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 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 were in brief summary:
- 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 990cc, 3cylinders up to 900cc, and 4cylinders up to 750cc
Pre 2004, winning in the series swung between the Honda CB750 (4cylinders), and the Ducati 916 and its derivatives (2cylinders). After three years of Ducati winning with Carl Fogarty, Honda introduced the 2cylinder 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 from "official factory" to support of "privateer" teams, the FIM realised they needed to change the series or watch it end.
Resultantly, in 2002 the FIM started discussions on a new series of regulations which would allow wider manufacturer support. The first change was the consistency of capacity at 1000cc for all entrant machines, irrespective of the number of cylinders. This was a 'standard' production engine size well sold around the world, allowing manufacturers to absorb racing costs into production machine development, as well as the marketing of these developments. However, as this would result in an unfair power advantage for 4cylinder 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" tyre, to be solely supplied to all competitors. The bid process was won by Pirelli, who supply between five and seven different compounds per race. Although top and cornering speeds have fallen, the racing has become closer and safer.
The third change was an increase in 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. Secondly, although regulations had differed between WSB and national series, the use of control tyres brought about sponsor conflicts between national series and WSB. 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. 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. 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 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, riden 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, Regis Laconi, Andrew Pitt, Karl Muggerige, 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:
- British Superbike - 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. World Superbike champions Carl Fogarty, Troy Bayliss and James Toseland have all come up through the series, as well as MotoGP/WSB riders Shane Byrne, Makoto Tamada and James Ellison. As a result of its excellent support from the public, it hosts two rounds of the WSB series
- AMA Superbike - the north American 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. The series is regarded as one of the most important championship by riders and the series has recently increased in popularity particularly by non motorcycle enthusiasts, thanks to the presence of NBA legend turned team owner Michael Jordan.
National series in the rest of Europe are not well supported, where most 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, although they only run for short 10race seasons
World Superbike champions
A list of World Superbike champions [3]
