After having five strong years, Stiggy Honda has announced that it will be withdrawing from the 2010 World Superbike and World Supersport Championships. Despite the team’s successes, their financial situation is the cause of their undoing, with Stiggy squarely pointing the finger at partner S2 Racing.
In their statement to the press, Siggy rested their blame on S2’s financial mismanagement of the team’s funds saying, “the decision has been made after a close evaluation of the team’s poor economic situation which was created during this year’s expanded venture by participating in both Championship classes. A huge financial project that was poorly executed by the team’s investors as a result of failure to [fulfil] their financial commitments for the 2009 season.”
Stiggy joins the list of successful teams who are having difficulty turning podiums into dollar signs. As a privateer team, Siggy Honda had a remarkable year in WSBK, and started the season off with a third place podium finish (along with three other podium finishes during the season). With the team scoring 11 top-5 finishes in 2009, there’s little wonder why Leon Halsam took the title as best privateer rider, finishing the Championship in sixth place.
However, it’s thought that running two bikes, in two teams, in two series was too much of a financial stretch for the team, and the cause of S2 pulling it’s support from Stiggy in October.
Team principal, Johan Stigefelt, has wasted no time in finding a new job however, with reports linking him to a technical director position at Reitwagen Racing.
Source: Bikerholic
Comments