Tom Church
HM Plant Red Bull KTM is pleased to announce that Tom Church is joining the team to contest its KTM 350 SX-F in replacement of the injured Graeme Irwin for the remainder of the 2011 season.
Following his incident in France a few weeks ago which left him with horrific neck injuries, Irwin will be sidelined from competition until the end of the year while he makes the expected full recovery from four broken vertebrae in his neck. It has now been confirmed that experienced Church, who up until this season has been a Grand Prix regular and has raced both in the MX2 and MX1 class, will take up the reins for the HM Plant Red Bull KTM team.
29-year-old Church is excited to be given the opportunity and will bring with him his many years of experience to help develop the bike for the future. Church will also defend the British Supercross title that he won in 2010 aboard KTM machinery.
In the last few weeks Church has been riding the bike and has adjusted it to his preferences, but his initial impression is already very good. The experienced racer will continue to learn about the characteristics of the bike in the next week while recovering from a small ankle injury in the lead up to his KTM debut his local track at the Foxhill round of the British Championship in a few weeks time.
Tom Church:
?I?m really pleased to be joining the team. We?ve tried to do something for a few years, and it just fits for me to fill the spot for the team with Graeme unfortunately getting injured; although that?s not really how any rider wants to gain a ride. There was some confusion about an announcement regarding my future and I want to make it clear I don?t have any plans to retire right now and I?m fully committed to racing the rest of the season with KTM in both the British and World Championship. I would have been back competing in Ireland for the British last weekend but I twisted my ankle while testing. My initial impression of the bike is good and I really like the 350; we?re working on the set-up but after a day I had everything feeling really good with some settings for my style of riding. Within a few days I felt I could have had a go at racing the British, I just had a little setback twisting my ankle landing hard off a jump. I?m looking forward to working on the development side of things with the team and this is just a great opportunity. I will also be racing the whole British Supercross Championship too and I?m really excited about that as well as defending the championship win from last year.?
Roger Magee: HM Plant Red Bull KTM Team Manager
?HM Plant Red Bull KTM is very pleased to announce the replacement for Graeme Irwin for the rest of the year, and although it?s not in the best circumstances, we?d like to welcome Tom Church into the team as our MX1 rider for both British and World Championships. We?re starting off at Foxhill which is basically his local track and hopefully he can get plenty of ride time in the next few weeks to be really prepared for it. Tom is a seasoned professional and there?s a lot he can bring to the team. Not only will he do the British and World series,? but he hopes to retain his British Supercross championship title with our bike in the winter. Even in the last few days Tom has been working to get the balance of the bike to suit him and with Graeme sidelined we look forward to Tom?s experience to help us to continue the development of the 350. We know is a very competitive bike and is good out of the gate as Graeme proved at Lyng, so hopefully we can have a good tail end to the season with Tom.?
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