Redding: Plan is two years in BSB, then…

Scott Redding has detailed his reasoning behind the decision to race in the British Superbike Championship in 2019 and ’20, with the World Superbike series very much in his sights for the seasons that follow.

On Wednesday it was confirmed the four-time grand prix winner would compete with Paul Bird Motorsport’s Be Wiser Ducati squad in the national series next year, a considerable coup for both PBM and BSB.

“A new future,” Redding called it on the eve of the inaugural Grand Prix of Thailand. “It excited me a lot to go there,” he said. And his ambitions don’t solely rest on winning the British Championship.

Redding likened his decision to “going to the side” and intends to be on the World Superbike grid in 2021. By then, he hopes, he will have secured “a good bike that can fight for the title.”

“It's nice so that you lot don't have to keep asking me what I am doing next year,” quipped Redding when asked on Thursday about the deal. “It's one of those things. I knew I was going to do it, but I can't say it. So it's hard to keep holding. I'd rather say.

“So now it's off my back, everyone knows about it. I had a lot better feedback than I was expecting. I was expecting a lot of negativity coming from people. Actually it's been the opposite so that really fuelled my fire more. It excited me a lot to go there and make a new future.

“Honestly, I'm super excited. More than I thought I would be. I have a lot of motivation to go there due to being on a complete different bike - tyres, back to steel brakes, no electronics. There are so many things I need to conquer so fast but I like that challenge.

“It's something in my control that I can do. I just need to get used to it, do a lot of training in the winter to try and adapt to it. Being there in front of all the British fans and the complete style of the paddock will be interesting to get used to. But I'm super stoked and can't wait to get there.”

Asked why he had expected a negative reaction, Redding explained, “Stepping from MotoGP to BSB, people think maybe you're wasting your talent. You could be ruining your career. You shouldn’t be going there. There's a lot of things I thought people would say, but people kind of understood.

“That's why I wanted to do a live [Instagram] feed yesterday and talk to people, to let them ask me the questions so I could give them the answer instead of people just assuming and making their own answers.

“Like people saying 'why didn't you go to [World] Superbike?' and now I can say I didn’t go because there was not a competitive bike that would take me. That was the thing that was the struggle.

“My plan is not to stay in BSB the rest of my life. I'm going to the side, I would like to do two years there, try and take the title, then go to World Superbike with a good bike that can fight for the title. That's what I want to do. So then the people understand that. So it was good.”

Redding had pondered possibilities in Moto2 – including the grand prix winning Intact Dynavolt squad - and World Superbike before deciding on BSB. Earlier in the year he expressed concern about track safety at certain circuits on the national scene, a feeling that hasn’t entirely gone away.

“I still am concerned,” he said. “But I sat back and had a good think about it and I thought, 'You know what, the guys are doing it'. It might not be great but they are doing it. They are improving safety, which is nice to know, and we have to see.

“It's not like the Isle of Man TT, which you know I'm not a great fan of even though I have massive respect for the guys doing it. I'll have to see. Maybe I'll go to some tracks and say 'whoa' or maybe I won't even notice it.”

And the chance to ride Ducati’s new V4 Panigale Superbike? “Yeah, V4 or not V4 for me it's a completely different bike so it's quite exciting anyway, let alone to know I'll be getting the new V4, which is meant to be something quite special.

“It’s something that will help me because I think slower the superbike generation is becoming more like MotoGP. Kawasaki, what they developed over the years, same with Aprilia. Now Ducati is making that step. So I think the bike will suit me quite a lot which will be good as well.”