THE ACU Suzuki GSX-R Trophy held its first awards as part of the ACU Annual Awards dinner at The Park Hotel in Northampton on Saturday 26th January, where Lee Hodge and Jay Dunn picked up their prizes for finishing first and second in the one-make Championship.
27-year old Hodge from Chesham picked up the Championship title at the final round at Cadwell Park last year. He scooped a race ready GSX-R 1000 as his prize which he will race this year in the MRO Superstock Championship.
“The GSX-R Trophy is a good series and we had raced Suzuki in 2006 so it seemed a natural progression,“ said Hodge. “I’ve won the new bike and the prizes along the way which really helped plus it is a cheap series to enter making it really good value. I didn’t have a lot of other options at the time and I’m glad I took it.”
Hodge has found that the Championship has also helped set him up for this season. He said: “Winning the bike has helped free up a big bit of budget and it has helped keep sponsors on board. Micron has agreed to help this year and will supply me a full system. I’m running this year in MRO Superstock and if we can get the budget then I’ll do one or two round of the British Superstock Championship.”
Dunn who finished second overall in the Championship was equally complementary of the fledgling series. “My plan had been to move into British Supersport Cup but the finances weren’t there so we started to look around at other options,” he explained. “I had competed in the ACU Star so when they announced the Trophy it seemed ideal. Also one of my sponsors, Road and Racing Motorcycles at Hyde, became a Suzuki dealer so it all fell into place.”
The 18-year old Graphic Design student has used it as an opportunity to move up to the next level of racing. He said: “It is brilliant. It gives a very good balance – it’s cheap, easy to get into and provides a level playing field. Now that there is the National Superstock 600 class the GSX-R Cup is a good stepping stone up to that next level. I’m moving up to the National Superstock this year and I’d definitely recommend the Trophy to anyone.- it is all good.”
The GSX-R Trophy kicks off this year at Cadwell Park on the 4th-5th May.
For more details or an application form contact the ACU Road Race
department on 01788 566405.
or visit the series web site www.gsxrtrophy.co.uk.