The 2010 World Superbike season opens this weekend at Phillip Island in Australia, the first of 13 races. Compared to other series during these dire economic times, World Superbike is robust; the 2010 grid will include seven manufacturers, 26 riders and 16 teams.
Though the numbers are impressive, the series is still down eight privateers, including Stiggy Motorsports Honda. The team had two great riders last year, Leon Haslam, who rode full-time for Stiggy, and John Hopkins for few races, who has recently moved to AMA Superbike.
But don’t worry about Haslam; the young Brit landed a ride with the factory Alstare Suzuki team, and will be racing alongside Sylvain Guintoli on the GSX-R 1000. Haslam joins the only Suzuki team after having four podium finishes last season.
With defending WSBK Champion Ben Spies moving into MotoGP to compete against giants like Valentino Rossi, competition is expected to be extremely tight. Moving into Spies spot on Sterilgarda Yamaha is James Toseland. The U.K. native raced in MotoGP for the past two years on the Yamaha Tech 3 team alongside American Colin Edwards, but didn’t have much luck.
But World Superbike is a different story…he won two titles, one in 1994 on a Honda and the other in 2007 on a Ducati. Joining Toseland is defending World Supersport Champion Cal Crutchlow of the U.K.; last year was his rookie season in WSS. Before moving to World Supersport, Crutchlow had earned a British Supersport title, and then raced for two years in British Superbike.
All eyes are already on Ducati this year, since the 1098R landed the top four spots after pre-season testing at Phillip Island last week. The fastest? Michel Fabrizio on the Xerox Ducati, posting a 1:31.650.
The Italian placed third in the 2009 Championship, just behind his teammate Noriyuki Haga, who lost the title last year to Spies by a mere 8 points. Nitro Nori is seeking that first World Superbike title; the Japanese racer has three second-place championship finishes.
Second fastest during testing was Shane Byrne on Althea Ducati with a 1:31.662. The London native took the 2008 British Superbike Championship before moving to WSBK last year. “Shakey” Byrne rode for the under-funded Sterligada Ducati team.
Byrne’s teammate, Carlos Checa, was fourth fastest overall during testing. The Spaniard left MotoGP in 2008 and joined World Superbike on the Ten Kate Honda. Checa, along with Riyuichi Kiyonari, won the 2008 Suzuka 8 Hours riding for Dream Honda Racing 11.
The third fastest Ducati was ridden by Jakub Smrz on the Team Pata Racing Ducati team. The Czech finished 10th in last year’s championship, having one podium finish. The other Ducati riders are the Italians Lorenzo Lanzi on the DFX Corse Ducati Team, and Luca Scassa on the Supersonic Racing Team.
Entering its second year of competition, the BMW S1000RR will be ridden by some promising riders. Riding for BMW Motorrad Motorsport are Australian Troy Corser and Spaniard Ruben Xaus. Corser put the S1000RR in the top-ten eight times last year, with the best finish of fifth. The former World Superbike Champion also posted the fastest lap on the Bavarian machine at Phillip Island last year. Xaus wasn’t too lucky last year, but he does have 13 WSBK wins.
Riding for Team Reitwagen BMW are Australian Andrew Pitt, who has two World Supersport championships, and Austrian Roland Resch, who is a European Cup and Austrian Supermoto champion.
Alitalia Aprilia Racing is the sole team representing the RSV4. The Italian Max Biaggi was a big threat last year, placing the RSV4 on the podium nine times and taking one win. Racing with Biaggi is the 2009 British Superbike Champion Leon Camier. The Brit has little experience in WSBK, but during his Wildcard ride last year at Portimao, he finished sixth in Race 1, and seventh in Race 2.
The only American racing this year landed a spot on a Kawasaki ZX-10R with Team Pedercini. Roger Lee Hayden had a rough year in AMA Daytona SportBike last year, finishing the championship in 12th after complaining of bad set-ups.
But he does have a few World Supersport wins, and much experience with Kawasaki. Plus, his brother MotoGP racer Nicky Hayden will be cheering for him. Joining Hayden will be Italian Matteo Baiocco.
Green’s factory lineup, Kawasaki Racing Team, goes into 2010 with MotoGP rider Chris Vermeulen and former Spies teammate Tom Sykes. The Australian Vermeulen raced with Rizla Suzuki last year in MotoGP, finishing the championship in 12th. The Brit Sykes finished last year’s WSBK Championship in ninth, after riding a season in the shadow of the Spies media blitz.
Honda has the most teams, with three privateers and the factory HANNspree Ten Kate Honda. Jonathan Rea of the U.K. comes into the season after having much success last year with a fifth-place finish in the championship due to eight podiums and two wins.
The German Max Neukirchner joins Rea; Neukirchner finished last year’s championship in 16th place, having two podiums.
The rest of the Honda field includes Makoto Tamada of Japan on Pro Ride World Superbike Honda, Vittorio Iannuzzo of Italy on S.C.I Honda Gravie Image, and Broc Parkes of Australia on the ECHO CRS Honda.
