THE Hereford-based STP Racing team will be getting their new motor-cycle racing season underway over the Easter weekend when they open their National Superstock Championship season at Brands Hatch.

But STP, who will have one ace in their pack for the new season as the only team running the brand new MV Augusta F1000 in Britain, will have to do without the star of their 2006 campaign - their most successful to date - when they begin their new programme as local rider Justin Waite has taken the tough decision to hang up his leathers.

Last season Waite took both the Powerbike and Open Championships on his 1000cc Yamaha in the North Gloucester Road Race Championship in only his second year of trying and just his third of competitive road racing.

Waite picked up £2,500 in prize-money and an armful of trophies from the season with wins at every circuit the club visited. He enjoyed a spectacular weekend at Brands Hatch where he gained five wins from eight starts, broke the lap record and took the man of the meeting award.

But when the televised National Superstock Championship, which runs alongside the British Superbike Championship, gets underway this weekend, Waite will be part of the crew hoping to assist STP's five-strong team - Swindon-based Victor Cox and Matthew Whitman, Abergavenny's Rod Lynn and Hereford brothers Luke and Dean Jones - in making a good start to the new campaign.

The Jones boys have been warming up for this weekend's action with testing at home and abroad with Dean familiarising himself with the new season's bike in Almeria, Spain, while Luke went testing closer to home in Pembrey before both linked up to get more track time at Castle Donnington.

Then, in their first club race of the season at Silverstone, Luke won both 125cc races while Dean managed a creditable third place in his first race on a 600cc bike before finishing 14th in his second after starting from the back of the grid in a 44-strong field.

Waite, meanwhile, has no regrets about turning his attention to off-the-track activities and has a host of memories to look back upon.

"I would like to take the opportunity to thank the sponsors, Mark Adcocks at Print Plus, John Strike at Abergavenny Building Supplies, Mark Smith at Thomas Smith Roofing Centre and Karl at KLJ Motorcycles, who have made the last three years possible and unforgettable," he said.