Motorsports: Crafar back on his bike

By PETER JESSUP

Simon Crafar will resurrect his international motorcycle racing career as team leader for a Sir Richard Branson-sponsored assault on the British Superbike championship.

Crafar, 33, who won the 500cc British Grand Prix in 1998 but has been out of top-level competition for two year, admits he is rusty but said a practice session in Spain, where he competed with the best British riders, had convinced him he still had what it took.

"I'm going there to win," he said yesterday, then hedged on whether that might reopen the door to another crack at the world Superbike or grand prix circuit.

After years travelling, he wanted more time with wife Kirsten and their son Cooper, aged 11 months.

"I'm enjoying racing again. Anything's possible but at this stage I'm not thinking about world championships," he said.

Crafar has spent two years testing race suspension systems for Swedish manufacturer Ohlins and advising Yamaha and Aprilia GP teams about bike set-up.

Branson's company Virgin Mobile UK has signed him as its top rider and will campaign two Yamaha R1 1000cc bikes in the 13-race series that opens on April 1.