James Ellison (motorcyclist)

For other people named James Ellison, see James Ellison (disambiguation).

James Ellison
Ellison signing autographs during the 2009 BSB championship at Snetterton
Nationality	English
Born	(1980-09-19) 19 September 1980 (age 44) Lancaster, Lancashire, England
Current team	HSO Racing
Bike number	77

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, ^[1] Ellison expected to retire at the end of 2018, but in 2019 again competed in the British Superbike Championship series aboard a BMW S1000RR, ^[2] before parting company with his team half-way through the season in August. ^[3] 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. ^[4]

After racing during 2013 with Milwaukee Yamaha run by Shaun Muir Racing in British Superbikes, for 2014 Ellison joined Lloyds British GBMoto team, and rode a Kawasaki ZX-10R alongside veteran Chris Walker. ^[5]

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)

James Ellison at the 2005 British motorcycle Grand Prix

In 2005, he scored seven points whilst riding an underpowered bike, ^[6] but impressed with his attitude and ability. ^[6]

For 2006 he switched to the Tech 3 Yamaha team. At Philip Island he made history as the first rider to switch bikes mid-race, onto a bike with wet weather tyres. He later finished 16th and out of the points-scoring positions. He said that he was "disappointed" with the balance of the Yamaha M1 bike that season, ^[7] and that his bike lacked a chassis modification to cure chatter, which the three other Yamaha riders had been riding. ^[8]

AMA Superbike Championship (2007)

Ellison's contract with Tech 3 Yamaha was not renewed for following season. ^[9] 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 5th at the wet Daytona circuit, in what was a difficult season in the AMA. ^[10]

Return to British Superbike

Ellison returned to British Superbikes for 2008, with the Hydrex Bike Animal team ^[11] He took his first ever BSB podium in race 2 of round 2 at Oulton Park. ^[12] 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, ^[13] 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. ^[14] 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, ^[15] 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. ^[16] Ellison's season was closely documented in the film I, Superbiker .

The 2010 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. ^[17] After the Thruxton event in August it was announced they would part ways, after disappointing results with a total score of 23 points. ^[3] 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. ^[4]

In December 2021, Ellison was announced as team manager for Powerslide Catfoss Racing together with Hawk Racing in the British Superbike 2022 season. ^[18]

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	USA Ret	EUR	AUT	NED	GER		NC	0
2000	Honda	AUS	JPN	GBR	ITA	GER	SMR	SPA	EUR 23	NED 15	GER 11	GBR		33rd	6
2002	Kawasaki	SPA 15	AUS 15	RSA Ret	JPN 13	ITA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	SMR 17	GBR 13	GER 9	NED 16	ITA 11	20th	20
2011	Honda	AUS 6	EUR Ret	NED 7	ITA 16	SMR 7	SPA Ret	CZE 8	GBR 10	GER 2	ITA 6	FRA 5	POR 3	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	DON 3	MNZ 9	HOC 6	SMR Ret	VAL 6	BRA 3	OSC 1	NED 1	BRA2 4	1st	122
2001	Suzuki	VAL 1	MNZ 2	DON 1	LAU 1	SMR Ret	BRA 3	OSC 1	NED 6	IMO 3	1st	162
2003	Suzuki	VAL	MNZ 6	OSC 6	SIL 5	SMR 10	BRA 1	NED 2	IMO 6	MAG 2	3rd	112

FIM World Endurance Championship

By team

Year	Team	Bike	Rider	TC
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	GBR Ret	GBR 7	USA	USA	EUR 6	EUR 5	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	EUR 10	EUR 4	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	GBR Ret	GBR 8	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
2004	MotoGP	Harris WCM	RSA	ESP	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	BRA	GER	GBR	CZE Ret	POR 16	JPN	QAT 13	MAL 18	AUS 22	VAL 19			26th	3
2005	MotoGP	Blata	SPA 16	POR 15	CHN 13	FRA Ret	ITA Ret	CAT 18	NED 19	USA 16	GBR Ret	GER Ret	CZE 19	JPN DNS	MAL Ret	QAT 15	AUS 14	TUR 18	VAL Ret		23rd	7
2006	MotoGP	Yamaha	SPA 16	QAT 13	TUR 18	CHN 16	FRA 14	ITA 16	CAT 9	NED Ret	GBR 14	GER 13	USA 13	CZE 17	MAL 16	AUS 16	JPN 15	POR 13	VAL 14		18th	26
2012	MotoGP	ART	QAT 18	SPA Ret	POR Ret	FRA 11	CAT 16	GBR 14	NED 14	GER 15	ITA 14	USA Ret	INP 15	CZE 15	RSM 13	ARA 14	JPN 14	MAL 9	AUS Ret	VAL 9	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	SIL 12	SIL 15	BHI 14	BHI 18	SNE 11	SNE 12	OUL 10	OUL 8	MON 13	MON Ret	THR 8	THR 5	BHGP 15	BHGP 13	KNO 7	KNO 10	MAL 15	MAL 13	CRO 11	CRO 9	CAD 14	CAD 10	OUL 15	OUL 13	DON 11	DON 9	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	THR 7	THR 7		OUL 8	OUL 2		BHGP 6	BHGP 8		DON 4	DON 5		SNE 7	SNE 10		MAL 5	MAL 11		OUL 2	OUL 5		KNO 3	KNO 5		CAD	CAD		CRO 9	CRO 7		SIL Ret	SIL 6		BHI 3	BHI 5		7th	230
2009	Yamaha	BHI 5	BHI 7		OUL 5	OUL 4		DON 2	DON 1		THR 2	THR 2		SNE 4	SNE 2		KNO 5	KNO 3		MAL 1	MAL 2		BHGP 6	BHGP 5	BHGP 3	CAD 3	CAD 1		CRO 2	CRO 4		SIL 2	SIL 1		OUL 4	OUL 3	OUL 12	2nd	413
2010	Honda	BHI 3	BHI 1		THR DNS	THR DNS		OUL	OUL		CAD	CAD		MAL 13	MAL 12		KNO 24	KNO C		SNE 7	SNE 4	SNE Ret	BHGP 7	BHGP 5	BHGP 5	CAD 6	CAD 6		CRO Ret	CRO 6		SIL 4	SIL 1		OUL 3	OUL 7	OUL 3	7th	210
2011	Honda	BHI	BHI		OUL	OUL		CRO	CRO		THR	THR		KNO	KNO		SNE	SNE		OUL 11	OUL C		BHGP 24	BHGP Ret	BHGP 13	CAD 13	CAD 11	CAD 10	DON 8	DON 7		SIL	SIL		BHGP 5	BHGP 3	BHGP 4	16th	79
2013	Yamaha	BHI 16	BHI 1		THR 6	THR 3		OUL 2	OUL Ret		KNO 7	KNO Ret		SNE 4	SNE 9		BHGP Ret	BHGP 2		OUL 1	OUL Ret	OUL 4	CAD Ret	CAD 3		DON 3	DON 6		ASS Ret	ASS 1		SIL 5	SIL 4		BHGP Ret	BHGP 3	BHGP 5	4th	589
2014	Kawasaki	BHI 3	BHI 3		OUL 3	OUL 3		SNE 3	SNE 2		KNO Ret	KNO 8		BHGP 3	BHGP DNS		THR	THR		OUL	OUL	OUL	CAD DNS	CAD DNS		DON 14	DON 11		ASS 4	ASS 7		SIL 11	SIL 3		BHGP 7	BHGP 2	BHGP 2	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	DON 1	DON 12	BHI 1	BHI 1	OUL 6	OUL 2		SNE Ret	SNE 7	KNO Ret	KNO Ret	BHGP 3	BHGP 4		THR DNS	THR DNS	CAD	CAD		OUL 2	OUL 5	OUL 5	ASS 2	ASS 2	SIL 5	SIL 17	BHGP 6	BHGP 5	BHGP 2	3rd	614
2016	Kawasaki	SIL 13	SIL 8	OUL 3	OUL 4	BHI 2	BHI Ret		KNO 7	KNO 2	SNE Ret	SNE Ret	THR 5	THR 7		BHGP 10	BHGP 9	CAD 6	CAD 8		OUL 2	OUL 2	OUL Ret	DON 4	DON 7	ASS 3	ASS 7	BHGP Ret	BHGP 1	BHGP 1	3rd	610
2017	Yamaha	DON 5	DON 6	BHI Ret	BHI Ret	OUL 6	OUL Ret		KNO Ret	KNO 2	SNE Ret	SNE Ret	BHGP 6	BHGP 2		THR 19	THR 9	CAD 10	CAD 1		SIL Ret	SIL 2	SIL' Ret	OUL 5	OUL 10	ASS 3	ASS 4	BHGP 5	BHGP 3	BHGP 3	8th	228
2018	Yamaha	DON 3	DON Ret	BHI 16	BHI 11	OUL 11	OUL 12		SNE 8	SNE Ret	KNO 13	KNO 9	BHGP Ret	BHGP 9		THR 12	THR 15	CAD 9	CAD Ret		SIL Ret	SIL 13	SIL 11	OUL 9	OUL 10	ASS 10	ASS 8	BHGP 8	BHGP Ret	BHGP Ret	14th	110

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 Ret	SIL Ret	OUL 23	OUL Ret	DON 15	DON 16	DON 15	BRH 12	BRH 14	KNO 12	KNO 10	SNE Ret	SNE 17	THR 16	THR 11	CAD	CAD	OUL 13	OUL Ret	OUL DNS	ASS 14	ASS Ret	DON Ret	DON 20	BHGP DNS	BHGP 17	BHGP Ret	21st	28

MotoAmerica SuperBike Championship

Year	Class	Team	1	2		3		4		5		6		7	8		9		10		11	Pos	Pts
			R1	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1
2007	SuperBike	Honda	DAY 9	BAR 10	BAR 11	FON Ret	FON 12	INF 9	INF 8	RAM Ret	RAM 5	MIL 10	MIL 11	LAG 10	OHI 10	OHI 11	VIR 10	VIR Ret	RAT Ret	RAT 8	LAG 8	11th	323

References

1. BSB: Ellison confirmed at TAG Yamaha for final year in BSB Motorcycle News , 24 October 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2019
2. BSB: James Ellison Why I'm coming back for another year in BSB Motorcycle News , 27 November 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2019
3. Struggling James Ellison exits Smiths BMW visordown, 5 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019
4. Ellison joins Bike Devil MV Agusta for remainder of 2019 bikesportnews, 3 September 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2019
5. Bennetts News, racing Retrieved 26 November 2013
6. 1 2 "Profiles > James Ellison". Crash.net. Archived from the original on 10 October 2006. Retrieved 24 October 2006.
7. "James Ellison's MotoGP column – 06/09/06". bbc.co.uk. 6 September 2006. Retrieved 24 October 2006.
8. "James Ellison's MotoGP column – 15/08/06". bbc.co.uk. 15 August 2006. Retrieved 24 October 2006.
9. "Briton Ellison dropped by Tech 3 – 31/10/06". bbc.co.uk. 31 October 2006. Retrieved 31 October 2006.
10. "Interview with James Ellison". SuperbikePlanet.com. Archived from the original on 20 January 2007. Retrieved 13 December 2006.
11. "James Ellison back in British Superbikes". SuperbikePlanet.com. Retrieved 12 December 2007.
12. "Byrne bounces back for double". Crash.net. Retrieved 23 May 2008.
13. "Ellison confirms Hydrex Honda departure". Insidebikes. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2008.
14. "GSE confirm Ellison to replace Byrne". Insidebikes. Retrieved 15 October 2008.
15. "GSE Racing Quit BSB". Insidebikes. Retrieved 8 February 2009.
16. "Ellison secures ride with Swan Honda". Insidebikes. Retrieved 8 February 2010.
17. Ellison stays in BSB with Smiths BMW switch visordown, 24 November 2018. Retrieved 19 August 2019
18. Barstow, Ollie (12 December 2021). "James Ellison, Hawk Racing join Powerslide Catfoss Suzuki set-up for 2022 BSB". Visor Down.

External links

• James Ellison at MotoGP.com
• James Ellison at WorldSBK.com
• James Ellison Profile, archived at Crash.net