Danny Buchan is a young man enjoying life; recently turned eighteen, a new I-phone, a Kawasaki 1000cc race bike to play with and leading the prestigious National Superstock series in his first year!
However Danny and his family nearly turned their back on road racing straight away after a tiny 125cc machine and his tall 6 foot 2 inch frame equalled far from stellar results. Danny explains, “I’d never really thought about road racing, I was going well in British Championship Motocross but after a few injuries we tried our hand at road racing. I’ve got to be honest though, after doing well in another sport I was struggling with coming mid-pack on the tarmac. I was on a little Aprilia 125 in the Superteen series but everyone kept saying, ‘don’t worry, wait till you get on a bigger bike, you’ll be fine.’ And they were right, 2009 saw a dominant season in Supersport 400 on a Kawasaki ZXR400 with Danny winning every race and pole position, which brought him to the attention of Kawasaki themselves.
In 2010 Danny was signed up by the high level MSS Colchester Kawasaki squad through the ‘Team Green’ programme run by Kawasaki Motors UK. He lined up for the National Superstock 600 class which runs at the MCE British Superbike Championship, the world’s most prestigious domestic bike race series. An impressive third place finish in the series saw Danny rapidly propelled into the next level for 2011; the Superstock 1000cc class.
“As soon as I knew I was going to the big Superstock class, I thought it would be a good move as everything time I’ve had more power, the weight issue has been less of a big deal, as I’m about six inches and a couple of stone heavier than most racers. I stepped up the training and through the winter we went on some trackdays in Spain on last year’s Superstock bike, I knew this was a big opportunity so shouldn’t waste it.”
That training and preparation paid off as Danny took a battling win at the very first race at Brands Hatch against a quality field including seasoned British Superbike campaigners, Australian champions and TT winners. A second place at the next round at Oulton Park sees Danny leading the Superstock series as he prepares for Croft this weekend.
“I honestly was aiming for a top ten finish and try to get some podiums but once I spent some time on the new bike, I realised the laptimes were coming and I could ride the new ZX-10R like a 600cc bike. You can throw the bike into the corner, keep high mid-corner speed and then best of all use the traction control and it’s mind-blowing top speed! This new bike couldn’t have some at a better time for me I’ve really gelled with it.”
Despite leading the series, Danny is trying to be realistic, “Obviously it’s been a mega start but it’s a long season and there’s some really experienced guys in this class. I’ve got to try and take the results where I can and not push too hard to risk DNF’s but that’s easy to say sitting here!”
With everything happening so quickly thus far and a new class every year, how does Danny see the future? “The dream has got to be to step up to Superbikes and hopefully still with Kawasaki. Nick Morgan (MSS Team boss) and Kawasaki have given me a great opportunity and shown great faith in me, I couldn’t have asked for better support. Let’s see how this season goes, I don’t want to get ahead of myself just yet but you’ve got to be ambitious!”
