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Voltcom Crescent Suzuki is making the final preparations for its assault on the 2014 eni FIM Superbike World Championship, and with the team’s equipment on its way to Spain for the first shakedown test of the pre-season, we took a moment to sit down with Team Manager Paul Denning to get an insight into what can be expected from this year’s new look Voltcom Crescent Suzuki squad.

Paul, there is a lot of buzz around the team this year with your new racer line up. How do you feel about the two signings?

“Extremely positive, but at the same time a sense of expectation is upon the team to deliver a structure and a motorcycle that is good enough for both Eugene and Alex to display their undoubted talents and their race winning pedigree.

Alex was a fairly easy decision to make, as soon as his availability became clear towards the end of the 2013 season. Particularly towards the end of the British Superbike Championship he displayed incredible race craft, determination and maturity for his age to perform as he did and for me the decision was very, very easy. […] Alex has already vindicated our decision in the first Jerez tests, he and the GSX-R already appear to have a good relationship and we are excited about the future – we have an option on Alex for 2015 as well and I can’t see us not taking it up!

We’d been speaking to Eugene for a good couple of months but to be honest it required more than just a lot of tenacity and effort to secure his commitment. It was a huge positive when I got a call saying ‘great let’s do this, no further discussion required, I’m happy to ride a Suzuki in the 2014 championship’ but it was rather late in the process and it meant that we weren’t able to go ahead with Leon (Camier), which was unexpected on both sides. But, we are here to do our best as a team, for Suzuki, for every sponsor and for every individual who has put so much effort in over the years, so when you have the opportunity to sign a rider who’s just narrowly missed out on winning the championship, has won nine races and finished on the podium 19 times in the season there is simply no choice but to make it happen. It’s a privilege to have two such fantastic riders on the team, we are already enjoying working together and despite the weight of expectation and pressure, it’s a positive pressure and we’re looking forward to it.”

Alongside the racer introductions there are other new additions to the team structure, how are the team moulding together and what benefits are you hoping your new staff bring to the overall development?

“Part of Eugene’s requirement to ride for the team was to bring his own crew chief Phil Marron, who has worked professionally with Eugene over the years with great success. Phil has experience of the Suzuki, having worked with the TAS British Superbike team a few years back, he’s a very easy going, organised and professional guy and has fitted in seamlessly. The biggest change in terms of the team’s structure for 2014 is having Davide Gentile on board, who has extensive experience with ECU strategy development with the Yamaha factory team and more recently with Ducati Corse. The ECU strategists are motorcycle racing’s equivalent of Formula 1’s Aerodynamicists at the moment - they are the guys who hold the key to releasing the performance of the bike and helping the rider to use all of the massive performance that the engines are developing these days.[…]”

What are your expectations of the team’s performance for the coming season and on how the new rules will affect this?

I personally don’t believe the regulations in the open Superbike class will have any effect on the standings relevant to each other, of the different teams. I think the relative performance will still be more about overall bike development and how the best riders gel with their machines and are able to use all of their ability to fight with each other.”

How do you see the Evo class affecting the racing and the championship as a whole?
“I hope it will fill the grid with some competitive bikes and competitive riders, there are already a couple of quite interesting entries. At certain tracks there is no reason why an Evo class bike shouldn’t be able to run with a full, open class, World Superbike spec machine. […]”

Who do you see as your main competitors this season?

“We are a team that is growing; we grew in competitiveness in 2013 compared to the team’s first year in World Superbike. We didn’t win a race last year and we have a fairly realistic and humble approach to 2014 in that we know what the potential of the riders is, we know what the potential of the GSX-R can be, but in order to maximise a result from that potential we are going to have to do everything right and continue working in an ultra-committed way. […]”

What are your expectations for the upcoming tests?

The four days in Almeria and in Portimao are really going to be shakedown tests; I don’t think the temperatures at either track are likely to be particularly conducive to ultra-fast running. We are also in a position where the Suzuki has to improve, has to be developed and has had some significant changes compared to 2013. […]

What are your long term objectives for the Crescent team?

Motorcycle racing is a difficult business in that it tends to be quite short term, a lot of agreements are only on a year-by-year basis but we have been lucky, aside from our very long term relationship with Suzuki, to secure a number of additional partners for 2014, details of which we’ll be releasing formally very soon. Crescent also benefits from a great team of committed, talented people. […]