IPSWICH bike racer Kieran Murphy has high hopes as he begins the new season at Silverstone this weekend.Murphy, from Copdock, has joined the new HBC Goldstar Racing team to ride their Honda CBR600 RRs.

IPSWICH bike racer Kieran Murphy has high hopes as he begins the new season at Silverstone this weekend.

Murphy, from Copdock, has joined the new HBC Goldstar Racing team to ride their Honda CBR600 RRs.

He will be hunting a top five spot when the British Supersport championship opens at the legendary Silverstone circuit in Northamptonshire on Sunday.

After hard work during the winter and miles of testing, the team feel ready for the start of the season.

After testing in Spain at the Cartegena circuit, team co-owners Matthew Ashworth of Goldstar Transport and Howard Brunt of HB Commercials are happy with the team's progress but frustrated by a shortage of dry testing time.

“The times we set in Spain were competitive and encouraging as it was the first time we had run the bikes,” said Ashworth.

“Since coming back to the UK we have had very little dry testing time.”

Technology plays a big part on the bike with on-board telemetry helping to achieve a perfect set-up. As in Formula One motor racing, the telemetry shows how the suspension, throttle braking and various other systems are performing to help the team fine tune the bike.

Murphy said: “Hopefully we can get some dry weather during the first day of the meeting on Friday so we can work on a dry set-up.

“I am hoping to qualify well on the grid and am aiming for a top five finish at Silverstone. If we can get a good result on Sunday then hopefully we can use it to build momentum for a good season.”