Tuxworth not in favour of two meetings at Cadwell

HONDA Racing team manager Neil Tuxworth has given the thumbs down to Cadwell Park hosting two meetings in the 2010 British Superbike Championships calendar.

While bike fans are celebrating a double dose of top-line racing at the circuit near Louth,in May and August, Tuxworth feels the series should be taken to different parts of the country.

And he played down suggestions the decision would mean any advantage for his Louth-based HM Plant Honda riders to have two meetings at their home circuit just a mile down the road.

Cadwell has benefited from the decision of MSVR, the commercial and organisational rights holder of the championship in association with Pirelli, to not include Donington Park in the schedule.

The Donington circuit operating companies entered into administration last month and the track is currently in an unusable condition.

Cadwell keeps its traditional August Bank Holiday slot on the weekend of August 28-30 but also now hosts the BSB on May 21-23.

But Tuxworth said: "I'm not in favour of two meetings at any circuit, whether it's at Cadwell Park or anywhere else.

"I'd like to see meetings at different circuits so that it gives you the opportunity to visit different parts of the country with your team and sponsors.

"We already have two meetings at Brands Hatch and Oulton Park and now we have two at Cadwell. I'm not against Cadwell Park, I'm against two races at any circuit. The series should be spread out."

Tuxworth believed the failure of Honda's former double champion Ryuichi Kiyonari, who took the BSB laurels in 2006 and 2007, to even win a race at the Lincolnshire circuit in four years with the HM Plant team, was proof that it was not beneficial to them.

He said: "Cadwell Park has never been the best circuit for us to be honest. Ryuichi Kiyonari won the title for us twice but Cadwell was the only circuit he never won on. He won at every other circuit in Britain, but not Cadwell.

"We like Cadwell from a spectator point of view because the atmosphere is great and it allows fans to get close to the track.

"It's not a bad circuit for us, we have had victories there for the likes of Cal Crutchlow, Leon Haslam and Michael Rutter, but Cadwell Park is just another race circuit for us. It just means we get an earlier night after the meeting."

"We do practice there but no more than at any other circuit."

MSVR Chief Executive Jonathan Palmer said: " The prospect of a second event at Cadwell Park in May will I'm sure be great news for the many thousands of fans that already flock to the August Bank Holiday meeting."

Tuxworth, meanwhile, said HM Plant's 2010 rider line-up would be announced in around a week.

Last year Aussie Josh Brookes finished fourth, some distance from champion Leon Camier.

The BSB 12-meeting line-up is: April 3-5 Brands Hatch (Indy); April 16-18 Thruxton; May 1-3 Oulton Park; May 21-23 Cadwell Park; June 25-27 Mallory Park; July 2-4 Knockhill; July 16-18 Snetterton; August 6-8 Brands Hatch (GP)*; August 28-30 Cadwell Park; September 10-12 Croft; September 24-26 Silverstone (Arena GP); October 8-10 Oulton Park *.

* Denotes three BSB races at these events, all others two.