Yes fans, the new superbike season is nearly here, and if it’s anything like last season, we’re in for a real treat.
Picture courtesy of Ducati Racing
Thirteen rounds of action packed racing await, and hopefully we’ll have a Phillip Island round, which has been pencilled in at the back end of the year, which as of yet we still await the dates to be announced. Round 13 is also unknown as of yet. It seems that we won’t be returning to Navarra in Spain this time round.
So the season kicks off for round 1 in Aragon, Spain on the 8th of April. We will have another Spanish round in Catalunya on the 23rd of September, and as mentioned above it seems no Navarra round.
After that we’ve got Assen, then the first of two trips to Portugal, for Estoril and Portimao later in the year. The UK round at Donington Park is smack bang right in the middle of summer on the 15th July. Will we have bright sunshine, or a complete washout? Either is possible lets be honest. Returns to Misano, Most in Czech Rep, Magny- Cours, France, Argentina, and Mandalika in Indonesia are all on. With question marks above round 12 Phillip Island and 13 still to be announced.
There has been a couple of changes to rider line-ups so far, a few of the most notable are Scott Redding switching the red of Ducati for a blue, red and white livery of BMW Motorrad. Alvaro Bautista will take the seat vacated by Redding, and will join the Aruba.it Racing Ducati team. Honda HRC will have two new Spanish riders join them, Iker Lecuona from MotoGP and Xavi Vierge from Moto2. Eugene Laverty is back on a BMW for the Bonovo action team and he will be joined by Loris Baz who makes a return to WorldSBK.
It will take some doing to replicate last season, but I am really excited to see how the new riders for Honda HRC will handle the jump to WorldSBK. They’re both young but definitely talented. Honda didn’t produce one of their finest seasons last year, with both Bautista and Haslam struggling for form most of the year, although Bautista did improve in the last few rounds. If Honda can get their bike working, I think both riders can challenge for good results this season.
Bautista had blistering speed when he made his WorldSBK debut on a Ducati in 2019, and was challenging Jonathan Rea for the win every race in the early part of the season. Although he couldn’t maintain the form right through the season, he did pick up a good few wins early on. Rinaldi had a couple of good races last season, and if Bautista can pick up where he left off last season, I think both riders will provide a stiff test for Toprak and Johnny.
Scott Redding was a thorn in both Toprak and Rea’s side last season, providing us fans with one of the most exciting seasons ever. There was no doubt that the Ducati was an absolute missile last season and Scott knew exactly how to inflict the most amount of damage with it. Finishing 3rd behind two of the most talented riders ever to grace WorldSBK is definitely no mean feat. I really hope BMW can provide Scott with a fast bike, because we all want to see him charging hard every race.
Johnny will still be seeking world championship number 7 next season and he knows full well Kawasaki will have to improve their bike if they are going to wrestle that title away from Toprak.
Is it too early to make a prediction? Of course it is, but why not, so here is mine.
Championship result top 3:
- Toprak Razgatlioglu
- Jonathan Rea
- Alvaro Bautista
Race Dates:
- Aragon Round – MotorLand Aragon – 8,9,10 April
- Dutch Round – TT Circuit Assen – 22,23,24 April
- Estoril Round – Circuito Estoril – 20,21,22 May
- Emilia – Romagna Round – Misano World Circuit – 10,11,12 June
- UK Round – Donington Park – 15,16,17 July
- Czech Round – Autodrom Most – 29,30,31 July
- French Round – Magny – Cours – 9,10,11 September
- Catalunya Round – Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya – 23,24,25 September
- Portuguese Round – Autodromo Internacional do Algarve – 7,8,9 October
- Argentinean Round – Circuito San Juan Villicum – 21,22,23 October
- Indonesian Round – Mandalika International Street Circuit – 11,12,13 Nov
- Australian Round – Phillip Island – TBA*
- TBA*
Rider and Team line-up so far:
- Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK: Toprak Razgatlioglu / Andrea Locatelli
- Aruba.it Racing Ducati: Alvaro Bautista / Michael Ruben Rinadi
- Kawasaki Racing Team: Jonathan Rea / Alex Lowes
- BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team: Scott Redding / Michael van der Mark
- Team HRC Honda: Iker Lecuona / Xavi Vierge
- GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team: Garrett Gerloff / Kohta Nozane
- Motocorsa Racing: Axel Bassani
- TeamGoEleven: Philipp Oettl
- Kawasaki Puccetti Racing: Lucas Mahias
- Barni Racing Team: Luca Bernardi
- Bonovo action BMW Racing Team: Eugene Laverty / Loris Baz
- OUTDO TPR Team Perdercini Racing: Loris Cresson
- MIE Racing Honda Team: Leandro Mercado / Hafizh Syahrin
* Race Calender and rider/team line-up taken from http://WorldSBK.com