Paul Macdonell Round 6 Press Release

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Category: Team News

Published on Monday, September 9, 2024 08:08 EDT

The final round of the 2024 Bridgestone CSBK season brought bittersweet results for Paul Macdonell and the PMR / Vass Performance BMW team, ending the year with a pair of tough results and a serious illness after a career-best start to the weekend.

Macdonell quickly got up to speed on the Thursday track day before immediately dipping into the 1:45 lap times on Friday at Shannonville Motorsport Park, qualifying a career-best seventh and at the front of the third row.

Paul would find even more improvement to begin Saturday’s GP Bikes Pro Superbike race one, climbing to fifth and right behind the lead group as he looked for a way through on 14-time champion Jordan Szoke.

Unfortunately, Macdonell would push slightly too hard into the hairpin and crash out of what would have been a career-best result. He would manage to pick the bike up and continue, though the best he could salvage would be a 12th place finish as he rode with a broken footpeg.

Hoping to make up for the early mistake on Sunday, Paul instead had his season finale derailed by a spider bite that caused a severe reaction and intense swelling in his leg.

Riding through the ailment, Macdonell again put himself onto the back of the lead group but could not push as hard with the swelling in his leg, running off the back straight and again having to settle for eleventh.

Things would get worse off-track for Macdonell, as he later found himself in the hospital due to the allergic reaction – though he has fortunately recovered.

"The CSBK finale at Shannonville was a difficult way to end what I thought was going to be a great weekend after a career-best qualifying in a stacked Superbike field,” Paul said. “My weekend was then spoiled by a spider bite that caused excruciating muscle cramps and a fever, forcing me to be hospitalized.”

Despite the difficult weekend, Macdonell will end his second career CSBK season and first with the PMR / Vass Performance BMW team in eighth in the final standings, finishing as the third best BMW rider overall.

Macdonell is uncertain of his future status in the CSBK paddock, but remains hopeful that a new opportunity could arise for next year after finishing tenth and eighth overall in his first two Pro Superbike seasons and contributing to the Team of the Year award in 2023.

“I am not sure what my plans are for 2025, but I want to thank my PMR crew and all my sponsors for their support throughout 2024,” Paul said.

Macdonell would like to give a special thanks to crew chief Matt Simpson, Vass Performance Cycle, Rebel Fit Nutrition, GB Racing Covers, Flexiglass, Muse Autosport, Mithos Racing North America, DP Brakes, Bickle Racing, FÜSPORT, C. Moore Realty, Stringam LLP, Speedpro Signs, Speedy Glass GP, AP Carbonline, Lieto Factory, and everyone else who supported the team in 2024.

From a press release