Skinner looking to finish strong in British SBK

Scotland's Rory Skinner is circulating Great Britain as part of the 2025 Bennetts Insurance British Superbike Championship. Rejoining the TAS Racing-organized Cheshire Mouldings Ducati after an injury-sabotaged 2024 racing season in which he competed upon a BMW, Skinner and his 2025 Ducati Panigale V4 R have been highly competitive this season. Currently fourth in points following the Assen Cathedral of Speed races, the Scotsman won a race at Knockhill and has visited the podium in eight additional races. Shortly after the Assen round, Skinner spoke about his 2025 British Superbike Championship season thus far.

“It’s been very good this year,” said Skinner, still looking to the remaining Oulton Park and Brands Hatch rounds in October. “I have gotten eight podium finishes so far this year, which is a personal best for me racing a bike. We’ve won a race, and we’ve been on the podium a lot of times. It’s actually going pretty well. You know, we started off with Ducati at the beginning of the year. We switched from BMW. It’s actually been quite the transition. It happened pretty flawlessly. We had a few issues in testing, but once we got underway it all kind of clicked together and to be properly in the fight for podium positions and the championship, I’m pretty buzzing with it all, to be honest. It has been good.”

Despite a rough start of the 2025 campaign where Skinner and the TAS Racing Team were a bit out of sorts at the curtain-raising Oulton Park and Donington rounds, the organization quickly hit critical mass and Skinner found himself consistently running up front at the sharp end of the field.

“We had a couple issues in testing with electronic gremlins and just your standard issue kind of like teething problems,” he said. “Once we got over that, we were on or way. At round two at Donington we were on the podium and went five, four and three in the races in terms of results. From there we just kind of started off a bit of a podium run. I was on the podium at round two, round three and round four. It just kept rolling and kept going. It was great. It felt so good to be back. I snapped my tibula and fibula last year in my right leg. I’ve got a big old rod, like a 14-inch rod, in my right leg below the knee. That set me back last year. I kind of lost my form, really. It’s a bit of a hard one to come back from. I was trying to ride four weeks after I had done it, and it wasn’t the most the most pleasant thing in the world.

"It was good for me to have a strong off-season and a lot of training to get back into it and to get my confidence back. I wanted to be ready by the time we got into the season. As I said, we had a couple of teething issues, but once we got rolling, it was great. I’ve got a great crew around me in the Cheshire Mouldings Ducati team that I’m in. My crew chief Stuart Shenton is actually Hopper’s old crew chief from the Rizla Suzuki days. He was Kevin Schwnatz’ crew chief when Kevin won the 1993 world championship. It’s great having him there.”

Thus far, Skinner is quite pleased with the Ducati Panigale V4 R as well as the entire TAS Racing Team and racing organization that makes it go 

“The Ducati. It’s Italian. It’s beautiful. To look at it, it’s the best looking bike on the grid," he said. "And riding it when you’ve got it just set up perfectly, it’s great. There is no better feeling than just having a bike underneath you that’s just feeling right for you. When everything is working in harmony, it is excellent. I’ve got a great team around me. I’m really with them. Yeah, when we all get everything just right, it is one of the best feelings in the world just being at one with the motorcycle. It’s my first time riding a V4. The V4 has got the 1000cc layout and it has got boatloads of power there. If you open the throttle and it just keeps pulling and pulling and pulling. It’s so good to ride. Even riding some of the UK tracks, which are quite tight and quite twisty and very physical, we can still get the bike to work and it’s awesome.”

And of the racing circuits Skinner lcompetes upon in the British Superbike Championship?

“I spent a few years in Spain in my younger years,” he said. “When I was age 13 to 16, I was in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup and the Spanish CEV Championship. They were circuits where most riders kind of go to start off their Grand Prix endeavors and start off their Grand Prix careers. That was always my plan. I spent a few years out in Spain riding the European tracks and then I came back to ride the British Superbike tracks in 2018. They’re cool. They’re funky. They’re different. All around the world they are very well respected. You speak to a MotoGP rider and they know what British Superbikes are and they know how gnarly and sketchy it can be. I think it’s like the MotoAmerica tracks in the U..S. A lot of the MotoAmerica tracks are pretty wild. The tracks you guys have got over there can be pretty hairy at tines. I think it’s quite similar, to be honest.”

Racing bar-to-bar on any given weekend with championship challengers Kyle Ride and Bradley Ray of Yamaha and Leon Haslam of Ducati, Skinner is aware that talent, determination and pride run deep in the British Superbike Championship.

“Leon Haslam, his name in the sport is very well renowned," he said. "His dad Ron was a factory Honda for decades. Leon is a great guy to battle with. He’s got a lot of world championship experience in both Grand Prix racing and World Superbike. Bradley Ray, he was a reigning champion and went away to World Superbike. He didn’t really have the opportunity there. He’s come back to the British Superbike Championship. You never go away and race a world championship and come back a worse raider than what you were. Brad has come back even stronger than when you left. Brad has come back even stronger than when he left as a reigning champion. You know the level of British Superbike this year is high. It’s getting higher and higher every year. The level is being pushed closer and closer to the limit every year. It’s good. I wish we could go race some more of the European tracks with the same bikes as what the World Superbike guys have and really see where we are at with it all.”

British Superbike, World Superbike and MotoGP: Skinner spoke about where he sees himself ultimately going next upon the global stage.

“In 2022 I managed to do two wildcard races with the American Racing team,” said Skinner, who is managed by former American Grand Prix and Superbike World Championship competitor John Hopkins. “It’s a sensitive subject and all that kind of stuff. It didn’t really go to plan. Obviously having John Hopkins as my manager helped me out getting into that scenario. Me and John were really close. We worked really hard to get there. Yeah, it was a dream cone true for me getting to Grand Prix. For different reasons which I won’t go into, it didn’t work out. My two-year contract ended up as a one-year contract. We just didn’t quite get what we expected out of it in 2023.

“For the future for me, I’m looking probably more towards the World Superbike side of things. Having spent a few years on Superbikes in the British paddock, I do enjoy riding them. They suit my style. The Superbikes are a little bit more forgiving in the chassis department than what the Grand Prix bikes are. They are a little bit more enjoyable to ride when they’re not quite working right. They don’t bite you quite as hard as what a Grand Prix bike does.

“And as far as the British Superbike Championship, I think around the world it’s known to be one of the most competitive racing series there is. Around the world a lot of guys look towards British Superbikes. Scott Redding coming back to it shows how competitive it really is. He was a really competitive World Superbike rider and it hasn’t all go his way here. He’s only had two wins since he came back. I think the championship itself is pretty intense, having no electronic aids and a 240-horsepower Superbike. It certainly makes it exciting. It’s kind of old school. You’re connected to your rear tire solely through your right wrist. There’s nothing else happening there. It keeps you on your toes, that’s for sure."