BeWiser Kawasaki team manager Tommy Hill has found the Cartagena Pro-Test ‘emotional’ and found it hard to hide his feelings when his bikes rolled out on to the Spanish track. The former MCE British Superbike champion has switched roles from racer to team boss, and is adapting well to his new found career.
The BeWiser team have veteran racer Chris Walker and youngster Danny Buchan in the BSB class, and both riders have had a positive pre season test so far. But for Hill the sessions are proof that all his hard work has paid off behind the scenes.
“I am feeling excited and everyone is asking if I am missing out being on track, but I am just enjoying being inside the garage and seeing what is going on, and putting myself in the riders position. There is a lot of advice I can give for sure, and I respect Chris and I am always trying to move forward and seeing what I can improve with the team. It is important for the team to work well, and I am getting the buzz by trying to get the best out of the riders,” said Hill, speaking to bikesportnews.com.
“It has been emotional here as we have been working so hard behind the scenes and working hard on sponsors and I have put a lot of pressure on myself, and people don’t really realise what goes on. Now I can see there’s a lot of stuff to do to make things right, and the riders can see how emotional I am seeing the bikes go out at Cartagena this week.”
As he has team-mates who differ in race experience and age Hill has a different plan for both riders here. For Buchan it is about gently easing him in to riding the Superbike and starting off basic and working towards a finished product. For Walker it’s about him getting used to using K-Techsuspension this year rather than Ohlins, which is what he used back in 2014.
“With Danny we started it off easing him into what he can have on the Superbike. We began nice and basic for a smooth transition rather than giving him everything and then him having to give more feedback - so we are lightly easing him in to it. Chris Walker knows what he wants too, as he is really experienced. He ran on Ohlins last year and we are working with K-tech now and he’s adapting the suspension to how he wants it, and I just want to make it right.
“Going into the first round at Donington is exciting but I am so driven and motivated for us to do well, and we want to keep the sponsors happy and I just want it right. I am not going to Donington with any expectations and I just want the riders to build on what they have, and I just need to make sure that the stuff off track can be as good as it can be, as that’s my job now.”
