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MotoGP™ or WorldSBK . But for some time now the movement of UK riders to the WorldSBK stage has been in stasis .
That is partly down to BSB growing to become a top line domestic championship , where most riders at least can earn a living , and good living for the very best few . When the technical regulations diverged from WorldSBK in the UK , and the global financial crash killed many previous opportunities for sponsorship outside of the motorcycling world , the ability to field wildcards , especially in the UK , also became more difficult .
Remember the days when the likes of Hodgson and Walker , Crutchlow and Sykes , could put the fear into even the best WorldSBK riders at Donington , Silverstone or Brands Hatch , and then get a good ride somewhere inside the WorldSBK paddock soon after ?
Well , those days seem to be long gone , especially as any riders from the UK that have taken part in wildcard rides have not replicated the results of previous eras . For many understandable reasons . This is by no means limited to the UK , nor is the scope of this story , as even in Australia , America or other former automatic WorldSBK ‘ Supply chains ’ the flow of new top line WorldSBK or WorldSSP riders is a trickle .
Few locals have been right at the sharp end when WorldSBK have come to town recently . And we all want to see fast wildcards at Donington , do we not ? There are several young British lions in BSB who would like to come to WorldSBK , most notably 2021 BSB Champion Tarran ‘ Taz ’ MacKenzie , son of ex-GP , WorldSBK and BSB star , Niall .
He tried to come this year but it didn ’ t quite happen . He should be wild carding this weekend through … “ The last two or three years Taz has been focused on trying to get there and he has been majorly disappointed this year when it didn ’ t happen ,” said Niall . “ He felt that if he did a good job at home - no guarantees obviously - he felt like he had done enough to get something . The options were with GoEleven . We had to bring a bit of money , and then that came down a bit , but then some staff left and we were a bit worried . There was some chat with Moriwaki and they said that there was nothing for this year but they are quite interested in 2023 . Taz does have a good relationship with Yamaha and Andrea Dosoli . He invited Taz to the Milan show . He said to him that he really appreciated what he had done in 2021 . There were no spaces for 2022 , but they would fully commit to some wildcards . If they went OK , there should have been some options for 2023 - but no guarantees . So , on paper , that is the only glimmer of hope for a Brit . Taz got injured and could not wildcard at Assen , which is a shame , but it is all on for Donington . They are going to support him with everything he needs .”
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“ The last two or three years Taz has been focused on trying to get there and he has been majorly disappointed this year when it didn ’ t happen ”
Stand out young potential candidates to go from BSB to WorldSBK - from the outside at least - now include Rory Skinner , Kyle Ryde ( he did WorldSSP as a youth , remember )?, Bradley Ray , hopefully some others but - so far - none have won consistently enough to be on the radar of world teams . Even those with a non-paying seat .
Paying seat ? The simple fact is that many good but Independent teams need any prospective rider to bring budget , usually from a personal sponsor . This is a feature of modern global racing in many classes . This does happen for riders from most countries , who have a strong personal sponsor , but Britain seems very much an outlier in this regard . Few UK companies appear to want to spend their money outside of the UK , even to help create the next Rea , Toseland or Fogarty , etc .
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