Superbike racing
Superbike racing is a category of motorcycle racing that employs modified production motorcycles. Many countries such as the Australia, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, and the United States operate national superbike championships, and a World Superbike (WSB) championship has run since 1988.
The Superbike category is highly popular with manufacturers. Because the race bikes are built from production road bikes, the marketing value of a Superbike victory is significant. A common motorsport expression is "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday."
Overview
As a production racing competition, WSB has a series of regulations laid down by the FIM managing body.
Pre-2004 regulations can be briefly summarised as follows:
- Production Motorcycles - defined as 150 models of the entered machine, with 75 available for inspection by 31 January in the year of entry and the remainder by 30 June [1]
- Capacity - which depended on the number of cylinders. 2cylinders up to 1000cc, 3cylinders up to 900cc, and 4cylinders up to 750cc
Pre-2004, winning in the series swung between the Honda 750s (RC30, RC45 4-cylinders), and the Ducati 916 and its derivatives (2-cylinders). After three years of Ducati winning with Carl Fogarty, Honda introduced the 2-cylinder VTR-1000 SP1/RC51 and won in 2000 with Colin Edwards. Ducati then won the crown back with Troy Bayliss on the Ducati 998, while Edwards regained the crown in 2002
2004 onwards
All the development of new machines required money, and while WSB was a Ducati racing focus, and Honda had the money, other motorcycle companies didn't. As other manufacturers dropped their support of "official factory" to support "privateer" teams, the FIM realised they needed to change the series or watch it end.
As a result, in 2002 the FIM started discussions on a new series of regulations that would allow wider manufacturer support. The first change was consistent capacity--1000cc for all entrant machines irrespective of the number of cylinders. This was a 'standard' production engine size sold worldwide, allowing manufacturers to absorb racing costs into production- machine development, and market these developments. However, as this would result in an unfair power advantage for four-cylinder machines, air-restrictors were introduced - one restrictor plate per intake port, with sizes of 50mm for twins and 32.5mm for fours [2]
The second regulation change was the use of a "control" or "spec" tyre, to be supplied to all competitors. The bid process was won by Pirelli, who supply between five and seven different compounds per race. Though top and cornering speeds have fallen, the racing has become closer and safer.
The third change was increased mimimum weight for all machines, with 165 kg (363.8 lb) pre-race, and 163.5 kg (360.5 lb) post race.
The Superbike versions of the Honda CBR 1000RR, Suzuki GSX-R1000 K5, and Yamaha YZF-R1 are all capable of generating more than 200 horsepower (150 kW). The Ducati 999 F05 can generate 194 horsepower (145 kW).
Consequences of changes
There were two major consequences of the regulation changes in 2004. Firstly, Honda reduced its investment as a result of the use of "control tyres", while other manufacturers excluding Ducati increased theirs. Resultantly, Suzuki won their first championship with Troy Corser in 2005.
While WSB has a control Pirelli tyre, national championships do not, which means that only riders who regularly run Pirellis in their domestic series can reaslistically enter WSB rounds. Hence, although the WSB series tours the world, the number of wildcard national entries has reduced from around 20% of the entries at each race to almost none outside Italy (although England's Tommy Hill took a pole position in 2006).
Riders also find it hard to move between WSB and national series for single race entries, due to the use of restrictors, so that in combination with use of control tyres their bike doesn't race or feel like it does for the rest of the year.
World Superbike series
Although World Superbike is regulated by the FIM, the race series is managed and promoted by Octagon Sports, based in Milan, Italy. Octagon run the series under a company called SBK International, whos president is Paolo Flammini
During the early 1990s World Superbike racing was generally regarded by the public in general as a poor cousin to the more glamorous MotoGP championship, and to the strongest domestic motorcycle championships such as the All-Japan series and America's AMA series - riders from these championships often won WSB races in their homelands as one-off entrants. On the other hand, its followers frequently enjoyed it more than GP-bike racing because in Superbike the racing for the lead was frequently very close, and also because spectators had easy access to both the paddocks and to the racers themselves.
Since the mid-late 1990's, World Superbike racing's profile has improved considerably, withstanding considerable changes to the format, and challenging the long-time domination of the event by Ducati, ridden by the most accomplished World Superbike racer Carl Fogarty, who won four championships in the 1990s.
At first, with the introduction of the control tyre in 2004 the lap times slowed, but the quality of racing has improved and the viewership has increased. For a brief period in the early 2000's, the majority of Japanese official factory teams had pulled out of the World Superbike Championship. But as of 2005, official or quasi-official factory teams from all of the major Japanese manufacturers (Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha) re-entered the World Superbike Championship, once again lining up against the long-standing factory teams from Ducati, as well as the Petronas team.
Well-known riders of this period include 2004 champion James Toseland, Régis Laconi, Andrew Pitt, Karl Muggeridge, 1996 and 2005 champion Troy Corser and his team-mate Yukio Kagayama, fan favourites Noriyuki Haga and (41-year old) Pierfrancesco Chili, ex-GP riders Alex Barros, Norick Abe, Garry McCoy, promising youngsters such as Chris Vermeulen (who moved to MotoGP in 2006), returning World Superbike champion Troy Bayliss, and many more with devoted fans both world-wide and in their respective countries.
National Superbike series
National Superbike series vary greatly in challenge and popularity, the most popular being in Britain and North America. Most European riders graduate to MotoGP via national 125 and 250cc series. Both Japan (All Japan Road Race Championship) and Australia have well supported national superbikes series, though they only run for short, 10-race seasons.
British Superbike
This series is controlled by Dorna Sports, the promoter of MotoGP, is considered the premier national superbike series. This is due to the variation in the circuits used in the series, which tests the rider technically. Ducati, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha have all consistently ran factory teams, with Honda upping its involvement in 2004 (winning the 2006 title with Ryuichi Kiyonari). Riders such as Carl Fogarty, Troy Bayliss and James Ellison all built their reputations through this series.
AMA Superbike (United States)
The American series is the longest running superbike championship starting in 1976. The series runs from late spring to late summer. Not as well supported, the tracks used are wider but less well used and maintained, resulting in less technical but more difficult racing conditions. To create greater public support, AMA allows for substantial modification of the machine, including modifying elements of the engine block. Except for 2002, when American Nicky Hayden was crowned champion, Mat Mladin of Australia has dominated the AMA Superbike championship since 1999 but in 2006 he came in second in the championships, giving way to a new champion, the Texan Ben Spies, riding for the same Yoshimura Suzuki team. Ducati have supported it strongly, but pulled their factory support at the end of 2006. The AMA series is regarded as one of the most important championship by riders and the series has recently increased in popularity particularly among non motorcycle enthusiasts, thanks to the presence of NBA legend turned team owner Michael Jordan.
Parts Canada Superbike
The Parts Canada Superbike Championship is the Canadian national Superbike series. The series runs from May to September and consists of six to eight rounds per season. Riders from the Canadian series often compete in the AMA circuit during the Canadian off-season. Frequently, certain tracks are often duplicated as a "double-round" and count as two rounds of the Championship. Current circuits visited include Mont-Tremblant, Mosport, Shannonville, Calgary Race City, and Atlantic Motorsport Park. The 2006 Champion was Jordan Szoke.
World Superbike champions
A list of World Superbike champions [3]
List of World Superbike riders
External links
- World Superbike Championship official site
- AMA Superbike official site
- Australian Superbike official site
- British Superbike official site
- Parts Canada Superbike Championship official site
- Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme Superbike World Championship Regulations
- Superbike Photos (Creative Commons License)