BRITISH SUPERBIKE TEAM
RAPID HONDA 2024
In the most exciting development in our racing history, we are very proud to announce that we have joined forces with Marvel HCL Racing and Honda Racing to launch the RAPID HONDA British Superbike Championship Race Team for the 2024 season. Our team will race a factory supported Honda Fireblade superbike ridden by rising star racer Franco Bourne. The team will include Crew Chief Dave Hewson (RAPID Head Coach), riding coach Pete Boast (RAPID Track Coach and Flat Track champion), and team manager Matt Bainbridge.
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Franco started riding at 7 years old on a Police run Bike Wise course. Franco’s abilities were quickly recognised and his dad and grand parents started taking him racing, first on Metra Kit bikes, then Superteen Aprilia’s. Franco then stepped up to the British Talent Cup, winning the title in 2020 at 16 years old.
Winning the Talent cup should have given Franco a route into the Grand Prix paddock. Although at the time those doors didn’t open, he’d been spotted training at Champions Flat Track School by Pete Boast. Pete didn’t want Franco to fall through the net, so helped him and his grandparents to build and run a ZX6r in Junior Superstock. With very limited budget and technical support, Franco still managed to grab a couple of pole positions and top 5 finishes on his first year on a big bike. This got the attention of Marvel boss Matt Bainbridge, who committed to helping Franco progress further. At this point Rapid Head Track Coach Dave Hewson got the call up too. With the new team in place Franco really stepped up his performances, winning at the first round of 2022 at Silverstone. More wins and podiums followed, but unfortunately a mid-season injury put Franco out for a few rounds, meaning he couldn’t challenge for the title, but did secure a solid 2nd in the Junior Superstock championship.
With a constant strive to push forward, Franco and the team moved up to the ultra-competitive National Superstock championship for 2023. Franco stunned the paddock with a second and a win at the opening round of the year, followed by more podiums before getting drafted into the official Honda Racing superbike team for 5 rounds, to cover for the injured Andy Irwin. Franco and the Marvel team were reunited for the final 2 rounds of the year and took the opportunity to step up to the Superbike class on a pathway specification machine, with Franco taking a stunning 6th place in mixed conditions at Donington Park.
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Dave started racing at 19 years old and became a regular at club level in the couple of years after.
In 2005 Dave stepped up to the BSB paddock, racing a ZX10r at Superstock Cup and Superstock Championship. In 2007 his road racing journey began as he lined up for the Superbike race at the Centenary TT. 66 TT starts and 57 finishes later (plus a few at the Classic TT), Dave is one of the most experienced riders around the Isle of Man Mountain course.He has also raced at many national and international events, from Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough, numerous races in Northen Ireland, to the Baja Tourist Cup in Mexico.
Dave re-entered the BSB paddock in 2021 and joined the Marvel team with Matt, Pete and Franco in 2022. With a strong team structure and a winning mentality, the team have progressed quickly across the stepping stones of national racing, and for 2024 Dave is excited to be building the link between the skills needed to race in the toughest domestic championship in the world, and the skills needed to be faster, safer and more confident on the road, by bringing lessons learned in BSB to the Rapid community.
In addition to bring Crewe Chief for RAPID HONDA, Dave is head riding coach at RAPID
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Pete Boast is nothing short of a legend of British motorcycling. Having started riding scramble bikes in the fields of Lincolnshire as a child (many, many years ago). Along with his father, Pete went on to ride MotoCross, Trials, Enduro, Flat Track and road raced at the TT and BSB. If it involves competing on a motorbike, Pete has done it and to the highest levels.
During his teens and 20’s Pete concentrated on his tarmac racing, with numerous TT finishes and racing short circuits up to Superbike level (Known as Supercup at the time).
Eventually, Pete moved over to flat track, and became the first European to become a Professional Flat Track racer in the American AMA series, competing in the USA and across Europe in Flat Track and Speedway for more years than he cares to remember.
A decade ago, Pete decided he wanted to help bring on British talent, and opened Champions Flat Track school, at Glentham in Lincolnshire. Coaching new and experienced riders to control a bike in any conditions. Franco is just one of the many racers who get faster by refining their skills on the dirt.
Pete made his return to the Isle of Man in the 2010’s, riding modern Supertwins and Classic bikes at the Manx GP/Classic TT.
Pete is Riding Coach to Franco and a senior TRACKMASTER Coach at RAPID
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As well as being a life-long bike fan, and road rider, Matt has also raced for several years, on CB500’s and Tri-options Ducati’s.
Along with the CB500 racing, Matt and his mate Chris Pickersgill (Rapid coach) also helped build the regulations and support network for the CB500 championships, helping progress it to one of the countries most competitive and cost-effective club racing opportunities.
Matt took a break from racing to concentrate on his Marvel HCL business, but the racing bug was to reappear after a couple of years and Matt joined the British Championship support series racing a Ducati in the Tri-options championship. Going on to be a regular points scorer, Matt also understood his management mindset and love of racing could be utilised within the paddock, and the association with Franco Bourne and Pete Boast was born.
Matt is now the team manager for Rapid Honda, entering the British Superbike Championship 2024.
BSB DATES 2024
Follow the new Rapid Racing team at the events or see all the live action on both Eurosport channels, Quest, Channel 12 Freeview, channel 144 Sky and 169 Virgin Media.
By joining the RAPID HONDA BSB team as a sponsor, you will become part of one of the most thrilling motorcycle racing championships in the world. And as a team member, you will also enjoy exclusive benefits including full corporate hospitality at the races, exclusive rides with our race team, membership of the RAPID RIDER CLUB, bespoke publicity packages, and your company brand on the team bike.