Reigning British National Superstock Champion Richard Kerr (his surname is pronounced just like “care”) saw the same thing we did: American Honda’s very generous and lucrative MotoAmerica road racing contingency support program. And he reacted the same way as reigning MotoAmerica Stock 1000 Champion Hayden Gillim, former Aftercare Scheibe Racing BMW Superbike rider Ashton Yates, retired legend Geoff May and his protegé Gabriel Da Silva, along with a bunch of other riders. He decided that racing a Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP in MotoAmerica’s Stock 1000 Championship is his best option for 2024.
With help from Darrell Jones, who has become the Pied Piper of Honda Fireblade SPs competing in MotoAmerica over the past few years, Kerr and his AMD Motorsport team, led by his crew chief Simon Bleasdale, will make their debut next weekend at Barber Motorsports Park for the opening round of the 2024 Stock 1000 Championship.
With Kerr and team now in the U.S. and working on preparations for next weekend, the Kilmacrennan, County Donegal, Ireland, rider graciously took the time to talk with me. Here’s what Kerr had to say:
Q:
Welcome to America, Richard. You are starting the MotoAmerica Stock 1000 Championship next weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, and your plan is to race all five rounds plus compete in Superbike Cup, is that correct?
Kerr:
Yeah, that’s the plan. We’re going to fully commit to the five-round Superstock championship as well as doing the Cup races.
Q:
So, yours is a Stock 1000-spec Honda Fireblade SP. Even though it’s not a full-on Superbike, it’s still a formidable machine, isn’t it?
Kerr:
Yeah, the bike has plenty of power and speed. It handles well. You know, the stock Honda Fireblade SP is a really good bike right out of the showroom.
Q:
This year, American Honda stepped up with a pretty healthy contingency support program. Right from the time the news was posted on Facebook, it caught the attention of a lot of riders including Geoff May and his rider Gabriel Da Silva. Ashton Yates is also back on a Honda. And our 2023 Stock 1000 Champion Hayden Gillim is defending his crown on a Honda. There are a fair number of riders entered in Stock 1000 on Fireblade SPs. Is Honda’s contingency program also one of the reasons you’re racing with MotoAmerica this year?
Kerr:
For certain, it is. MotoAmerica, is a championship that has always been an interest of mine. The biggest problem, though, is it’s so far away, us coming from Ireland. You have an 8-hour flight and then normally another connecting flight to get to these tracks. Seeing that Honda is offering a lot more support for 2024, that captured our interest and, of course, made it potentially more feasible for us. But, you have to get the results. You have to win or at least get podium results to earn that money. I’ve been good on the British tracks, good in Ireland, so hopefully I can be the same here after I learn the tracks.
Q:
You won the British National Superstock Championship last year, correct?
Kerr:
Yeah, that’s correct. That was my third year in the class. We’ve run the Honda for three years, and in 2022, I finished fifth in the Championship. So, we knew going into 2023 we had a good shot at the title, and we ended up winning it.
Q:
Honda has a new Fireblade SP, a 2024 model, but I don’t know that anybody has it yet. Do you guys have that bike?
Kerr:
No, we don’t, actually. They are available throughout most of Europe, and they’re available in Japan, obviously. You can get them, but for here in the U.S., no one can get their hands on them yet. I’m not sure if it will come out. At the minute, it’s not looking like there will be anything until maybe the end of the year. So, I don’t think we’ll see any 2024 Hondas on the grid. I mean, you can bring in one from Europe, but for a U.S. bike, there aren’t any available.
Q:
Is the bike that you’re racing next weekend at Barber Motorsports Park the same bike that you won the championship on last year?
Kerr:
No, it’s not. It’s a brand-new U.S. bike that we’ve purchased. It’s not a 2024 model, but it is a brand-new bike.
Q:
Is that because of the logistics of shipping a bike over here? It’s just too difficult? It’s easier to get a bike here than bring one over?
Kerr:
No, we actually brought a lot of spares and stuff with us. Stuff we had from our season last year, but it was just kind of with the Honda contingency, it was essential that we had a U.S.-spec Honda. The specs are quite similar, but it just has to be a U.S. bike to be eligible for the contingency money. So, we made sure we had one.
Q:
For our readers who maybe don’t understand the difference between your National Superstock class and our Stock 1000 class, are there very many differences? Are they more similar than different? I assume you guys can change brakes and things like that. How close are the two bikes to one another?
Kerr:
They’re very close, for sure. One of the biggest differences is, in the UK, the British Championship, you’re not allowed to change the master cylinder or calipers. Master cylinder remains standard. Here in MotoAmerica, the calipers are still standard but we’re allowed to change the master cylinder. So that’s probably the biggest difference, really. Everything else is pretty much identical.
Q:
One big difference, though, is the tires. How sensitive are you to tire brands? You might be familiar with Dunlops, but maybe not U.S.-made Dunlops. Is that going to be a big change for you?
Kerr:
Most of the British Championship is Pirelli, apart from sidecars and Moto3. They run Dunlops. The last time I raced on Dunlops was back in Moto3, so it’s a long time ago. But a lot of people say that the Dunlops are longer-lasting than the Pirellis. For Superstock last year, we only really had one option for a rear slick, and in the front we had two options. So, it was very limited. Then we also had some wets and intermediates, and that was it. So when it came to selection, I just had two options really for the front and one option for the rear. But now with going to Dunlops, most options are available to the Stock 1000 riders. The Dunlops in the U.S. are different than the Dunlops in Europe, but I believe they should be better than what I’m used to.
Q:
We have different compounds of the slicks, as you said, and we do have rain tires, but we don’t have intermediate tires. So, will that be an issue for you at all? We may get some rain down at Barber. Obviously, you’re used to racing in the rain. Are there races where you do use an intermediate because the full rain tire isn’t right and the slick isn’t right, either?
Kerr:
Normally it’s simpler. Life’s always simpler when it’s just a rain tire or a slick. You have to choose between two options. When you throw an intermediate in, there’s three options. So, there have been a few times we’ve brought the intermediates. They’re very good tires, especially when the track is almost dry or it’s drying up. You wouldn’t use an intermediate when the track is too wet, obviously, but they’re really good tires. Again, it’s not often. When it comes to practice, especially, you wouldn’t really go near an intermediate unless it’s qualifying and you need take that risk. I think it will make life a lot easier, for sure, because you can always make a wrong tire choice, so with an intermediate tire not being an option, you know it’s going to be very simple. It’s either going to be wet or dry. You can’t really go wrong.
Q:
This reminds me of when you’re in Superbike and you’ve got a full electronic suite. It’s like, you have all those choices and those choices can affect other choices. If you change lift control or whatever, it’s going to affect something else. If you don’t have all those variables, it’s probably a little bit better because you don’t have as many decisions to make, especially when you’re coming to a new country and all new tracks? Is that accurate?
Kerr:
Exactly. It’s so easy to get lost when it comes to setup. You can change everything and end up right back where you started. But, with these Stock 1000 bikes, you’re very limited to what you can do, anyway, which again makes life a lot simpler. We have real good base settings for all of the tracks in the UK and Ireland. So, they’re a lot different over here, but we know how the bike works and what windows you have to be in for everything to work. We have a two-day test coming up, and once we understand the tires and where the geometry is going to be now with the Dunlops, we shouldn’t be too bad. But, it’s just like for everyone going to a track for the first time. It’s all about learning the tracks as quickly as possible.
Q:
So, you’ve got your crew chief Simon with you, and you’re sponsored by the same team you race for in BSB, which is AMD Motorsport, right? You’ve had a fairly long relationship with those guys.
Kerr:
Yeah. This is our fourth year together. (Team owner) Fraser (Dykes) sponsored me when I was racing Supersport on the Triumph. So, I think this is going into our fifth, sixth season. We have a really good relationship. He’s been helping me a lot along the way, and I hope it continues.
Q:
Will Fraser be coming over for any of the rounds?
Kerr:
I believe he will. He’s a busy man. He’s got his own business, AMD Contract Services. So, he’s got a lot on his plate, but I’m sure he will get out for one or two rounds.
Q:
Have you ever been to any racetracks in the U.S.?
Kerr:
Not yet. I’ve been to the U.S. once before. I went on a holiday last year to New York with my girlfriend. Now, this is my second time here. So, I’ve never rode any bikes or anything around here, so everything is going to be new to me.
Q:
In British Superbike, your tracks, your series almost fits in the space of what would be just one of our states. The U.S. is ridiculously big. When we go out to Ridge Motorsports Park or Laguna Seca or even up to Brainerd in Minnesota, it’s like I don’t know how they ever settled a country this big. It’s a logistical challenge for everybody, for sure. I understand you’ve got a connection with Darrell Jones of Jones Honda. Do you guys have your own transporter? How are you getting from one track to another?
Kerr:
We’re very lucky. We’ve come together with Darrell Jones from Jones Honda. He brought in Ashton Yates this year in Stock 1000 and got in touch with him and we got talking. He was more than happy. He understood our situation. He said I can get a trailer, and then it’s just a matter of hooking it up under his rig and taking all our equipment from track to track. So, for us, that was a massive relief. That was a real good opportunity for us to really get this on the road and get going. Us being in Ireland, we’re a lot of hours away. So, it just means that he’s able to take all our stuff from track to track. He also owns a Honda dealership, so when it comes to parts and stuff like that, it will be a lot simpler for us than getting it delivered to here. Also, we can just focus on getting to the tracks, fly to the nearest airport and meet them at the racetrack and take it from there. So, we’re really lucky to have the support from Darrell Jones.
Q:
A lot of riders will be able to get a feel for a track by watching a race on YouTube or playing video games. I don’t know if you’re the type to do that. Is there any particular track among all of them that you are especially looking forward to? Barber is a great place to start. For me, that’s one of my favorite tracks. It’s a cool circuit. It’s a little more compact, but it’s just a beautiful place to go. Do you have any sense of what tracks are like that you’ll be visiting this summer?
Kerr:
I actually don’t really watch bike races that often. All our races are live on TV in the British championship, so normally I would watch my race and that’s kind of it. I don’t really watch anything else. So, when it comes to even MotoAmerica… To be fair, I have watched the Barber races from last year a lot, just to get familiar with that track. But, other than Barber, I’ve seen Laguna Seca. MotoGP, I remember seeing different clips and stuff. But I’m not familiar enough with all the tracks to decide which one I’m most looking forward to, but I’m sure come the end of the year when we get to the last round at New Jersey, I’ll know which one was my favorite. But looking at them roughly, they all look like really good tracks.
Q:
What’s your favorite British track?
Kerr:
Donington Park.
Q:
Have you ever done the Isle of Man, Northwest 200, Macau, any of those?
Kerr:
No, I’ve never done those. I’ve watched the Northwest 200 a lot. It’s only an hour and a half from my house, so I’ve watched it quite a bit. But I’ve never participated in any road races.
Q:
Do you come from a family that rides motorcycles or races? Where did you start? How did you start? When?
Kerr:
It started with my dad, for sure. He was mad into bikes. He did a lot of motocross. My grandad was more into stock cars and stuff. My dad, I think, he was kind of mad with cars, too. He was crashing more cars than he was buying, that’s for sure. My grandad got him a bike just to get him off the road and let out all his madness on the track. So, he did a lot of motocross. Then he got into Supermoto. That was kind of it. That’s all he did. He was racing probably every weekend, as many as he could. Then when I was a few years old, my dad bought me my first motorbike. It was a Yamaha PW50. So, that’s how I got into it. I started racing when I was six, motocross, and I’ve been racing ever since.
Q:
JD Beach has done a lot of flat track, and he has been very successful in that. He trains on motocross bikes, too, but one of the things he’ll say about road racing, he just likes it because you don’t get as dirty. From somebody that has done motocross, do you feel kind of that way too about road racing?
Kerr:
I do. For sure, everything is cleaner. You can actually wear your good shoes to a race. But the only downside of it as everyone knows, at least with a motocross bike, the worst you can do is probably break the clutch lever or a brake lever and that’s about it. But whenever you fall off one of these Fireblades, that could be $2,000 straightaway for a small crash. But at least you do keep it cleaner when you do fall off.
Q:
How is it working with your crew chief Simon? How do you guys work together in terms of analyzing data? Are you a type that really knows what the bike is doing and is pretty specific when talking to him? Or do you come in and kind of say, “This is what it feels like,” and he’ll say, “Well, is it this or is it this?” How do the two of you guys communicate when making setup changes?
Kerr:
When it comes to my feedback, I do feel a lot of things on the bike. I might not know what it is. It’s all part of the learning process. When I’m getting faster and especially racing on tracks I’m used to, you just learn more. It’s all collecting data, even for me, for certain feelings. But, most of the time, I’ll just feel something not right and Simon is really good. He’ll analyze the data after a session or even that night after a race, just going over everything. I’ll tell him when it comes to especially electronically, when it comes to real hilly tracks with a lot of wheelying and stuff, there’s a lot of area to improve on that. I think my feedback is good. We’ve done two years together now, so he knows exactly what I’m asking for. I’ll remember last year when we had a problem in FP2 or whatever, and he’ll think back and if he can remember that, it’s simple. We know exactly. Last year, for us to win the championship together, it was our second year together, so hopefully things come a bit easier this year. But, we’ll have a lot more to learn this year with the new tracks and very little data going to each track, but we’ll see how it goes.
Q:
You’ll be on track next week starting on Friday. Have you yet swung a leg over this bike you’re going to be racing next weekend? If you haven’t yet, will you before next Friday?
Kerr:
We’re going to Hastings Motorsports Park on Saturday and Sunday. That will be my first time on this new bike. I still have all my suspension and all the same as last year, so I’ll be very familiar with it. But again, it’s a new track for me to learn and new tires. Even this climate. Today, I don’t know what temperature it is, but it’s nice. But I understand, come later in the year, it will be a lot hotter and stuff. That’s, I guess, the same for every rider, but it’s a bit more unusual for us. It’s normally 10, 12 degrees most of the time with us. A couple of days, it could be 20 degrees, but that only happens for one week of the year in Ireland. So, I think the climate when the hot weather comes, it’s going to be the biggest change for me.
Q:
Will you be racing in Superbike Cup at the non-Stock 1000 rounds or are you only going to do the five rounds that have Stock 1000?
Kerr:
At the moment, I’ll be only… I would like to do more rounds. I forget the order, but we’re in Laguna Seca, and then, from there to New Jersey is like a two-month break, which is a lot. So, I would like to do the races in-between. But, it will come down to the financial end of things. If we have good results, with the Honda contingency, I hope that will be a good help, and we’ll be able to do more races. But, it just depends where we are, where the results are, and what the financial side of things are. So at the minute, I won’t be doing them, but if we have some good results at these first few rounds, then I’d say I will be doing them.
Q:
We love it when riders from other countries come over here to race in MotoAmerica. We really enjoy when Jeremy McWilliams is around. It was great to have some of the guys at Daytona this year. It’s a different bike. It’s not a literbike, but would you ever consider doing Daytona?
Kerr:
For sure. It’s a race known worldwide. Other years I was just happy enough doing my own races, but now that we’re over here, it is something you start to think about it more. It’s like anything, if you’re not really talking about it, you don’t think about it and it’s not on your mind. But now that I’m getting to know more people doing it, some of the guys you had like Peter Hickman and Richard Cooper. Richard Cooper was doing really well, until obviously he had a mess up. So, those guys are quick over in the UK and they can run at the sharp end of Daytona. But they have so much experience. So for me, it is something that I would like to do. You go there, a top 20 would be a good result for your first year, for sure. Then you try and progress on. But, definitely. Now that we’re over here in the U.S., hopefully, I can get a 600 for it or a 750, whatever it might be. We’ll just see what happens after this year.
Q:
Since you raced in British Moto3, did you race against Brandon Paasch? Do you know him?
Kerr:
I do. I don’t think I’ve ever talked to him, but I remember seeing him in the paddock. I raced him once. That was my last year in Moto3. I rode a KTM Moto3. I don’t know if he did the full championship that year or not. I know the following year when I went to Supersport, he had won the championship then. So, I think I’ve raced him, if I remember right. I don’t remember the results exactly.
Q:
Did you ever race against James Rispoli or do you know from his time over there?
Kerr:
Actually, yeah. I do. I had just gone into Supersport. It was my first year. A lot of riders will go from Moto3 into Stock 600 and progress to Supersport, but I think I was 16 or 17. I went straight from Moto3 to Supersport. It was my first year in the Supersport class and James Rispoli was on the sharp end scoring podiums and stuff. My first year, I think a top-ten, if I even got a top-ten, that was a good result for me. I was kind of around 15th place. But that was a good grid of 40 bikes back then, too, so I was happy enough.
Q:
Before we call it a wrap, do you want to thank anybody?
Kerr:
I have to thank all the sponsors, especially the team I have over here which is Liam McMullen, Simon Bleasdale, my dad. We’re like the four members of our team. So, it’s a big commitment from all of them, too. It’s a day of traveling just to get from Ireland to the U.S., so I’m really thankful for them and, of course, all my sponsors and everyone supporting me. Hopefully now, we can get some good results and see what we can do.
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