Roads shake-up
Herbertson gets the call
With less than four months until the international road racing season kicks off at the North West 200, the grid continues to develop with two significant team and rider changes revealed this week.
Dominic Herbertson has signed for the Burrows Engineering team where he’ll replace Mike Browne and race a BMW M1000RR in both Superstock and Superbike, and a Yamaha YZF-R6 in the Supersport class.
The 32-year-old joined the 130 club with a 130.274mph lap in last year’s Superbike race and believes that signing with John Burrows’ team is a big step for his career.
He said: "When John gave me a call it took some time to sink in that he’d offered me a seat in one of the most competitive teams. I have been in the very fortunate position of working with the team in the past, they not only have competitive machinery, they have a perfect balance of professionalism and enjoyment. I have so many people to thank and without them I wouldn’t be looking at 2024 becoming an incredibly exciting year! I cannot wait to get started."
WTF: Hillier on a Honda
TT race winner James Hillier will swap his OMG Yamaha for a WTF Honda in 2024. With the squad still owned and operated by the 2022 BSB title winning OMG Racing team, Hillier will get to race the proven Honda Fireblade where he’ll receive technical support from the official Honda Racing team. Confirmation of what he will race in Supersport is expected soon, but it has also been confirmed that he will make his return to Dakar in 2025 with the team.
With 14 TT podiums, Hillier comes off a strong season where he secured top tens in British Superstock and set his and Yamaha’s quickest-ever TT lap of 132.702mph.
“The Honda is proven to be quick straight out the box, which shows how good the base setting is, and it’s a good all-round package,” he commented. “One area I struggled with a bit last year was top speed and the Hondas had the edge over me, so it’ll be good not to have that issue this year. I’ve got the same team and crew with me as I’ve had for the last two years – only the name is different .”