Michael Rutter Racing - Official

It’s safe to say that the past few meetings for the Bathams AJN Racing team have been a challenge. Handling limitations plus a crash during warm up at Oulton Park have dented the team and Storm Staceys early season run of form.

A triple DNF at Snetterton despite being one of just three riders to break a decade old lap record at the Norfolk circuit and in doing so to become the fastest ever Ducati to lap the circuit was especially unlucky and cruel.

The following round at Brands Hatch yielded just four points from the meeting due to a reluctant chassis.

Oulton Park, once again saw a return to sub lap record pace and another front row start in qualifying followed by a 4th place finish, only for a warm up crash in which the bike rolled 5 times and stall the momentum.

Thruxton then saw a combination of Brands Hatch’s uncooperative chassis in race 1 with a 10th place finish, and Snettertons bad luck with a technical issue in race 2 which also ruled Storm out of race 3.

The teams ambitious project to develop a competitive superbike in house with its technical partners is ongoing. It has made significant progress in some areas such as the engine and electronics, and we continue to work flat out to make the chassis more consistent at more circuits.

Stacey: “As a racer, of course I wish we had a more consistent bike, but it’s also true that without the opportunity to test in season, we were always going to be doing all our learning in the heat of competition and in full view of the fans and media.

At difficult times like this, it’s important to take a step back and remind ourselves how far we’ve come since we started. I know it will take more than a run of bad luck and odd wrong turn here and there with the development of the bike to dent my and the team’s motivation. We’re so close and we’re all looking forward to the next four rounds”.

Rutter: “I’m confident we have a very fast and competitive bike, but right now it’s just lacking some consistency in the handling almost certainly due to us reaching the limit of what’s possible with the road bike components that we are still using on it.”

After a welcome return to form with a pair of front row starts and three top 10 finishes at Oulton Park, the team have been busy upgrading Storms bike with the latest set of parts ready for Thruxton this weekend.

Let’s go !

Fresh Dymag sprockets looking on point and ready to race. 🔥

We’re heading into the weekend with confidence... and style!

Keep an eye out for the new Bathams AJN Racing van around the paddock as it joins our fleet at Oulton Park for round six of the British Superbike Championship.

Thank you to Norfolk Truck & Van Ltd for supplying the Renault Trafic L2H1 as well as the team at Indigo Ross for the design and wrap, it certainly looks the part next to our race truck!

If you see it out and about and it’s safe to do so, please send us a picture! 📸

After a couple of very tough rounds where we experienced unbelievable pace from our bike at Snetterton but were denied any results due to technical problems, then a real head scratcher at Brands Hatch where the bike flatly refused to play ball, we’re now looking forward to getting back on track this weekend.

Oulton Park is where we can put the last two rounds behind us, reset, and get back to the top six again.

As a wise man once said “Pain is the fuel for progress; let it drive you, not defeat you”.

A rare day off from racing for everyone at Bathams AJN Racing (well, nearly everyone).

Massive thanks to AJN Steelstock for organising a day on track for all of us to just let some steam off after a couple of very difficult rounds at BSB for everyone involved in the team.

Now back to work to get back to our early season form with Storm, and a continuation of the run of results that the Smith Twins are getting in the BMW F900 cup.

Postcards from Saturday at Brands Hatch

P14 in Race One. Definitely more to come from the bike. Bring on Races Two and Three tomorrow

This has all the makings of a good day. Storm and Michael on two of Tony Rutters Ducatis - His 1981 F2 world championship winning bike and his 1984 F1 bike.

As Friday mornings go, this ain’t too bad.