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Former MotoGP rider Chris Burns has climbed up to third position in his first ONK Dutch Superbike Championship season.
His second place on the podium at last week’s Spa Francorchamps in Belgium pushed him up to a place in the rankings and with two rounds left to go, he is confident he can hang on to P3. However, he is not pushing for an improvement to second, believing it is just out of reach.
The championship has already been won by BMW rider Arie Vos, with Yamaha’s Raymond Schouten holding second, some 43 points ahead of Burns.
“I have to think that barring any major drama, Schouten is looking good to take second now so I need to be looking at third and making sure no-one else gets it,” Burns said. “Arie has it sewn up so the pressure is off there, it’s all about the battle for second and third. Schouten is quite a way ahead so I can’t concentrate on catching him to be honest, I’ve got to think about keeping hold of third.”
Burns currently has 130 points after overtaking fellow Honda rider and outgoing champion Danny de Boer on 127 last weekend. However, Burns is aware de Boer won’t want to settle for fourth, so there will be a tough battle as the two Hondas go head to head in the final two rounds.
“De Boer has been ahead of me all season, but as soon as we had worked on developing the bike a bit by mid-season we started to catch him” said Burns, “It’s been very close for the last few rounds but now I’ve edged ahead of him, and now I’ve got to worry about keeping him behind me. He was the 2010 champion so he’ll be annoyed he wasn’t in the running this year. He’s the one with the pressure on him, I’m the new bloke who has turned up from England and is giving him a headache.”
As well as looking forward to the final two rounds of the season, Burns is looking to secure a ride for 2012 in the championship.
“I want to stay with GS Racing, we’re working on reaching a deal at the moment and I hope we can sort it out” he said, “It’s been a great rookie season for me here, and if I can end the year third and close in points to second, it puts me in good stead for next year.”
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