Swan Yamaha boss Shaun Muir is on the verge of securing a two-year deal with Yamaha UK to stay in the MCE British Superbike Championship and compete at the Isle of Man TT until the end of 2014, scotching speculation his squad will step up to WSBK next season.
The likeable northerner has received backing from Yamaha to continue in the series and is at an advanced stage of discussions with title sponsor Swan before he can begin to talk to his two current riders, Tommy Hill and Noriyuki Haga, about their plans.
"It is great, and fortunate, to be in this position so early in the season. I made the conscious decision to start discussions early, to understand the commercial position of all our sponsors in this economically difficult period. Usually, we don't even begin talks until October but we had some highly productive meetings with Swan, Yamaha and a couple of other sponsors on the Isle of Man," said Muir, speaking to bikesportnews.com this morning.
"Everyone involved is very pleased we were able to take the title last year and are leading again this year. It's a results-driven business we are in so that's what we have to deliver in order to stay in the game but things are looking incredibly bright for the moment.
"I would very much like to retain the services of Tommy and Noriyuki into next year as keeping a consistent team is half of the battle. So far as I am aware, Yamaha don't have plans to change the R1 in 2013, so we have a lot of positives to take forward into next season and beyond."
