Latest World Superbike News

Effenbert Liberty Racing have decided not to bring their hospitality suite, the largest in the paddock, to the European World Superbike round at Donington. While Liberty Racing will support Sylvain Guintoli, Jakub Smrž and Maxime Berger this weekend, they will do so without their sponsor's hospitality.

They say they are doing this as a protest against what they believe was favouritism shown by the WSBK organisers towards certain riders at the weather-beleaguered World Superbike round at Monza last weekend.

When Suzuki announced that they would be pulling out of MotoGP at the end of the 2011 season, they were keen to emphasize that the withdrawal was only temporary, saying they were planning a return to MotoGP in 2014. Though many paddock regulars were sceptical about such a suggestion, Suzuki are sticking to their guns, it seems. In an interview with Italian website GPOne.com, Suzuki Racing's technical director Shinichi Sahara reaffirmed that they were still working towards a 2014 return to MotoGP, based on the motorcycle the factory had been developing before the decision was made to pull out.

"We already had our 1000cc bike ready when Suzuki's management decided to pull out of MotoGP," Sahara told GPOne.com. "The bike has already been tested at Ryuyo, and we were very satisfied with the results achieved. We still believe we will return in 2014 with a competitive bike," Sahara said. The Japanese engineer was also asked if Suzuki had switched to an in-line four, and though he said he could not give technical details, he did reveal that Suzuki had chose to "stay faithful to our engine layout," a hint that the bike will remain a V4.

New colors and a bike that fits him better for Leon Camier in 2012

The last ever 250cc World Champion: Hiroshi Aoyama makes it to World Superbikes

One-sided rear wheels: always a thing of beauty

Saturday’s World Superbike Superpole and World Supersport final qualifying sessions from Philip Island were cancelled after a serious accident in the Australian Supersport race resulted in the death of Australian rider Oscar McIntyre. The 17-year-old collided with fellow racers Luke Burgess and Michael Lockhart on the second lap of the Australian support race and died despite receiving immediate medical treatment at the scene. Because of the seriousness of the accident, the event organizers decided to cancel Superpole.

WSBK is looking east for its future. Today, Infront Motor Sports, the organization that runs the World Superbike series, announced that the Sentul International Circuit will host a WSBK round from 2013 onwards. The deal, backed by the Indonesian government, will see the series race in Indonesia for the next five years, as part of a push to promote the World Superbike series in the crucial markets of Southeast Asia.

The backing of the Indonesian government is crucial to the deal. Facilities at the Sentul circuit are a long way from being ready to stage an international race - see, for example, this blog entry by a local Indonesian fan - with complaints about water runoff, problems with the track surface, and the location of the circuit. But the sport is growing massively in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia, with the standards of the local and regional series improving, and promotion being ramped up. Former Grand Prix racer Nobuatsu Aoki recently spent several days in Indonesia coaching riders from the Indoprix racing series, as part of Suzuki's promotional efforts in the region, and Yamaha factory riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies have both spent time in the country on promotional activities for the brand.

John Hopkins' run of bad luck with hand injuries continues. The American has suffered yet another broken bone in his right hand, after crashing during a private World Superbike test at Phillip Island, ahead of the first round of the series in just under two weeks' time. Hopkins highsided at Turn 2, landing on his right hand, and fracturing a bone at the base of the hand.

The crash was doubly unfortunate for Hopkins. The American landed on his right hand, the hand which he had only recently had surgery on to remove the damaged ring finger. That injury had been sustained in 2011, the American crashing during practice for a wildcard appearance at the Brno round of MotoGP. Hopkins then had to cancel a second wildcard appearance at Sepang after the strain of riding a MotoGP bike separated the bone which had already partially healed, and eventually led the American to have the finger amputated.

Hopkins has now flown home to California to have his hand examined by his specialist Dr Chao. The American is in doubt for the first round of World Superbikes at Phillip Island, but with over six weeks until the second round of WSBK at Imola in Italy, he should not be forced to miss any other races.

Below is the press release from Suzuki announcing Hopkins' injury: