November 17, 2008 - Kenny Pryde

Yes, there's going to be a Thundersport 500 class for, er...Thundersport GB in 2009. Along with revised 600 classes ... Scroll down for the full story

There will be a couple of new classes at Thundersport GP club racing weekends in 2009. The big news is that there will be a Thundersport 500 class, basically CB500 racing which will be open to riders as young as 15. "Obviously some youngsters grow bigger quicker than others" said Thundersport GB boss Dave Stewart, "so it's hard for them to be competitive in a 125cc two-stroke class. That's sort of where the Thundersport 500 class will come in. The class was run by another club, but the riders were looking for a change, contacted us, took a vote among themselves and decided to join us for 2009."

In addition, the Formula 600 class will be essentially the same as the 600 class that Thundersport GB ran in 2008, except that tuning will follow FIM superstock regulations and if your bike makes more than 132hp (which was the limit in 2008), well, you can come and race anyway. "We had a few guys calling us saying that they'd love to race but that they had spent money on an engine tune and it was over the Thundersport power limit. Well, they can come and race in 2009."

And, in addition, there will be a Superstock 600 class, running the same limited tuning regulations as the BSB class, although the tyre choice will be open, rather than single-make as it is in BSB.

For more info on the regulations, classes and 2009 regulations, check out www.thundersportgb.com

And we'll see you there. The editor will once again be propping up the bottom of the time sheets in the Formula 600 class on a Honda CBR600RR. "I'm contemplating getting a patch for my back that reads 'Chicana mobile' for 2009," said the old fool.