RUSSELL RACING BACK WITH BROWNE
The Boyce Precision Engineering/Russell Racing team will return to this year’s Isle of Man TT Races running Mike Browne in a slimmed-down one-man team.
Ireland’s Browne, who took seven top ten finishes at last year’s TT, will contest both four-lap Monster Energy Supersport Races riding the team’s tried and tested, and rapid, 600cc Yamaha YZF-R6. Together with KMR, the team will also be running Browne in the two Metzeler/Entire Cover insurance Supertwin races.
Long time associated with Keith Amor and then William Dunlop, Alister Russell, team owner, created Russell Racing as a team in 2022, making their Mountain Course debut that year with 16-time winner Ian Hutchinson taking the Yamaha R6 to tenth and 13th place finishes.
The following year saw the team expand to two riders with Dean Harrison and James Hillier on board and it proved to be a highly successful campaign as Harrison gave them their first TT podium with third in the opening Supersport TT, Hillier taking a strong sixth. The second race saw Harrison take another third-place finish.
For 2024, Alister Russell’s team recruited Browne and double British Superbike Champion and former World Supersport Championship race winner Josh Brookes, the Australian taking a best finish of sixth in race one. Browne took seventh and eighth place finishes across the two races with both riders lapping more than 126mph. Indeed, Browne set a new personal best Supersport lap with a speed of 126.858mph.
With victories at both the North West 200 and British Supersport Championship, the BPE/Russell Racing team are now looking to again challenge for honours at this year’s Isle of Man TT with all their focus on Browne.
Alister Russell, Team Owner: “Last year saw Mike make a big step forward in the Supersport class both in terms of results and lap speeds, but we’re yet to see the best of him at the TT.
“We’ve made a long-term investment with Mike, and we want him to keep progressing and keep building on his previous TT campaigns, so that means top five finishes are the firm target this year.
“Our bikes are as good as anything else out there, so we have high hopes for TT 2025.
“The Supersport class is changing all the time with the ‘next generation’ rules, but I firmly believe the Yamaha R6 is still the quickest bike out there. Results, and lap speeds, at the TT and North West 200 show that, but we do have one eye on the Yamaha R9 for the future.
Mike Browne said: “I was disappointed with my Supersport result at last year’s TT as I felt, and I know, that Alister’s bikes are the best 600s on the grid.
“A few things caught me out last year which I only realised when I got home but the bottom line was that I wasn’t using the Yamaha R6 to its full potential. I expected so much more last year so it’s great to get the chance to go back with the team this year and the problems I had with riding the little bike will be ironed out.
“With a year’s experience, with both the bike and the team, we’ll be looking to push on so I’m confident of going a fair bit faster on the 600 this time around.
“I’ve worked harder than ever in the off season, doing lots of training and spending a month in Spain so I’ve had more bike time than ever before which can only be a positive.”
The team will be joining forces with KMR in 2025 to run the Kawasaki in both Supertwin TT races.
Russell is excited for this: “The bike is a proven race winning package and prepared to the highest standard by Ryan who knows what it takes to win on the island. He brings a lot of experience which can only be a benefit.”
