DELVE’S BEST AND WORST BITS OF BEING A BSB ROOKIE
He’s just completed his rookie season aboard a full-blown superbike, after making the unconventional step up directly from the National Superstock 600 championship. Here, Rapid CDH Racing’s Liam Delves gives us his best and worst bits from the 2022 Bennetts British Superbike Championship.
Five best things about racing in BSB
Racing against the best in the world
It’s no secret that BSB is seen as the best domestic superbike championship in the world, with national and world champions in the field such as Tom Sykes, Tarran Mackenzie, and Josh Brookes.
Riding a superbike
It’s the pinnacle of production-based racing. It’s easy to use the term ‘superbike’ quite complacently but not many people get to race one in their careers.
Racing with my heroes
I got to share the race track this season with people I grew up watching, which is incredible. Riders like Sykes, Brookes, Tommy Bridewell, these are guys that I’ve been watching for years.
Running out of a garage
In my time in the BSB paddock I’ve never operated out of a garage, it’s always been from under an awning in the paddock, so having a proper garage setup has been great.
Doing the pit walk and meeting fans
It was pretty surreal to have fans walking up pit lane and being in a position to meet people who’d come to watch us race.
Five worst things
Superbikes are physical
It takes a lot of effort to muscle a bigger, faster, heavier race bike around.
Adapting my riding style
You have to ride a superbike very differently to a 600 to make the lap time, and changing your riding style and habits from years on smaller bikes takes time.
Arm pump
The forces through your arms, when riding a superbike, are incredible and arm pump is always a risk. In the end I had to have another operation to alleviate the effects.
Getting used to really pushing the tyres
It takes some working out and getting your head around, figuring out just how hard you can push the Pirelli X slick tyres, and also managing their performance for a full race.
The power
It’s not so much that the power is one of the worst things, but getting used to it and managing it; everything happens a lot faster and comes at your quicker, so not only does your body need to adapt, but also your mind and decision-making process.
2022 Highlight
My highlight this season was beating Josh Brookes, Dean Harrison, and one of the factory Hondas at Thruxton.
2022 Lowlight
A massive crash at Knockhill, in the wind, really dented my confidence and it took a while to get it back.
