Simon Reid gearing up for racing comeback with new challenge in National Superstock 1000 Championship

Reid was ruled out for much of 2022 after shattering his right leg following a crash in practice for the Junior Superstock race at Oulton Park in September 2021.

The 26-year-old spent eight days in hospital in Liverpool before returning home to Northern Ireland for a long period of recuperation.

He only returned to action last October, when Reid rode a Honda Fireblade Superstock machine at Bishopscourt in County Down in two rounds of the Ulster Superbike Championship, including the end-of-season Sunflower Trophy meeting.

Exceeding his own expectations, he finished third in the first Superbike event at the Sunflower in tricky conditions, fourth in race two and sixth in the feature race, which was won for the first time by Richard Kerr from Alastair Seeley.

It was the shot in the arm Reid needed and now he is poised to confirm his plans for 2023.

“It reminded me why I do this and I probably had the best weekend for years at the Sunflower in terms of how much I enjoyed it,” said Reid.

“We went there with no real expectations and no pressure and I just wanted to have some fun after being away from racing for so long since my crash at Oulton in 2021.

“We bought a Honda Fireblade and I just seemed to gel with the bike really quickly and I felt comfortable on it.

“It was a bit wet for the first Superbike race on the Friday at the Sunflower and I managed to get a podium,” he added.

“I actually led it for a while and it was a great feeling.

“I led the second race on Saturday too but conditions were very mixed and unfortunately I didn’t make the right tyre choice, so I just rode accordingly and we ended up in fourth.

“When it was dry for the Sunflower race I struggled a little bit with set-up on the bike just through a lack of time on it. I finished fifth but I went faster than I’d ever done at Bishopscourt and set a personal best lap time.”

Reid has been training hard during the off-season in preparation for the start of testing.

He hopes to get some miles under his belt in February at Almeria in Spain ahead of the official British Superbike testing programme, which begins in March.

“It’s something completely different for me in 2023 but I thought hard about things when I was recovering from my injury,” said Reid.

“I want to show what I’m capable of and I needed to make the right move because things haven’t exactly gone to plan over these past few years.

“I’m lucky to have a good friend behind me with his new company Start Solar and I’m enjoying riding the Honda Fireblade.

“Now it’s about getting as much testing done as I can and I’m really excited for my debut in Superstock 1000.”