Last week we promised you that in the lead-up the 2012 World Superbike season we’ll be giving you all the information you need to get up to speed with Leon’s new team. So to continue what we started, take a look at the team’s history below.

Right from its birth when the first shop opened its doors in Guernsey in 1936, racing was in the blood, with support for the islands Triumph sand racing team, starting in 1940.

In 1949 Crescent relocated its shop to Bourenmouth and in 1963 signed up as a Suzuki dealership and it was then that the seeds for success were sewn. 

In 1994 Paul Denning, son of Crescent owner John, took an interest in his dad’s business and racing. After club racing for two years, he graduated to British Superbikes in 1996 and managed a couple of top 10 finishes before realising he would make a better team manager than racer, so returned in 1997 with riders Jim Moodie, Matt Llewelyn and John Crawford challenging for top honours.

The race success grew with time as Crescent became the official racing arm of Suzuki in the UK; winning three British Supersport Championship titles, one British Superbike Championship (including nearly 40 race wins in total), World Superbike pole positions and podiums and on top of that, Paul is now the Team Manager for the Factory Suzuki MotoGP team and has had a colourful career so far, with several race wins and podium finishes.

After nearly 70 years of racing, the history books are now steeped in Crescent’s achievements and we hope to continue adding to this in the future.

In 2009 the Yamaha franchise was added to the fold and in 2011 Kawasaki, KTM, Aprilia, Moto-Guzzi, Piaggio, Vespa, Gilera & Derbi were introduced, increasing Crescent’s exposure in two wheel culture.

Results:

2011

British Superbike Championship
2nd – John Hopkins
7th – Jon Kirkham

2010

British Superbike Championship
3rd – Tommy Hill
15th – Yukio Kagayama

2009

British Superbike Championship
8th – Sylvain Guintoli

2008

British Superbike Championship
4th – Tom Sykes
14th – Atsushi Watanabe

2007

British Superbike Championship
7th – Chris Walker
9th – Cal Crutchlow

2006

British Superbike Championship
6th – Shane Byrne
15th – James Haydon

2005

British Superbike Championship
9th – John Reynolds
11th – James Haydon
14th – Scott Smart

2004

British Superbike Championship
1st – John Reynolds
3rd – Yukio Kagayama
22nd – Gregorio Lavilla

2003

British Superbike Championship
2nd – John Reynolds
7th – Yukio Kagayama

2002

British Superbike Championship
6th – John Reynolds
12th – Karl Harris
20th – Giovanni Bussei

2001

British Superbike Championship
7th – John Crawford
Niall Mackenzie (not full season)

2000

British Superbike Championship
2nd – Chris Walker
8th – John Crawford

1999

British Superbike Championship
5th – James Haydon
8th – Marty Craghill

1998

British Superbike Championship
5th – Terry Rymer
7th – James Haydon

1997

British Superbike Championship
8th – Jim Moodie
10th – Matt Llewellyn

For more information please visit: http://www.crescent-motorcycles.com