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 Lancaster, Lancashire, England

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. 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.

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.

Ellison is a double European Superstock champion, World Endurance champion and has previously 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, but impressed with his attitude and ability.

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, 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 5th 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 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 an 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.

Retirement and 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.

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

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

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

External links

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