Change partners!

Over the past few days, World Supersport Championship rider Chaz Davies kept many of the followers of his Facebook page in suspense with a promise of an important announcement that he would make at the weekend.


The announcement was nothing less than the fact that the Welshman, along with team-mate Luca Scassa, will be campaigning in this season's World Supersport Championship on the Yamaha YZF-R6.

Welsh rider Chaz Davies with his new ride for 2011

Photograph: © Chaz Davies/Team ParkinGO Yamaha, Jan. 2011

This comes as somewhat of a surprise so late in proceedings; the BE1 ParkinGO team had been hard at work until very recently, fettling the Triumph Daytona 675R for the beginning of the 2011 season. However, it would appear that an inability for both parties (Triumph and Team BE1 ParkinGO) to reach a satisfactory contract agreement meant that they were obliged to go their own ways, as it were; Paul Stroud (Triumph Motorcycles' Sales & Marketing Director) and Giuliano Rovelli (BE1 ParkinGO team owner) made official statements to this effect at the beginning of the week.


This move effectively means that the British motorcycle manufacturer based in Hinckley (Leicestershire) will not be officially represented this season. And while The Thruxtonian's heart is very much in the Brit bike camp, we wish to extend our best wishes to Chaz Davies and the BE1 ParkinGO team, and hope that he will be flying the flags (Cymru and the Union Flag) from the highest step of the podium throughout the year!