MCN’s top ten BSB riders: 1st

With all the dust settled on yet another highly competitive year in the MCE British Superbike championship, MCN have taken the opportunity to look back on the season and sort our top ten riders – based on more than just race results! 

1st: Ryuichi Kiyonari

• Championship position: 2nd
• Wins: 7
• Podiums: 13

Ryuichi Kiyonari didn’t win the 2014 MCE British Superbike championship, but if there was an award for best improvement in the series, there’d be absolutely no other contenders.

Suffering a torrid few years at Honda, where he wallowed outside the top ten on many weekends, it took the Buildbase BMW team to drag him out of the doldrums – and he rewarded them, handing the team their first ever podium with a Knockhill victory.

From there, Kiyonari was able to pull together the sort of season that many thought were now behind him, taking the fight right to Shane Byrne only to be denied by a Brands Hatch broken collarbone.

For 2015 he looks like an even stronger prospect. Staying with the Buildbase BMW team, he’ll benefit from an updated S1000RR while still enjoying the teamwork that he admits took him to second in the title in 2014. An exciting prospect! 

For an exclusive interview with Kiyonari looking back at his season, see Wednesday 31^st December’s Motorcycle News.