MEDIA RELEASE
Affinity Sports Academy are thrilled to welcome Australian riders, Brodie Gawith and Henry Snell to the Academy as they join the Rokit Rookies for their first season riding in the U.K. Henry and Brodie will both be racing in the new Superteen Championship on the newly released Kawasaki ZX400RR in the British Superbike Championship, set for riders aged between 16 to 20 years old to build their pathway into World Superbikes and MotoGP. Coming off the back of a successful final round of the ASBK Australian Superbike Championship at The Bend Motorsport Park, both Brodie and Henry were a force to be reckoned with throughout the entire year.
For 19-year-old Brodie Gawith, his results became progressively stronger throughout the year once he broke through with his first podium finish at Phillip Island Circuit at Round 1 – since then, there was no stopping the Geelong based rider. He went from strength to strength, and proved he was a strong Championship contender in both Championships, finishing the year with three lap-records and a number of race wins to his name. Gawith eventually ended the year 2nd overall in the Yamaha Finance R3 Cup
Championship, just 10 points away from the overall win, and 4th place overall in the ever-competitive Australian Supersport 300 Championship. For 17-year-old Henry Snell, his year came just as close to taking home dual Australian Championships, but devastatingly came to an end after a DNF in Race 2 at the final round while in the lead.
Residing in Bowen with minimal tracks around him, Henry has progressed through the ranks of ASBK at a rapid rate. Of mention, 2023 saw Snell rack up an impressive three round wins, four race wins, and 17 podium finishes: leading to a 3rd place in the final series points in the Yamaha
Finance R3 Cup Championship, and 5th overall in the Supersport 300 Championship. As current teammates, Brodie and Henry have always worked as a strong team, always getting the most out of their riding as they look to focus on their own personal strengths and weaknesses in order to support each other both on and off track. The pairing have already had experience riding a Kawasaki ZX4-RR and are very excited to get pre-season underway in just a few months’ time with the Academy.
Quote from Brodie Gawith: “I’m super excited to join the Affinity Sports Academy next year and l look forward to learning from the greats such as Ron and Leon Haslem. It’s going to be a great learning experience and it will hopefully take my riding to the next level. I have been lucky enough to have ridden the ZX4RR in some state titles and have been super impressed with what it is capable of and can’t wait to test my skills against some of the UK’s best.”
Quote from Henry Snell: “I am really happy to announce that next year I will be riding for “Affinity Sports Academy”. I am thankful for the opportunity to be racing for such a great team and really looking forward to learning new skills. It gives me a good boost of confidence having already had some experience riding the new ZX4RR here in Australia and I am looking forward to heading over to Spain in early March to begin testing with the team. Just like to say thank you to everyone that has made this possible including all my sponsors and my Dad.”
Quote from Leon Haslam: “I’m happy to announce that Brodie and Henry are going to be joining the Affinity Sports Academy to ride in the Tracker Kawasaki British Superteen series for my Rokit Rookies Team. We have had great success in helping Australian riders make the move over to the championship and I have no doubt they will both be very successful.”