MCE British Superbike team bosses are split over the issue of team orders at this weekend’s Silverstone Showdown decider and whether or not to use them in order to smooth their riders’ path into the final top six.

More than half of the nine Showdown contenders have a team-mate who could influence the outcome of the three races at the Nortamptonshire track and JG Speedfit Kawasaki have the luxury, or problem depending on your point of view, of having Leon Haslam and LUke Mossey currently in the top six.

Team manager Jack Valentine has said he doesn’t believe he would need to use them: “If my riders are performing as they should and we don’t have any technical problems they will be at the sharp end anyway.”

Honda Racing’s Havier Beltran is taking the same view and said his only orders will be to ‘ride as hard and fast as they can to be in front’. Jason O’Halloran is currently in fourth while Dan Linfoot, although only in tenth, should have some bearing on the higher end of the results this weekend.

In his own inimitable style, it was a flat ‘yes’ from Paul Bird, who goes into the Showdown decider in first place with Shane Byrne holding a ten-point lead in the title stakes. Be Wiser Ducati wing man Glenn Irwin has already said he will help Byrne if he can.

MCAMS Yamaha’s Grant Bunting will also deploy team orders if required as his rider James Ellison still has a mathematical chance of making the top six - although a 42-point gap to sixth is a tall order. The team’s second rider Michael Laverty turned a corner with the R1 at Cadwell and given the nature of Silverstone he, like Linfoot, might also be able to influence some outcomes.

Christian Iddon, on the Tyco BMW, has Andy Reid as his wingman. The Irishman has made steady progress since jumping on the S1000RR and, given the right circumstances, could aid Iddon in his Showdown quest. Team manager Philip Neil will tell his riders to be ‘sensible’ if that scenario presents itself.

Josh Brookes and Jake Dixon will go it alone in the hunt for a top-six spot. Smiths BMW’s Rebecca Smith hasn’t yet offered an answer as to whether Lee Jackson, who took his first BSB podium at Cadwell, will assist third-placed Peter Hickman.