JG Speedfit Kawaskai team principal Mark Smith-Halvorsen, who runs FX trading firm Global Reach Partners in The City as his proper job, thought he had his MCE British Superbike team of James Ellison and Peter Hickman sewn up for 2016 but the Londoner isn’t one to miss out on something that has potential…

“I had been talking to Leon in the background for the last couple of years with the conversation usually being that if he didn’t get anything in World Superbikes to give me a call as I was always interested in having him in the team, so we have built up a little relationship,” he said, speaking to bikesportnews.com

“We had a couple of chats, starting maybe six weeks ago and I began to wonder if we could make a three-rider team happen. Then he saw the Hicky announcement and probably thought that was it. I assumed he knew about Peter’s deal, to be fair, but I said to him it would be a third bike.

“Because it is a third bike, we didn’t have the budget in place so we both had to go away and make it happen. Leon spoke to a few people, I spoke to a few people and then the fairest thing to say is that between us, Stuart (Higgs) and another sponsor that we can’t talk about yet, we have pulled it off.

“Having Leon means more staff, a new crew chief and mechanics. We have also recognised we need someone on the suspension and electronics side because looking after three would be a big job. It’s a big investment for us to make it work properly. But it is really good for the team as a whole. It’s an opportunity we shouldn’t pass up.”