Image: Foremost Media.

BCperformance owner Kelvin Reilly has expressed the team’s desire to expand its Mi-Bike Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) efforts once more, with the level of its presence in the national paddock influenced by the degree of manufacturer support.

Reilly’s team was an officially-supported Kawasaki team for a number of years, winning ASBK races with Bryan Staring, alongside FX-Superbike and Supersport titles with Robbie Bugden and Kyle Buckley, in addition to a number of podium results.

However, in the pandemic-impacted 2021 season, Kawasaki reduced its level of support from the outfit, which ultimately saw team riders Bryan Staring and Josh Waters miss the final ASBK round at The Bend altogether. For 2023,  BCperformance does have some assistance from the manufacturer and is fielding Paris Hardwick in the premier class, while it is also looking to run a Kawasaki ZX-6R (636) in the final two rounds of Australian Supersport this year.

“Obviously when we ran the ‘factory’ Kawasaki team, it’s up to Kawasaki, but I want that to happen again,” said Reilly. “It’s whether they come to the party, but they are supporting us, we do have some support from Kawasaki. Where that looks like next year, I don’t know at the moment.

“The idea is two riders. To be honest, we are actually developing a 636 at the moment, which we can hopefully run at the last couple of rounds this year – that’s the plan. Whether we run two Superbikes next year or one Superbike and one 600 next year, will depend on the costs and stuff like that really.

“Two years ago I never wanted to stop, that was Kawasaki – it wasn’t anything that I choose to do. They still support us, still help us out, and they are still in our corner… What that looks like next year, I don’t know.”

Essentially, the BCperformance team will need increased levels of support if it is to expand its presence back to or beyond what it once was, which was two Superbike riders, at least one 600 entry, plus a presence in the support classes. However, an addition of a 600 rider to the team in the closing stages of 2023 could very well be on the cards with talks in place with an international rider to compete.

“We are looking at someone and we are talking to someone, and he is currently overseas,” Reilly added. “We are going to hopefully do the last two rounds, and then the [St. George] Summer [Night] Series, but then what happens next year, I need to look into that, because I don’t think he will be staying here next year.”

The 2023 Mi-Bike Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) resumes next weekend, 14-16 July, at Morgan Park, before the penultimate round of the series takes place at Phillip Island between 27-29 October.