Former MCE British Superbike champion Tommy Hill has confirmed he is withdrawing in his THM Yamaha squad ahead of the 2017 campaign🐎, citing a laꦓck of sponsorship funding and not wanting to risk a team without a full budget.

Hill proudly set-up his own team with the title sponsorship from ePayMe and support from Yamaha in 2016 and despite difficulties extracting a strong set-up and performance with the 🃏YZF-R1 plus rider injuries, the team still enjoyed success with John Hopkins scoring a double podium at the season finale at Brands Hatch.

After losin🌼g title sponsors ePayMe, Hill had been working thoroughly to secure a full sponsorship package for 2017 but understood running a team on a reduced budget isn't fair on current sponsors or team members.

In a poignant Facebook post, Hill confirmed the news and wants to still play a role in BSB but has accepted in his cur🐻🍸rent situation running a team won't be financially viable for 2017.

"I've taken into consid🎐eration the personal investment, loans and loss of family time over the past year," Hill said. "After spending the last three months trying to secure a title sponsor with🅘out success and one of which is willing to invest the amount required to run a SBK team at high level, it seems only right to draw a line in the sand.

"I would personally not have the balls to risk everything I have and invest it into the team if I didn🍸't secure the full budget needed. I would be putting my team, riders future and sponsors in jeopa𓂃rdy if I couldn't see out the season.

"There will be lots of people expressing their views on the curre♌nt situation on teams in BSB, but all I can say is the championship is thriving with supporters, viewing figures are high and I stand by saying its a great marketing platform for any brand to be involve♓d with. It's been an experience, thank you to everyone!"