Gawith secures competitive BSB Sportbike seat for 2025
After narrowly missing out on the British SuperTeen Championship title last year, Victorian youngster Brodie Gawith is stepping up to the British Superbike (BSB) Sportbike category for 2025. The 20-year-old joins the prestigious Macadam Triumph Racing Team for this next phase of his career.
Gawith will compete as part of a four-rider team campaigning Triumph Daytona 660 machines in the highly competitive BSB Sportbike class.
Brodie Gawith
“I am incredibly excited to continue my racing career in the BSB paddock and I would like to thank the Macadam Triumph Factory Racing Team for this opportunity. I hope to adapt to the new bike and the class quickly, and as I did in the Superteens Championship, fight for podiums early into the season and have a strong overall standing in my first year in the Sportbike Championship.”
Brodie Gawith achieved his first international podium early in the season at Donington Park, quickly building momentum with his maiden race win just a few rounds later.
Following his breakthrough victory, Gawith consistently delivered strong performances, with podium finishes becoming a regular occurrence. He concluded his debut international season in an impressive second place overall, narrowly missing the championship title by just nine points at the Donington Park finale, despite taking a win and two second places at that final round.
“We went into 2024 with no real expectations in the Superteens Championship. It was our first year racing internationally, and the Championship was filled with UK-based riders who had ridden the circuits for many years, so I didn’t want to place an unrealistic expectation on myself in my first year. My goal was first set on finishing on the podium and when we did that quite early on in the season, that goal post changed to winning my first race, which again we achieved far earlier than we were expecting, and then it hit me after that; I had a real chance to win the Championship in my first-ever international season.”
Brodie Gawith’s impressive results in his inaugural BSB season were a testament to the exceptional support system surrounding him. He benefited greatly from the guidance of former Australian racer Levi Day, whose extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of BSB circuits—gained over years competing in the UK-based championship—proved invaluable. Gawith also received significant backing from the RoKitRookies Superteen team, with mentorship from renowned figures like Ron and Leon Haslam, further bolstering his development and performance throughout the season.
“I am really grateful for the support I had around me and I don’t think I would’ve achieved what I did if I had to do it on my own, so having the support of Levi, Ron and Leon made the transition overseas much smoother, so I do owe a big thank you to these guys.”
Gawith will compete in the ten-round BSB National Sportbike Championship, with the season-opening round at Oulton Park on the 3rd – 5th May.
The BSB Sportbike category compared to SuperTeen
Richard Cooper has won the inaugural Pirelli National Sportbike on a 660 Triumph last year, pipping Edoardo Colombi (Aprilia 660) to the title.
In the SuperTeen Championship, all competitors raced on Kawasaki Ninja ZX-4RR motorcycles, prepared to identical specifications to ensure a level playing field.
In contrast, the Sportbike Championship features a more diverse lineup, with Triumph Daytona 660 riders competing against Kawasaki Ninja 650, Yamaha YZF-R7, Aprilia RS660, and Suzuki GSX-8R machines. These bikes, all producing around 95 horsepower, promise highly competitive racing.
The BSB series does not include a Supersport 300 category. Notably, the 2025 season will also mark the final year of the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship, signaling the end of an era for the popular class on the world stage with the replacement category yet to be announced, but widely expected to follow the BSB Sportbike example.
Instead, the BSB entry-level class is the British Talent Cup, where riders compete on Moto3 standard specification 85-kilogram Honda NSF 250 R machines that make around 47 horsepower. The regulations of this class largely mirror those used in the long running FIM Junior GP European Talent Cup competition.
The next step up in the BSB ladder is the Sportbike class.
Lap times in the Sportbike class are significantly faster than those in the SuperTeen category, with the larger-capacity machines delivering nearly a five-second advantage at Donington Park.
For reference, at Donington last year, the Talent Cup pole time was 1:40.059 (Moto 3 standard Honda NSF250R – 85 kg and 47 hp. approx), while the SuperTeen pole was slightly quicker at 1:39.330 (ZX-4RR). In comparison, the Sportbike pole was a rapid 1:34.972.
To put these times in perspective, the pole times across all classes at the same Donington event were:
- Talent Cup: 1m40.059
- SuperTeen: 1m39.330
- F 900 R Cup: 1:37.132
- Sportbike: 1m34.972
- Supersport: 1:30.186
- Superstock 1000: 1:28.649
- Superbike: 1:27.428
These figures highlight the pace differences across the various categories and the progression in performance as riders climb the ranks. When comparing them to ASBK categories do bear in mind that BSB Supersport allows many more modifications than Australian Supersport and has already adopted the much more open Next Generation format with control MecTronik ECU and firmware. British Superbike run a control tyre and control MoTeC ECU with no traction control, but are allowed much more freedom in modifying the engine and other components on the machine in comparison to Australian Superbike.
The 2024 season marked the debut of the BSB Sportbike class, a category whose framework and rule structure have now also been adopted by the IDM series in Germany and incorporated into the Italian CIV Championship.
Organisers ensure machine parity through a variety of measures. These include a torque-limited control map and rev limits managed by the control MecTronik ECU and firmware. Additionally, air restrictors and other approved components are implemented on a machine-by-machine basis to maintain a level playing field.
To uphold fairness, engines may be selected and impounded for dyno testing during events, between events, or after the season. These tests are conducted at an approved balancing facility to compare the engines against a designated reference engine, ensuring compliance with performance regulations.
