Joe Richardson from Balderton, Nottinghamshire discusses his racing team, JR Performance Racing, its history and goals in the British Superbike Racing series
A man from the area is making great strides in his quest to get to the pinnacle of British superbike racing.
Joe Richardson grew up in Balderton, attended the Grove Secondary School, and successfully competed in Motorcross from a young age.
He said he remembered getting on a motorbike when he was as young as five.
Nowadays Richardson runs his own superbike racing team named JR Performance Racing.
"I won quite a lot during my school days and was a schoolboy motocross champion," said Richardson.
"I played other sports including football and hockey but I've always loved motorcycles.
"When I was around 15 I started getting into being a mechanic.
"I remain as passionate now as I was from the first day I set eyes on a motorcycle.
"I have been around British superbikes in some capacity for 17 years."
"I only ride for fun now."
Richardson's racing team is based just outside of Newark and he still lives in the area.
He started the team in 2019 with one rider in the Superstock 600 class.
"I have worked for riders and teams in the paddock for a dozen years and had my team for five years now," said Richardson.
Ben Luxton was the first rider for the team and in the next season, Richardson fielded three bikes for the 2020 campaign with all three riders competing on Kawasakis.
Joe Talbot and Dan Brooks joined Luxton as the team grew in size.
It was a good year for Richardson's outfit as Luxton won the championship in the British Superstock 600 class.
Luxton moved on at the end of the campaign and the team was joined by Liam Delves.
Brooks also moved on and the team fielded a two-rider team for the 2021 season.
The season saw the team achieve further accolades with rider Joe Talbot becoming runner-up, narrowly missing out on the title.
"Liam Delvs had a few podiums for us that year and had a solid championship finish when he finished finished sixth," said Richardson.
"The following year, in 2022, I had two Kawasaki 636 bikes.
"Both of my riders Sam Laffins and Fin Arscott got on the podium a few times and also achieved some pole positions.
“Because Joe was in the top three in 2021, he had to move on from the class, which is why he raced on Stock 1000s.
"So we had a total of three riders, two in the 600s and Joe in the 1000cc category.
"Joe who is from Warrington had a solid year on a Kawasaki zx10R.
"This year Joe was in the 1000cc class again and racing on a Honda CBR 1000 RR Fireblade.
"This year we set out to do well, I had a title sponsor on board but they pulled out at the last minute.
"I lost one of the riders who I had signed up to the team and the sponsorship deal fell through when he dropped out."
"The budget wasn't great but we got by and scrapped through.
"As well as Joe, we had Harrison Crosby from Kent racing for us in the 600cc class.
"Harrison finished seventh out of around 40 riders in the championship, he challenged in his first year, especially in the second half of the season.
"We went back to back in Donnington Park, we had two races with Joe winning both and doing the double on Saturday and Sunday.
"That was a highlight for us because he won the round.
"It was especially great to do it there because it was on one of our local tracks.
"Joe finished fourth this year and is looking forward to next season."
Richardson said that the team would be focusing on the national super stock 1000 class and would not be competing in the 600 series next year.
"There are eleven rounds in the championship and a testing session in Spain in the pre-season," said Richardson.
"The season started in April and finished in October.
"I work on and service bikes in the off-season, people can find us on facebook under JR Performance Racing."
Richardson said the team had their sights firmly set on qualifying for the
British Super Bike premier class.
"My goal is to get into the premier class, although it is expensive," said Richardson.
"One bike in that class sets teams back a minimum of 500k.
"We will be fielding three riders in the 1000cc class next season, one of those will be those will be Joe Talbot and our goal is for him to challenge for the championship.
"It is an incredibly tough series and you have the best of the best riders in every class."
"I am passionate about it, I want to get my name out in the community and let them know that there is a motorcycle racing team that is doing well in the area.
"If any businessesses who interested in coming on board let me know."
