on Friday morning! The GPR Steering Damper was the very first in the country and arrived fresh off the plane on Friday lunchtime.

Hard to believe that it was only 2005 that Matt won the MRO MiniTwins Championship riding a Suzuki SV650 with 72 horse power. 2006 was his first year on a 600 and now we were moving on to a 1000 with 170 plus horse power. Matt has followed the same pattern ever since stepping on to the SV650. Three crashes right at the start of the season while he found his feet followed by a rapid improvement throughout the rest of the season. It happened on the SV650, the GSXR600 and, sure enough, the GSXR1000.

From the first test session through the first two rounds Matt racked up the usual three crashes, including writing off both stock exhausts, a rear wheel and, somehow, the rear shock! Not to mention breaking some small bones in his wrist at Valencia yet still managing to race and finish 23rd despite the pain!

Meanwhile the search for a replacement 600 rider was eventually solved with the signing of South African Chris Leeson. Chris was riding for the official Suzuki team at home and so despite a few rounds where he was required to race for them he was ours for the rest of the season. At the time of writing Chris just needs to finish in the points at the last round in order to win the South African SuperSport 600 Championship! For the rounds where Chris couldn’t make it due to riding in South Africa we gave young Scottish rider Alex Gault the opportunity to ride on the World stage.

Chris joined in time for the Assen round although the bike was still brand new and in the crate on Wednesday morning having just been delivered fresh from Suzuki. It was unpacked, had the road gear removed and the race exhaust system fitted, was run in on the dyno and had the suspension fitted by the end of the day. We arrived at Assen on Thursday lunch time and proceeded to finish building the bike that afternoon. Chris finished in 26th place around 48 hours later!

This may sound like everything was last minute and very disorganised but that is far from the truth. Everything was meticulously planned despite the lack of sponsorship and the large hole in the already miniscule budget left by the withdrawal of the original 600 rider. We really have to thank our sponsors for making the difference between putting together a competitive team and not going racing at all. Without Steve Jordan Motorcycles, S & B Commercials, Teng Tools, B & C Express and numerous other companies there is no way we would have been ready to compete yet alone be as competitive as we have proved to be.

With the team manager making up the shortfall in the budget out of his own pocket it is worth pointing out that MIST Suzuki Racing operated on around one tenth of the budget of the top teams in the SuperStock 1000 championship! The

The key lesson for the year is that not buying or budgeting for certain things is a false economy. For example:

• We had an engine drop a valve at Brno shortly after we had spent three days testing there whilst Matt was sitting in 12th place during first qualifying. Without a spare Matt was forced to sit out the race and the team was forced to purchase a completely new bike just to make sure we had another engine for the next round two weeks later.
• With a brand new bike everyone struggled with suspension set up over the first few rounds and our belated investment in bringing the Andreani Group on board for track side suspension support proved invaluable in speeding up our ability to find a good base setting.
• Not being able to test during some of the longer breaks during the season really hurt us in terms as getting back up to speed at the next round. It would take the first day for the riders to get back in the swing of things which meant other riders were already ahead when we knew they weren’t as good as Matt or didn’t have as good a package behind them.

* Cancelled race from Silverstone held at the Brands Hatch meeting to the benefit of stand in rider Alex Gault.

Now that the season is over and we can look back the consensus of opinion is that we did remarkably well given the problems we had. Matt moving from a 120 horse power bike to a 175 horse power bike was always going to be a big jump and the difficulties at being let down by our other rider really hurt us in both focus and budget.

We also suffered a great deal of bad luck including the engine blow up, electrical problems and a couple of tyres that proved to be very different to others of the same weekend which cost us a lot of development and set up time. I am confident that without some of these incidents Matt would have been a regular points scorer towards the end of the season but that’s racing.

The ups and downs of racing were demonstrated perfectly at the last round at Magny Cours. Chris was inside the top ten by the first corner and was then forced off the track and in to last place by the second turn. He then fought back putting in the same lap times as the podium finishers to finish in 15th place by the end of the race. Thoughts of what might have been are all very well but but our aim is to bring on young riders and watching Chris and Matt improve over the season has made it all worth while.

Perhaps more importantly, both FG Sport (the organisers behind the World SuperBike Championship) and other teams and riders were impressed with our professionalism, machine performance and overall impact as the largest British team in the whole paddock.

This bodes well for 2008 where we have had enquiries from riders capable of being championship contenders who believe we have what it takes to help them win races plus bike and manufacturers of performance parts who are looking to get involved with the team. We are also looking to focus on the SuperStock 1000 class which would allow us to run a larger team with the resources available to us.

An official announcement of our 2008 plans will be coming shortly. Watch this space…

Photos copyright © MIST Suzuki Racing 2007

Photos copyright © MIST Suzuki Racing 2007

Photos copyright © MIST Suzuki Racing 2007