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In a unique scenario, the Paul Bird Motorsport Team will be competing on both two wheels and four this weekend, in entirely different disciplines, having made the trip over the Atlantic to the United States and Caribbean respectively.
Round six of the Hannspree World Superbike Championship takes place at the Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City in Utah with rider Gregorio Lavilla looking to continue his consistency aboard the VK and Vent Axia-backed Honda Fireblade, whereas team owner Paul Bird is hoping to end his car rallying career in style by fulfilling a lifelong ambition by competing in the prestigious SOL Rally Barbados in his Subaru Impreza WRC.
Remarkably, 34 year old Spanish rider Lavilla is the only rider to have scored in every race of the championship so far, with a best result of two seventh places despite having to relearn many of the circuits, get reacquainted with a four cylinder bike and get used to brand new Pirelli tyres. As a result, the former British Superbike Champion lies in tenth position in the title chase and is hoping that lack of knowledge on his rivals' part may benefit him.
Penrith, Cumbria driver Bird, meanwhile, will renew his fierce rivalry with friend and sponsor Steve Perez as the former National Rally Champions go head to head around the tight tarmac roads of the Caribbean island. Whenever the pair compete together, there are usually no holds barred and despite Perez's experience on the event, Bird is confident he can give him a run for his money.
Gregorio Lavilla:
"I am feeling confident and I am looking forward to the races. For everyone else, this will all be new but for us, everywhere is new so perhaps we will start on an equal footing for once. We are continuing to work on the bike to be more competitive as we need to be challenging further up the leaderboard and I hope that we will get some good results this weekend. I hope Paul does well in his rally car too as that would be a great weekend for the team if we both score good results."
 Paul Bird:
"I've never been able to compete on Rally Barbados, mainly because it always clashed with our TT commitments but I promised myself I'd do it before I retired and here I am. It's been a long-term ambition of mine and I'm relishing the opportunity of giving Steve a driving lesson round the island. I've roped my championship winning co-driver Ian Windress in for the weekend and put it like this, I'm not expecting being the one to buy the drinks on Sunday night! This is my final rally and after this I'm retiring so I aim to go out in style!"
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