World Superbikes

After the shocking revelation that Ducati is to pull out of the World Superbike championship for the 2011 season, the WSBK organizers Infront Motor Sports were quick to respond. CEO Paolo Flammini was quick to point out that the series has always been open to helping the Italian manufacturer maintain parity with the four-cylinder bikes through balancing the regulations, a response to Ducati's hints that the World Superbike regulations made it difficult for the company to compete. Flammini points out in the press release that just last season, the Ducati was battling for supremacy in the championship in the hands of Noriyuki Haga, the Japanese rider losing out to Yamaha's Ben Spies at the final round in Portimao. Here's the full text of the Infront Motor Sports press release on the Ducati situation.

Infront Motor Sports has learnt with disappointment of Ducati's decision not to participate with a factory team in the 2011 FIM Superbike World Championship.

Ducati have announced that they are to withdraw from World Superbikes for the 2011 season as a factory team. More detail to follow, but here's the text of the press release:

DUCATI WILL FOCUS ITS TECHNICAL RESOURCES ON PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND WILL NOT PARTICIPATE IN THE 2011 WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP WITH A FACTORY TEAM

Borgo Panigale (Bologna - Italy), 27 August 2010 - Ducati, having participated with a factory team in every edition of the World Superbike Championship since it began in 1988, winning 16 Manufacturers' world titles and 13 Riders' world titles along the way, has decided to limit its participation to the supply of machines and support to private teams.

With 13 rider's  and 16 constructor's championships, the name Ducati is virtually synonymous with World Superbike. In good times and bad Ducati has exemplified the hoary racing aphorism "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday." Indeed, there were years that the Italian marque's presence was so pervasive in the series that wags called it the Ducati Cup.

A variety of sources are reporting that this active participation will come to an end at the finish of the 2010 season when the factory team will cease to compete in WSBK. A plethora of factors are said to have contributed to this decision, perhaps foremost the recent signing of Valentino Rossi to the MotoGP team and the attendant salary and developmental costs that will presumably entail.  Ducati has alao apparently decided that, with the Doctor on board, their PR lira would make more of an impact being spent in GPs.

Another factor is that the 1198 platform, which then team manager Davide Tardozzi had said reached it's developmental apogee in 2009, is long in the tooth and will be replaced by a radical new platform that doesn't really resemble its 916/999/1098 forebearers much at all.

Valentino Rossi's desire to race in World Superbikes is well documented, the seven-time MotoGP champion saying as much at Laguna Seca three weeks ago. And upon his return to the circuit he tested Yamaha's YZF-R1 superbike, to assess his fitness to decide whether he would be fit enough to race at the Sachsenring or not, Rossi once again underlined that he would one day like to race in the series.

Rossi was responding to questions on whether it would be possible to race in two classes in the same season. Rossi said that right now, the Moto2 class held no interest for him, and so it was not a goal worth pursuing. "I think the Moto2 is a great show, and is a great opportunity for a lot of riders," Rossi said, "but is not an impressive bike to ride. When you ride a MotoGP, no meaning to ride a Moto2. Maybe it would have more meaning to ride a 250."

A variety of Italian sources are reporting that WSBK championship points leader Max Biaggi will extend his stay at the factory Alitalia Aprilia team until 2012. A move to a rival team was never really considered a serious possibility, but the parties were said to be haggling over compensation. All that has been resolved, according to reports, with Biaggi agreeing to a salary of one million Euro per annum, which would probably make the Roman Emperor the highest paid rider in the series. All that remains is for Biaggi to sign on the dotted line. Aprilia is also reportedly keen to retain the services of the current BSB champion Leon Camier. 

After another weekend of nail-biting racing in the World Superbike series, the championships in both World Superbike and World Supersport classes have tightened up a little. And as always on the Monday after a weekend of WSBK, the organizers have released another set of highlight clips from the three races on the official World Superbike Youtube channel. So start your week off with a recap of Sunday's action from Silverstone, or if you have a little more spare time - and the ability to either understand or at least enjoy listening to Italian - you can see both race 1 and race 2 in full on the website of Italian broadcaster La7, who show WSBK in Italy.

World Superbikes Race 1