James Ellison

James Desmond Ellison (born 19 September 1980) is an English motorcycle racer. After two seasons (2017 with McCams and 2018 with Tag) on a Yamaha R1, Ellison expected to retire at the end of 2018, but in 2019 again competed in the British Superbike Championship series aboard a BMW S1000RR, before parting company with his team half-way through the season in August.

After racing during 2013 with Milwaukee Yamaha run by Shaun Muir Racing in British Superbikes, Ellison joined Lloyds British GBMoto team in 2014, and rode a Kawasaki ZX-10R alongside veteran Chris Walker.

Ellison is a double European Superstock champion, World Endurance champion and participated in World Supersport, MotoGP, and the American AMA Superbike series. His brother Dean is a former motorcycle racer.

Career

Early career Ellison started racing motorcycles at the age of 15, riding 80 cc machines. After racing in junior championships such as Superteen, he entered the European Superstock series in 1999, winning the title in 2000 and 2001. In 2002, he raced in the Supersport World Championship, before winning the Endurance World Championship in 2003.

British Superbike Championship (2004) For 2004, Ellison switched to the British Superbike Championship. He rode a Yamaha YZF-R1 for the privateer Jentin team. He finished 11th overall, and won the privateer cup for independent riders. As well as the British Superbike Championship season, he received two wild-card entries in the Superbike World Championship, at Silverstone and Brands Hatch. Notably, Ellison finished fifth in the second of two races at Brands Hatch.

Towards the end of 2004, Ellison was asked to race for the WCM MotoGP team after their regular rider, Chris Burns, was injured. He finished 13th at Qatar, and the team signed him for the full 2005 season.

MotoGP World Championship (2005–2006)

In 2005, Ellison scored seven points whilst riding an underpowered bike, but impressed with his attitude and ability. and that his bike lacked a chassis modification to cure chatter, which the three other Yamaha riders had been riding.

AMA Superbike Championship (2007) Ellison's contract with Tech 3 Yamaha was not renewed for following season. He then made the move across the pond and raced in AMA Superbike in the United States for the Corona Honda team in 2007. He had a best finish of fifth at the wet Daytona circuit, in what was a difficult season in the AMA.

Return to British Superbike Ellison returned to British Superbikes for 2008, with the Hydrex Bike Animal team He took his first ever BSB podium in race 2 of round 2 at Oulton Park. After finishing the season with a podium finish at Brands Hatch on 12 October 2008, Ellison announced that he would be leaving the Hydrex Bike Animal team, and three days later, it was announced that Ellison has signed a contract with GSE Racing to ride their Yamaha YZF-R1 for the 2009 season. He took his first career win in round 3 of the series at Donington Park.

At the end of 2009, the title sponsor of GSE Racing, Wrigleys UK, opted not renew their backing of the team. After failing to find an alternative backer, GSE Racing pulled out of the championship, leaving Ellison without a ride for the 2010 British Superbike Championship. On 7 February, Ellison confirmed that he had agreed a contract with the Swan Honda team to ride in the 2010 championship. Ellison's season was closely documented in the film I, Superbiker.

The 2010 season started promising when Ellison scored a win and a podium at the first two races at Brands Hatch, but he crashed and injured during the next round, missing the next three rounds. He won another race and finished the season in seventh place, missing the qualifying for the Showdown just for points.

In 2011, Ellison with a Honda, raced part-time the championship and finished the season in 16th place, scoring a podium.

In 2013, Ellison raced with a Yamaha and finished the season in a strong fourth place, scoring 589 points, 54 less than Champion Alex Lowes, and winning three races.

In 2014, Ellison joined Kawasaki and suffered an injury mid-season and he was forced to withdraw almost half of the season. He was anyway classified in 8th place and he scored some podiums also.

In 2015, Ellison finished in third place, scoring 614 points and winning three races with the Kawasaki, 89 points less than Series Champion Josh Brookes.

In 2016, Ellison finished the championship once again in third place, with 610 points, 59 less than champion Shane Byrne. He won the last two races at the season finale at Brands Hatch.

In 2017, Ellison finished the British Superbike Championship in ninth place, scoring 139 points, winning a race.

Managerial career During 2018, Ellison rode with Anvil Hire Yamaha, intending to retire from competition at season-end, but signed with Smiths BMW Racing for 2019. After the Thruxton event in August it was announced they would part ways, after disappointing results with a total score of 23 points. He then joined another British Superbike team for the remainder of the 2019 season, starting from the September event at Oulton Park, on the ex-Danny Kent machine, previously an ex-Leon Camier 2016 MV Agusta F4. Kent had been sacked in August, with Gino Rea riding the same machine as a temporary replacement for one meeting at Cadwell Park.

Career statistics 1996– 125 Clubman's Champion

1998– CB 500 Champion

2000– European Superstock Champion – Honda

2001– European Superstock Champion – Suzuki

2003– World Endurance Champion

2003– 3rd in European Superstock

2003– 4th place Suzuka 8hr (1st in class)

2003– Cumbria Sports Personality of the year

2004– BSB Privateer's Champion

2009– BSB Championship 2nd

2010– BSB Rider's Cup Champion

2011– WSS Championship 7th

2012– MotoGP Championship 16th (4th CRT)

All-time statistics Series Years active Races Poles Podiums Wins 2nd place 3rd place Fastest laps Titles British Superbike (BSB) 2008–2011, 2013–2017 198 4 67 15 25 27 23 0 World Superbike (SBK) 2004, 2008, 2009 8 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 MotoGP 2004–2006, 2012 57 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 World Supersport (SS) 2011 12 0 2 0 1 1 2 0

Supersport World Championship Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pos Pts 1999 Honda RSA GBR SPA ITA GER SMR USARet EUR AUT NED GER NC 0 2000 Honda AUS JPN GBR ITA GER SMR SPA EUR23 NED15 GER11 GBR 33rd 6 2002 Kawasaki SPA15 AUS15 RSARet JPN13 ITARet GBRRet GERRet SMR17 GBR13 GER9 NED16 ITA11 20th 20 2011 Honda AUS6 EURRet NED7 ITA16 SMR7 SPARet CZE8 GBR10 GER2 ITA6 FRA5 POR3 7th 99

Superstock European Championship Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pos Pts 2000 Honda DON3 MNZ9 HOC6 SMRRet VAL6 BRA3 OSC1 NED1 BRA24 1st 122 2001 Suzuki VAL1 MNZ2 DON1 LAU1 SMRRet BRA3 OSC1 NED6 IMO3 1st 162 2003 Suzuki VAL MNZ6 OSC6 SIL5 SMR10 BRA1 NED2 IMO6 MAG2 3rd 112

FIM World Endurance Championship By team Year Team Bike Rider 2004 Suzuki GB - Phase One Suzuki GSX-R1000 James Ellison Jason Pridmore Andy Notman Dean Ellison Josh Hayes Olivier Four Jimmy Lindstrom 1st Yamaha Austria Racing Team Yamaha YZF-R1 Igor Jerman Horst Saiger Thomas Hinterreiter James Ellison Mike Edwards Gary Mason Dean Thomas Marc Garcia 4th

Superbike World Championship Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos Pts 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 2004 Yamaha SPA SPA AUS AUS SMR SMR ITA ITA GER GER GBRRet GBR7 USA USA EUR6 EUR5 NED NED ITA ITA FRA FRA 19th 30 2008 Honda QAT QAT AUS AUS SPA SPA NED NED ITA ITA USA USA GER GER SMR SMR CZE CZE GBR GBR EUR10 EUR4 ITA ITA FRA FRA POR POR 25th 19 2009 Yamaha AUS AUS QAT QAT SPA SPA NED NED ITA ITA RSA RSA USA USA SMR SMR GBRRet GBR8 CZE CZE GER GER ITA ITA FRA FRA POR POR 31st 8

Grand Prix motorcycle racing Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Pts MotoGP Harris WCM RSA ESP FRA ITA CAT NED BRA GER GBR CZERet POR16 JPN QAT13 MAL18 AUS22 VAL19 26th 3 2005 MotoGP Blata SPA16 POR15 CHN13 FRARet ITARet CAT18 NED19 USA16 GBRRet GERRet CZE19 JPNDNS MALRet QAT15 AUS14 TUR18 VALRet 23rd 7 2006 MotoGP Yamaha SPA16 QAT13 TUR18 CHN16 FRA14 ITA16 CAT9 NEDRet GBR14 GER13 USA13 CZE17 MAL16 AUS16 JPN15 POR13 VAL14 18th 26 MotoGP ART QAT18 SPARet PORRet FRA11 CAT16 GBR14 NED14 GER15 ITA14 USARet INP15 CZE15 RSM13 ARA14 JPN14 MAL9 AUSRet VAL9 16th 35

British Superbike Championship (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pos Pts 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 2004 BSB Yamaha SIL12 SIL15 BHI14 BHI18 SNE11 SNE12 OUL10 OUL8 MON13 MONRet THR8 THR5 BHGP15 BHGP13 KNO7 KNO10 MAL15 MAL13 CRO11 CRO9 CAD14 CAD10 OUL15 OUL13 DON11 DON9 12th 111 Year Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pos Pts R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 2008 Honda THR7 THR7 OUL8 OUL2 BHGP6 BHGP8 DON4 DON5 SNE7 SNE10 MAL5 MAL11 OUL2 OUL5 KNO3 KNO5 CAD CAD CRO9 CRO7 SILRet SIL6 BHI3 BHI5 7th 230 2009 Yamaha BHI5 BHI7 OUL5 OUL4 DON2 DON1 THR2 THR2 SNE4 SNE2 KNO5 KNO3 MAL1 MAL2 BHGP6 BHGP5 BHGP3 CAD3 CAD1 CRO2 CRO4 SIL2 SIL1 OUL4 OUL3 OUL12 2nd 413 Honda BHI3 BHI1 THRDNS THRDNS OUL OUL CAD CAD MAL13 MAL12 KNO24 KNOC SNE7 SNE4 SNERet BHGP7 BHGP5 BHGP5 CAD6 CAD6 CRORet CRO6 SIL4 SIL1 OUL3 OUL7 OUL3 7th 210 2011 Honda BHI BHI OUL OUL CRO CRO THR THR KNO KNO SNESNE OUL OUL BHGP BHGP BHGP CAD CAD CAD DON DON SIL SIL BHGP BHGP BHGP 16th 79 2013 Yamaha BHI16 BHI1 THR6 THR3 OUL2 OULRet KNO7 KNORet SNE4 SNE9 BHGPRet BHGP2 OUL1 OULRet OUL4 CADRet CAD3 DON3 DON6 ASSRet ASS1 SIL5 SIL4 BHGPRet BHGP3 BHGP5 4th 589 2014 Kawasaki BHI3 BHI3 OUL3 OUL3 SNE3 SNE2 KNORet KNO8 BHGP3 BHGPDNS THR THR OUL OUL OUL CADDNS CADDNS DON14 DON11 ASS4 ASS7 SIL11 SIL3 BHGP7 BHGP2 BHGP2 8th 223 Year Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pos Pts R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3 2015 Kawasaki DON1 DON12 BHI1 BHI1 OUL6 OUL2 SNERet SNE7 KNORet KNORet BHGP3 BHGP4 THRDNS THRDNS CAD CAD OUL2 OUL5 OUL5 ASS2 ASS2 SIL5 SIL17 BHGP6 BHGP5 BHGP2 3rd 614 Kawasaki SIL SIL OUL OUL BHI BHI KNO KNO SNE SNE THR THR BHGP BHGP CAD CAD OUL OUL OUL DON DON ASS ASS BHGP BHGP BHGP 3rd 610 Yamaha DON5 DON6 BHIRet BHIRet OUL6 OULRet KNORet KNO2 SNERet SNERet BHGP6 BHGP2 THR19 THR9 CAD10 CAD1 SILRet SIL2 SILRet

Year Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pos Pts R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3 2019 BMW/MV Agusta/Suzuki SIL SIL OUL OUL DON DON DON BRH BRH KNO KNO SNE SNE THR THR CAD CAD OUL OUL OUL ASS ASS DON DON BHGP BHGP BHGP 21st 28

MotoAmerica SuperBike Championship