Stuart Easton

Stuart Easton (born 21 July 1983 in Hawick) is a British former professional motorcycle racer. He announced his retirement from racing in December 2016.[1]

Stuart Easton
Stuart Easton riding a Hydrex Honda during the Snetterton 2009 BSB championship
Nationality	British
Born	21 July 1983 Hawick, Scotland
Motorcycle racing career statistics Superbike World Championship Active years 2009 Manufacturers Kawasaki Championships 0 2009 championship position N/A Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 2 0 0 0 0 0

For the first part of 2016, Easton rode in the British Superbike Championship for Tommy Hill's Yamaha team, but was replaced by Broc Parkes from August.[2][3] For the second part of the 2016 season Easton intended to race aboard a Ducati 1199 Panigale, but having competed in three events, announced in September that he would miss the last two rounds.[4]

Affectionately known as 'Rat Boy',[5] he won the 2002 British Supersport Championship riding for Paul Bird Motorsport Ducati team. He subsequently rode in the British Superbike Championship on Kawasaki and Hydrex Honda motorcycles, gaining his first Superbike win in 2009 at Croft. He also contested one Superbike World Championship and six Supersport World Championship events.

For 2015 Easton was contracted to ride with the Paul Bird Motorsport Kawasaki squad until November's Macau Grand Prix but, unexpectedly switched to a Yamaha provided by SMT Racing for the race in which he failed to finish.

Career

British Supersport 2002–07, 2013

In 2002 Easton took 7 wins en route to the Supersport title, finishing ahead of Scott Smart and Michael Laverty.[6] He attempted to defend his title in 2003, taking 3 wins and eventually finishing runner up to future teammate Karl Harris.[7]

In 2004 Easton stepped up to Superbikes in the early part of the season, before returning to Supersport in the later rounds.[8] 2005 saw a return to full-time supersport action, with another pair of wins on the way to third in the championship behind Leon Camier and Craig Jones.[9]

For 2006 it was a mix of British and World Supersport races, again for Ducati, with some strong early results in the domestic series including a win in the first race, and a best finish of sixth at world level.[10] 2007 saw a mix of British Supersport and Superbike rounds, although results were not as strong as in previous seasons.[11]

Easton returned to BSS in 2013 with the Mar-Train Yamaha team, as he had not fully recovered from his road racing injuries and so found it easier to ride a 600 than a Superbike. Easton and Alastair Seeley were the men to beat all year, with Easton taking 10 wins to Seeley's 7 and winning the championship by 13 points.

British Superbikes 2008–2016

Easton progressed full-time to the British Superbike Championship in 2008 joining the MSS Discovery Kawasaki team.[12] He finished that season in 13th place, mainly due to a crash in practice for the 5th round at Snetterton, breaking his wrist and forcing him to sit out the next 4 rounds.[13]

2009 saw Shaun Muir signing him to his Hydrex Honda team for the 2009 British Superbike season alongside Karl Harris.[14] At the first race of the season at Brands Hatch, Easton gained his first ever British Superbike podium finishing 3rd in the first race. Easton continued his good start to the season with a 3rd and a 2nd in the two races of the third round at Donington Park. Round 10 at Croft Circuit saw Easton finally take his and Hydrex Honda's maiden BSB win with a lights to flag victory. Easton took his maiden BSB pole position in the final round of the 2009 season at Oulton Park, and took his second win of the season in Race 1, impressively beating champion Camier on the last lap. He ended the season third in the championship behind the dominant Airwaves Yamahas of Camier and James Ellison.

Maintaining a relationship with Paul Bird Motorsport, who are one of Easton's personal sponsors and who he won the British Supersport title with, he is also a test and development rider for Kawasaki SRT in World Superbikes, and filled in for the injured Broc Parkes at the Assen Round, finishing 18th in Race 1 and retiring in Race 2.[15]

Early speculation for 2010 suggested that Easton will ride for PBM Kawasaki in the World Supersport series,[16] although it was later confirmed he had re-signed with Hydrex Honda for 2010.[17] Team owner Shaun Muir later confirmed that Hydrex had withdrawn their backing for 2010 and that Swan would be taking over title sponsorship, and James Ellison was announced as Easton's teammate.[18] With the departure of Guy Martin, Hydrex Honda's roads race rider, Easton is also expected to return to the North West 200 this year having raced several times in 2006 on a Ducati and 2007 on a Kawasaki.[19]

Easton suffered tissue damage to his leg in a heavy pre-season crash, and was not fully fit for the first two meetings. He took four top-six finishes in those four races however[20] Victory in race one at Oulton Park left him second in the standings, but a poor Cadwell Park meeting dropped him to fifth after four rounds[21] He would ultimately finish the season eighth, with a win and four podiums negated by poor reliability leading to eight DNFs. He will return to the MSS Kawasaki team for 2011, having ridden for them in 2008.[22] He will participate in the official Kawasaki Superbike Racing Team test on the new factory ZX-10R at Sepang in January 2011, partly as a reward for winning the Macau GP.[23] After his NW200 crash ended the 2011 season prematurely Paul Bird offered Easton a job for 2012, ultimately meaning he will partner Shane Byrne on the Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki as PBM returns to BSB after several years in World Superbikes.[24]

Easton finished 10th in the standing in 2012, clearly not fully recovered from his injuries and returned to Supersport for 2013, winning the title, before rejoining PBM in BSB for 2014. A solid if unspectacular season saw Easton finish 7th, winning the BSB Rider's Cup for the top rider who didn't make the showdown.

Staying with PBM for 2015, Easton took his first BSB win in 5 years in Race 2 at Oulton Park.

Easton retired from road racing after the 2016 season.

Road Racing 2006–2016

Like his mentor Steve Hislop Easton has combined riding on short circuits with some road racing, beginning in 2006 when he rode for Lloyds British Ducati at the North West 200. He took two top 10 finishes with fourth in the first supersport race and seventh in the second. Returning in 2007 riding for MSS Kawasaki, he competed in the superbike and supersport races, taking a best finish of seventh in the second supersport race.[25] He returned in 2010 riding this time for his Swan Honda BSB team, setting a new fastest speed of 204 mph through the speed trap during practice. Race results were his best to date, taking fifth and second in the two superbike races respectively.[26]

Easton's greatest success on the roads has come at the Macau Grand Prix. Making his debut in 2008 for Doosan Honda he won the race after starting sixth.[27] He successfully defended the title in 2009, riding for Hydrex IGT Honda, having also taken pole position and broken the lap record.[28] After an inconsistent season in BSB in 2010 he rode the WSBK spec Kawasaki ZX-10R for Paul Bird's team and took a third successive victory ahead of pole sitter and six-time winner Rutter.[29]

As yet Easton has not competed at the Isle of Man TT but acted as a member of the pit crew for his close friend Michael Rutter in 2009.[30] He was set to ride Hislop's classic 1992 Rotary Norton in the 2011 Parade Lap on the day of the Senior TT.[31]

However, on 19 May 2011, while in free practice for the North West 200, Easton crashed with teammate Gary Mason at Station Corner. Mason was fine but Easton sustained heavy injuries including a shattered pelvis, broken femur, broken bones in his hands and a dislocated hip, this was confirmed via Cal Crutchlow's Twitter page. There is also a suspected bowel injury. However, later it was confirmed that Easton had broken both femurs, shattered his pelvis in five places, broke his coccyx, ruptured his bowel, broke some fingers and had a deep cut on his arm. It was said that Easton's recovery time would be approximately one year.

Easton returned to the roads at the Macau Grand Prix in 2014, and once again dominated the race to take his fourth win at the Guia Circuit, in four successive appearances having won in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and missing 2011, 12 and 13.

Personal

Easton's first child, a boy christened Finley Stuart, was born in September 2009.[32]

Career statistics

Stats correct as of 9 July 2012

All Time

Series		Years Active	Races	Poles	Podiums	Wins	2nd place	3rd place	Fast Laps	Titles
125 GP		^2000	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
250 GP		^2001	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
British Superbike (BSB)		^2008-Pres	82	1	20	3	8	9	0	0
World Superbike (SBK)		^2009	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total			89	1	20	3	8	9	0	0

125 GP

Year	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Pos	Pts	Ref
2000	Honda	RSA	MAL	JPN	ESP	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GBR 20	GER	CZE	POR	VAL	BRA	PAC	AUS	NC	0	[33]

250 GP

Year	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Pos	Pts	Ref
2001	Honda	JPN	RSA	ESP	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GBR Ret	GER	CZE	POR	VAL	PAC	AUS	MAL	BRA	NC	0	[34]

British Supersport Championship

Year	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Pos	Pts	Ref
2002	Ducati	SIL Ret	BHI 1	DON 1	OUL 1	SNE 1	BHGP 1	ROC 2	KNO Ret	THR 4	CAD 2	OUL 1	MAL 3	DON Ret	1st	199	[35]
2004		SIL	BHI	SNE	OUL	MON	SNE	BHGP	KNO	MAL 14	CRO 8	CAD 3	OUL 6	DON Ret	16th	36	[36]
2005		BHI 2	THR 2	MAL 7	OUL 20	MON 5	CRO 1	KNO 2	SNE Ret	SIL 6	CAD Ret	OUL 6	DON 5	BHGP 1	3rd^1	161	[37]

Notes

1.^ Both Easton and Cal Crutchlow finished on 161 thus sharing 3rd place.

World Supersport Championship

Yr	Class	Team	QAT	AUS	ESP	ITA	EUR	SMR	CZE	GBR	NED	GER	ITA	FRA	Pos	Pts	Ref
2006	WSS	Ducati	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	15		Ret	Ret	10	11	14	14	18th	26	[38]

British Superbike Championship

Year	Make	1		2		3			4		5		6			7			8			9			10		11		12			Pos	Pts	Ref
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R3
2008	Kawasaki	THR 9	THR 6	OUL 10	OUL 5	BHGP 7	BHGP 7		DON 11	DON 11	SNE	SNE	MAL	MAL		OUL	OUL		KNO	KNO		CAD Ret	CAD 14		CRO 15	CRO 13	SIL 8	SIL 11	BHI Ret	BHI Ret		13th	81	[39]
2009	Honda	BHI 3	BHI 4	OUL 4	OUL Ret	DON 3	DON 2		THR 3	THR 4	SNE 2	SNE 4	KNO 2	KNO 4		MAL Ret	MAL Ret		BHGP 3	BHGP 3	BHGP 4	CAD 2	CAD 2		CRO 1	CRO 2	SIL 4	SIL 4	OUL 1	OUL 2	OUL Ret	3rd	374	[40]
2010	Honda	BHI 6	BHI 5	THR 4	THR 3	OUL 1	OUL Ret		CAD Ret	CAD 10	MAL 5	MAL Ret	KNO 19	KNO C		SNE Ret	SNE 8	SNE Ret	BHGP Ret	BHGP 7	BHGP 8	CAD 10	CAD 11		CRO 3	CRO 3	SIL 17	SIL Ret	OUL 7	OUL 2	OUL Ret	9th	189	[41]
2011	Kawasaki	BHI 4	BHI 6	OUL 3	OUL 2	CRO 6	CRO 2		THR	THR	KNO	KNO	SNE	SNE		OUL	OUL		BHGP	BHGP		CAD	CAD	CAD	DON	DON	SIL	SIL	BHGP	BHGP		18th	69†
2012	Kawasaki	BHI Ret	BHI C	THR 5	THR 4	OUL 9	OUL 5	OUL 3	SNE Ret	SNE 8	KNO	KNO	OUL WD	OUL WD	OUL WD	BHGP	BHGP		CAD	CAD		DON	DON		ASS	ASS	SIL	SIL	BHGP	BHGP	BHGP	12th*	66*	[42]

• * Season still in progress

Notes

• † Easton's two sixth places were discounted from the points tally as the rules stated that a rider's two worst results would be dropped.

World Superbike Championship

Year	Make	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		14		Pos	Pts	Ref
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
2009	Kawasaki	AUS	AUS	QAT	QAT	SPA	SPA	NED 18	NED Ret	ITA	ITA	RSA	RSA	USA	USA	SMR	SMR	GBR	GBR	CZE	CZE	GER	GER	ITA	ITA	FRA	FRA	POR	POR	NC	0	[43]

References

1. BSB: Stuart Easton to retire from racing Motorcycle News, 15 December 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2018
2. Stuart Easton will join John Hopkins at ePayMe THM Yamaha for MCE BSB 2016 epayme website, 21 October 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2015
3. ePayMe Yamaha and Easton part company THM ePayMe Yamaha, 26 July 2016. Retrieved 23 August 2016
4. Easton to sit out remaining BSB races Moto Rapido, 26 September 2016, Retrieved 10 October 2016
5. Visor Down, 10 August 2012 Five minutes with Stuart Easton by Niall Mackenzie Retrieved 20 June 2015
6. 2002 Archived 2 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
7. 2003 Archived 2 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
8. 2003 Archived 2 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
9. 2005 Archived 2 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
10. 2006 Archived 2 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
11. 2007 Archived 2 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 10 September 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
13. Snetterton British Superbikes: Stuart Easton out of rounds five and six – | Motorcycle Sport | WSB | BSB | MotoGP | TT & Road races | MCN
14. Stuart Easton joins Hydrex Honda | British Superbike News Archived 11 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
15. Learning experience for Easton on debut | WSBK News | Apr 2009 | Crash.Net
16. SCOOP: Paul Bird Motorsport for WSB AND WSS in 2010 – Motorcycle racing news: WSB – Visordown
17. SCOOP: Easton re-signs with Hydrex Honda – Motorcycle racing news: BSB – Visordown
18. Error Archived 29 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
19. Stars rev up for this year's North West 200 – Sport – Ballymoney Moyle Times
20. Easton back to full fitness for Oulton
21. Easton salvages 'valuable points'
22. "Bikesport News | News". Archived from the original on 23 November 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
23. Six-man Kawasaki team to test in Malaysia | WSBK News | Dec 2010 | Crash.Net
25. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
26. "Plater fastest at NW200 practice". BBC News. 11 May 2010.
27. Motorcycle Racing Online – Stuart Easton wins the 2008 Macau Grand Prix
28. Macau: Easton wins for second straight year | BSB News | Nov 2009 | Crash.Net
29. Easton completes Macau hat-trick | Road Racing News | Nov 2010 | Crash.Net
30. Michael Rutter TT blog: "It didn't go quite as planned" – | Motorcycle Sport | Isle of Man TT results | TTXGP | MCN
31. Bikesport News | News
32. Easton storms to dramatic Superbike victory at Croft (From Darlington and Stockton Times)
33. motogp.com · BRITISH GRAND PRIX · 125cc Race Classification 2000
34. motogp.com · Stuart Easton
35. "Error". Archived from the original on 30 October 2010. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
36. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 December 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
37. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_km3610/is_200412/ai_n8639348/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
38. Easton to contest World Supersport | BSB News | Apr 2006 | Crash.Net
39. round-12-brandshatch-race Archived 24 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine
40. "Round 12 – Standings: Oulton Park, 9–11 October 2009" (PDF). British Superbike Championship. MotorSport Vision. 11 October 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 January 2010. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
41. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 September 2010. Retrieved 15 April 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
42. "Round 7 – Standings" (PDF). MotorSportVision Racing. 8 July 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 March 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
43. The Superbike World Championship Official Site Archived 31 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine