Superbike World Championship (also known as SBK)
is the worldwide
Superbike racing
Championship. The championship was founded in . The Superbike World
Championship season consists of a series of rounds held on
permanent racing facilities. Each round has two races and the
results of each race are combined to determine two annual World
Championships, one for
riders and one for
manufacturers.
The motorcycles raced in the championship are tuned versions of
motorcycles available for sale to the
public, by contrast with
MotoGP where purpose
built machines are used. MotoGP is the motorcycle world's
equivalent of Formula 1 racing, whereas Superbike racing is similar
to Touring Car racing.
Europe is Superbike World Championship's
traditional centre and leading market.
However, rounds are
also held in Qatar
, Australia, South
Africa, and the United
States
(in , for the first time since ).
An
Indonesian
race was also proposed for the 2008 season, but
this was later canceled by the FIM.
The championship is regulated by the
FIM the
governing body of motorcycle racing and managed and promoted by
FGSport.
History
The Superbike World Championship began in , being open to modified
versions of road bike models available to the public. For many
years, the formula allowed for machines with 1000 cc
V-twin engines (principally
Ducati, but later
Aprilia and
Honda) to go up against the 750 cc
four-cylinder engines (
Honda,
Yamaha,
Kawasaki and
Suzuki). For the first few seasons
Honda won with the
RC30,
but gradually the twins got the upper hand. Using 1000 cc
V-twin engines benefited
Ducati and it was able to dominate the championship
for many years. From to
Carl Fogarty
and
Ducati dominated, Fogarty won the title a
record 4 times and finished as runner-up twice on factory Ducatis.
Troy Corser also won the 1996 title and
finished as runner-up in 1995, both times on a Ducati.
Realizing that 1000 cc
V-twin engines
suited the superbike racing formula more, Honda introduced its own
V-Twin powered motorcycle the
VTR1000/RC51 in . The result was clear right away
as
Colin Edwards won the championship
in the bike's first year of competition. Ducati regained the title
in with
Troy Bayliss.
2002 - Edwards vs Bayliss
Colin Edwards won his 2nd
championship in what was
arguably the most impressive comeback in the history of motorcycle
racing.
The season started with Troy Bayliss winning the first 6 races and by
the end of race 1 at Laguna
Seca
he had 14 wins and was leading the championship by
58 points. Race 2 at Laguna Seca was the start of Colin
Edwards' comeback, he went on to win all 9 remaining races and
(aided by a race 2 crash for Bayliss at Assen
) Edwards won
the championship at the final race of the season at Imola
. The final race of the season saw both
riders fighting wheel to wheel for the entire race. The race is
known by fans as the "Showdown at Imola".
The manufacturer's championship was won by
Ducati. During these years the Superbike World
Championship reached the zenith of its popularity, with global fan
and full factory support.
2003 - 1000 cc engines
In the FIM changed the rules to allow 1000 cc machines (either
twins, triples or four-cylinder) to race. Rule changes in
MotoGP to allow
4-stroke
engines meant that the Japanese manufacturers focused their
resources there, leaving the Superbike World Championship with
limited factory involvement (only Ducati and Suzuki).
also saw the entry of Carl Fogarty’s Foggy Petronas FP1. The bike was developed under the previous regulations and was powered by a 3 cylinder 900cc engine. With most of the field running Ducati motorcycles, the championship received the derogatory title "the Ducati Cup". The factory Ducati Team entered the only 2 Ducati 999's in the field, taking 20 wins from 24 races in a season where all races were won by Ducati. Neil Hodgson won the title on a factory Ducati.
2004 - control tires
In an effort to create a more competitive field in organizers
announced a series of changes to the championship. The most
significant was that from the teams have had to run on
Pirelli control or 'spec' tires. The decision to
award the control tire to
Pirelli was
controversial. The
Pirelli tires were
considered to be below the standard of
Dunlop and
Michelin
that most of the teams had been using. Dunlop looked to take legal
action against the decision while Pirelli claimed that Michelin and
Dunlop were also asked if they would be interested in the one-make
tire rule contract.Partly as a result of the control tires,
Motorcycle Sports Manufacturer Association (Aprilia, Ducati, Honda,
Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha) announced that no MSMA teams would
participate in the Superbike World Championship, later modifying
their statement allowing Ducati to participate.
A few privateers choose to run Japanese bikes in .
Ten Kate Honda with
Chris Vermuelen as its rider, won races and
actually contended for the title that eventually was won by
James Toseland and Ducati.
2005 - Japanese return
Following Ten Kate Honda's success Japanese motorcycles made a
return in with major teams from all four Japanese manufacturers run
through teams ran by European importers.
Troy Corser won the championship, giving Suzuki
its first Superbike World Championship title.
2006 - Bayliss back on superbikes
saw the return of Australian Troy Bayliss to the Superbike World Championship after three years in MotoGP. The combination of Bayliss and Ducati proved unstoppable and they dominated the season, winning 12 races. Honda-mounted James Toseland and Yamaha's Noriyuki Haga battled for second with the British rider coming out on top. Defending champion Troy Corser on a Suzuki was fourth. gave the feeling that the Superbike World Championship was 'back' following the years of decline in and .
2007 - Increase in popularity
With
MotoGP machines reduced in capacity from
990 cc to an 800 cc maximum displacement, 1000 cc
Superbikes, both at World Championship and top national
championships (
AMA Superbike and
British Superbike) become the most
powerful racing bikes being road raced in . While superbikes
remained two or more seconds per lap slower than MotoGP bikes at
most tracks where both raced, they had equal or more power.
Troy Bayliss attempted to defend his title,
riding once again a
Ducati 999. Though
999 production ended in 2006 and the bike was replaced by the
Ducati 1098, Ducati produced 150
limited-edition 999s at an elevated race specification to satisfy
homologation requirements. Bayliss'
main rivals in his title defense included former
MotoGP rider
Max Biaggi
riding a Suzuki, 2004 champion
James
Toseland riding a Honda and
Noriyuki
Haga riding a Yamaha.
The combination of some uneventful races in
MotoGP and some thrilling races in SBK saw the
championship's popularity increase even more.
The championship was won by
James
Toseland in the season's last race. His 415 points put him two
points ahead of
Noriyuki Haga, with
former MotoGP winner
Max Biaggi following
with 397 points on a
Suzuki.
2008 - 1200 cc twins
After introducing the
Ducati 1098 in
2007 powered by a 1099 cc v-twin engine Ducati requested that
Superbike rules be changed to allow v-twins of up to 1200 cc
compete against 1000 cc four-cylinder bikes. Ducati argued
that they no longer produced a road-going 1000 cc V-twin
superbike and that the level of tuning now needed to make their 999
competitive on the race track was too expensive. Ducati said they
would quit if the rules were not changed, while Alstare Suzuki team
boss Francis Batta also said that his team would quit if the new
rules gave Ducati an unfair advantage.
The FIM eventually included the 1200 cc displacement limit for
twins in the superbike rules. According to the new rules,
twin-cylinder motorcycles would be 6 kg heavier than
four-cylinder machines (168 kg to 162 kg) and would also
have a 50 mm
air restrictor
fitted. The weight limit and the intake-restrictor size of twin
machines would be updated, if needed, during the Championship, by a
system analysing the race points obtained.
The new rules also changed the minimum number of bikes required to
acquire
homologation. For 2008 and
2009, all manufacturers, regardless of total production numbers,
had to produce a minimum of 1,000 bikes to acquire homologation.
From 2010 onwards, the minimum production number was increased to
3000 bikes. In the past, smaller manufacturers were allowed to
build as few as 150 bikes to meet the homologation requirements.
Manufacturers took advantage of this by producing 'homologation
specials'--highly tuned versions of their road bikes with
performance parts designed especially for racing.
The 2008 SBK championship was dominated by
Troy Bayliss of Australia, on his
Ducati 1098, who concluded his season and his
career with a double win at the brand new, 195-million-Euro
Portimao circuit in Portugal, after which he retired.
2009 - New Vs Old Spies and Haga
Yamaha lost
Noriyuki Haga (known as Nitro Nori) to
Ducati as the team from Italy sought a rider to
replace the retired Bayliss. Newcomer to SBK, but not to Superbike
racing,
Ben Spies from the USA was hired
to replace Haga at Yamaha. Ben Spies, coming off 3 consecutive
Championships in the AMA Superbike class, was expected to give Haga
serious competition. Other riders, like Fabrizio and Rea were also
being watched as serious competitors to the Championship.
Spies won the Series Championship by 6 points over Haga, with the
Championship going down to the last race of the last round at
Portimao. Haga was leading the series by 10 points going into the
final round. Spies needed to win both races to gain 10 points and
with a tie in points, if Haga finished second, Spies would have won
the Championship based on total series wins. Haga fell in the first
race of the round at Portimao while Spies motored to a first place
finish. Spies went into the last race with a 15 point lead and rode
to a 5th place finish while Haga rode to second place, passing Rea
in the last corner of the race.
Final Points: 1. Spies 462; 2. Haga 456; 3. Fabrizio 382; 4.Biaggi
319; 5.Rea 315; 6. Haslam 241; 7.Checa 209; 8. Byrne 192; 9. Sykes
176; 10. Smrz 169.Manufacturers: 1. Ducati 572; 2. Yamaha 505; 3.
Honda 431; 4. Aprilia 329; 5. Suzuki 173; 6. Bmw 141; 7. Kawasaki
76
Ben Spies took a record 11 poles in the 14 round series (28 total
races). Quite remarkable in a rookie season. With 14 wins and 17
podiums, Spies/Yamaha seemed to be the team to beat. Both Spies and
Haga had their troubles, with crashes and mechanical issues causing
numerous off podium races for both. Haga finished on the podium 19
times, with 8 wins and 9 2nd place finishes. Troy Corser on a brand
new
BMW Motorrad team finished a
respectable 13th for the season and likewise Biaggi on a brand new
Aprilia machine finished 4th overall in the
championship.
Riders
Riders from all over the world compete in the Superbike World
Championship.
The championship is perhaps most closely
followed in Italy
because of
Ducati and the United Kingdom
where superbike
racing has been the most popular form of motorcycle racing. National-championship
superbike racing is conducted in several countries, including the
United
States, the U.K.
and
Japan. Riders from Australia and the United States have traditionally been successful in the world
championship. No American rider had won a race since
Colin Edwards won the 2002
championship until
Ben Spies joined the
series in 2009, it is important to note that no Americans competed
in the series between 2003 and 2007.
British rider
Carl Fogarty has the
record of being the most successful rider in the championship's
history, winning the championship 4 times, and amassing a total of
59 race wins.
Many riders successful in the Superbike World Championship have
gone on to MotoGP, such as 2002 champion
Colin Edwards, 2007 champion
James Toseland, and 2005 runner-up
Chris Vermeulen. The championship has seen
several former
MotoGP riders move to it,
usually after failing to earn competitive rides. The 2008 field
includes five former MotoGP winners:
Max
Biaggi,
Carlos Checa and
Makoto Tamada all raced exclusively in
MotoGP before joining SBK, while
Troy Bayliss,
Noriyuki
Haga, and
Régis Laconi had
alternating spells in both.
Except for Frenchman
Raymond Roche,
who won the championship in , all Superbike World Champions have
been native
English speakers.
Italian
riders Davide Tardozzi and Marco Lucchinelli won the first two races
of the series, and Frenchman Adrien
Morillas was also victorious in 1988; Germany had to wait for
Max Neukirchner to achieve this in
2008, although Austrian
Andreas Meklau was
the first German-speaker to win a race, in 1993. Spain’s
first race winner was
Ruben Xaus in
2001
Superbike motorcycles
Superbike racing motorcycles are derived from standard production
models. In the past, however, manufacturers took advantage of
loopholes in the rules to create "homologation specials" —
motorcycles with low production numbers made especially for
racing.
Motorcycles that raced in the Superbike World Championship include:
- Ducati: 851,
888, 916,
996, 998,
999, 1098,
1198 (currently)
- BMW: S1000RR
(currently)
- KTM: 1190RC
(from 2010 season)
- Honda: RC30,
RC45, RC51, CBR1000RR
(currently)
- Yamaha: FZR750,YZF750, YZF-R7,
YZF-R1 (currently)
- Kawasaki: GPX750R,
ZXR750, ZX-7RR, ZX-10R (currently)
- Suzuki: GSX-R750, GSX-R1000 (currently)
- Bimota: YB4EI, SB8R
(withdraw)
- Aprilia: RSV Mille R, RSV
4 (currently)
- Petronas: FP1 (withdraw)
- Benelli: Tornado Tre 900
(withdraw)
- MV Agusta: MV Agusta F4 (withdraw)
Image:Lorenzo Lanzi wk sbk assen 2007.jpg|
Lorenzo Lanzi riding the
Ducati 999F07Image:James toseland wk sbk assen
2007.jpg|
James Toseland riding the
Honda CBR1000RRImage:Max biaggi wk
sbk assen 2007.jpg|
Max Biaggi riding the
Suzuki GSX-R1000 K7Image:Noriyuki
Haga wk sbk assen 2007.jpg|
Noriyuki
Haga riding the
Yamaha
YZF-R1Image:Fonsi Nieto wk sbk assen 2007.jpg|
Fonsi Nieto riding the
Kawasaki ZX-10R
Race weekend
Up to 2008 season
- Friday
- 1st free practice (60 minutes) and 1st
qualifying (60 minutes)
- Saturday
- 2nd qualifying (60 minutes) and 2nd free
practice (60 minutes)
- The times of 1st and 2nd qualifying are combined and the 16
fastest riders qualify for Superpole. The rest receive a grid
position based on lap time, starting with 17th. To qualify for the
race, riders must record a lap time no longer than 107% of the time
recorded by the pole-position rider.
- *Superpole
- Riders go out one by one in reverse order of qualifying
position; in Superpole, riders may use a qualifying tyre. If
Superpole is declared wet, a 50-minute session takes place for all
16 riders to set timed laps; each rider may complete no more than
12 laps including in and out laps.
- Sunday
- Warm-up (20 minutes) Race 1 and Race
2
- Race distance must be from a minimum of 90 km to a maximum
of 110 km.
2009 race weekend summary needed
- Friday
- 1st free practice (60 minutes) and 1st
qualifying (60 minutes)
- Saturday
- 2nd qualifying (45 minutes) and 2nd free
practice (45 minutes)
- *Superpole
- Sunday
- Warm-up (20 minutes) Race 1 and Race
2
Point system
Points System
| Position |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
| Points |
25 |
20 |
16 |
13 |
11 |
10 |
9 |
8 |
7 |
6 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
- For the Manufacturers' Championship, only the highest finishing
motorcycle by a particular manufacturer is awarded the points for
that position, as in MotoGP and most other forms of motorcycle
racing.
Support classes
Supersport World Championship
Supersport World Championship has been a support class to the
Superbike World Championship since
1999
To be eligible for World Supersport, a motorcycle must have a four
stroke engine of between 400 and 600
cc for
four
cylinder machines, and between 600 and 750 cc for
twins and must satisfy the FIM
homologation requirements.World Supersport
regulations are much tighter than in World Superbikes. The chassis
of a supersport machine must remain largely as standard, while
engine tuning is possible but tightly regulated. As in world
superbike a control tyre is used, although supersport regulations
dictate that the tyres must be road legal and therefore slicks are
not allowed.
A World Supersport race takes place at every World Superbike
round.
FIM Superstock 1000 Cup
The FIM Superstock 1000 Cup is a support class to the
Superbike World Championship at the European rounds.Motorcycles
with the same displacement as superbikes can run in superstock 1000
(though 1200 cc twins were allowed for 2007). Superstock rules
are much more restrictive and most components on the bike remain
stock. The bikes run on Grooved Pirelli tyres.The Superstock 1000
championship is open to riders up to 24 years of age.
European Superstock 600 Championship
The European Superstock 600 Championship it is a support class to
the Superbike World Championship at the European rounds.The
championship uses 600 cc production motorcycles and is
reserved for riders between 15 and 20 years of age. Same rules as
Superstock 1000 apply.
GSX-R European Cup
The GSX-R European Cup is a “one make” series running
Suzuki GSX-R750 motorcycles and supports the
Superbike World Championship in 6 European rounds.Riders that did
not turn 23 before the
1st of January and
have no more than 3 years of professional racing career can take
part.The cup is organized by Alstare and Suzuki and the cup winner
gets a place at FIM Superstock 1000 Cup or European Superstock
600 Championship with the factoty Alstare Suzuki team.
Video games
PlayStation and PC
PC
PS2 and PSP
PC, PS2, PS3,
PSP and Xbox 360
References
- 2005 to mark WSBK revival? crash.net retrieved
on September 11, 2007
- WSBK to USA. crash.net retrieved on September
11, 2007
- WSC In Turmoil With New Rules Package
motorcycle-usa.com retrieved on September 11, 2007
- 1000 cc Superbikes May Save World
Championship motorcycledaily.com retrieved on September 13,
2007
- World Superbike: Time for More Rule Tweaking? (Part
1) speedtv.com retrieved on September 11, 2007
- Dunlop plans legal action over rule changes.
crash.net retrieved on September 11, 2007
- Pirelli: All the manufacturers were approached.
crash.net retrieved on September 11, 2007
- WSBK: Superbikes Now the Most Powerful Racing Bikes
in the World speedtv.com retrieved on September 11, 2007
- Collision Course: MotoGP and World Superbike
speedtv.com retrieved on September 11, 2007
- Poncharal apologises for boring race. crash.net
retrieved on September 13, 2007
- Valentino Rossi admits MotoGP is a ‘little
boring’ motorcyclenews.com retrieved on September 13, 2007
- Ducati goes official with WSB quit threat
motorcyclenews.com retrieved on September 11, 2007
- WSBK responds to 1200 cc rumours.
crash.net retrieved on September 11, 2007
- Biaggi's team threatens WSB walk-out
motorcyclenews.com retrieved on September 11, 2007
- Changes to the Technical Rules for 2008
worldsbk.com retrieved on September 11, 2007
- 1200 cc Is In, But What Does It Mean?
superbikeplanet.com retrieved on September 11, 2007
- http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=34061
-
http://www.worldsbk.com/season/stats?p_S_Campionato=SBK&p_Anno=2009&p_PilotiCostruttori=P
-
http://uk.gamespot.com/ps3/driving/sbk09superbikeworldchampionship/index.html?tag=result;title;0
External links
- worldsbk.com World Superbike Championship official
website
- gruppofg.com FGSport, Superbike World Championship
promoters website
- [551627] Superbike Photos (Creative Commons
License)
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