The Bathams Racing Team will feature in the 2025 Bennetts British Superbike Championship, campaigning a one-rider team and welcoming a new title sponsor for the forthcoming season.

AJN Steelstock has joined Bathams Ales as title sponsor, forming the new-look Bathams AJN Racing Team to line up in next year’s Bennetts BSB title fight and managed by Michael Rutter who himself has competed in 431 BSB races during his career, winning 29 and gaining a further 109 podiums. An announcement regarding the team’s rider will follow in due course.

Bathams Racing formed in 2018 with Michael Rutter lining up in both the Pirelli National Superstock Championship and the major international road racing events. Taylor Mackenzie joined the line-up in 2019, finishing second in the standings. The team continued to compete in the championship with Richard Cooper and Dan Linfoot through to 2022.

Since then, the team has expanded by recruiting rising star of road racing Craig Neve to compete alongside Rutter as a two-man team at the International road races, with both riders regularly featuring at the front of their classes.

Alan Boyden, Joint Managing Director, AJN Steelstock commented: “I’ve known Michael and the team for a while now and it’s been an absolute privilege to have spent time with them at the TT over recent years. Our like-minded thinking and passion for motorcycle racing – and a good pint or two – has helped forge some great friendships.

“Like us, they work and play together as a team, and their professionalism and desire to achieve the very best in everything they do is one of the main reasons that attracted me to the team.

“The British Superbike Championship is widely regarded as the most competitive and exhilarating domestic superbike championship in the world. Along with Michael, Matt and Tim have achieved some great things with Bathams Racing over the years and I’m proud – if not a little humbled - to be working with and supporting them for the team’s first ever challenge in the British Superbike Championship as well as this year’s North West 200 and Isle of Man TT campaigns.”

Tim and Matt Batham concluded: “We welcome Alan and his company AJN Steelstock to the team. He is a fantastic supporter of the sport, and we hope we can match his ambitions now and in the future.

“We are immensely proud of how well Bathams Racing has established itself in the racing community during the relatively short time that it’s been going. We are always humbled by the support that we get from our fans, supporters and of course, the team’s other sponsors, who over the years have made it possible for us to be in a position to write the next chapter of the team’s story.

“Expanding the team with the arrival of a title sponsor who shares our passion for the sport (and beer), allows us to fulfil our long-held ambition to compete in the British Superbike Championship as well as the TT and Northwest 200. It is extremely exciting for everyone involved with the team, and we can’t wait to see the bike on next year’s BSB grid.”

Rutter concluded: “If you had told me back in 2018 that our little race team would be entering the BSB Championship next year, I’d never have believed you. Since Matt and Tim Batham had the idea of forming a race team with me, we’ve always tried to be as competitive as we could at whatever discipline or class of motorcycle racing we’ve entered.

“Just like any rider who competes in our sport, I believe that teams and sponsors also harbour ambitions to compete at the highest level. So, it’s thanks to Alan and AJN Steelstock for joining forces with Bathams Ales to make it possible for everyone at Bathams Racing to be in a position to compete with the best teams, riders and bikes in the country.

“This is by far the biggest challenge that we’ve taken on. However, it’s also true that the buzz which comes from rising to that challenge is the thing that makes motorcycle racing so fantastic and addictive.

“I really must pay a big tribute to Bathams Ales for supporting me personally since 2009, then with the creation of the team in 2018, and now for this phase of the team’s journey, by sharing the title sponsorship with AJN Steelstock. As you can imagine, we’re already flat-out putting plans into place so that by the time we get to the first test in April, we’ll be ready to get stuck in.”