Donington, Great Britain

After already having staged the first race, the World Superbike calendar has finally been updated and lost its provisional status. Today, the FIM issued an official, finalized version of the 2013 World Superbike calendar, confirming the changes we reported on yesterday.

The Silverstone race has been confirmed, and the Subject To Contract status has been removed from the Portimao and Imola rounds. The round originally scheduled for June 23rd has been scrapped, and a new round scheduled for Istanbul Park on September 15th. The replacement of Istanbul Park for the 23rd June round, for which Brno had originally been penciled in, means that the Superstock calendar is reduced by one round, from 10 races to just 9, while the World Superbike calendar now has 15 rounds planned, including two races in the UK, at Donington and Silverstone, and a trip across the Atlantic to Laguna Seca.

Below is the official press release issued by the FIM containing the updated and finalized calendar:

FIM Superbike, Supersport World Championships & FIM Superstock 1000cc Cup

New round on the 2013 calendar

The FIM today issued a press release confirming the news that the Indian round of World Superbikes has been moved to November 17th, as we reported earlier today. Below is the official press release:

FIM Superbike, Supersport World Championships & FIM Superstock 1000cc Cup

2013 Provisional calendar, updated 15 January (Change in bold)

The World Superbike race in India has been moved from the 10 March to the 17 November due to an insufficient period of time to properly finalise the training of the marshals and medical staff around the racetrack. FIM representatives will be at the Indian track on 19, 20 and 21 this January, in order to carry out the final racetrack homologation and provide the relevant seminars about the different aspects involved in the sporting organisation of the event.

FIM Superbike, Supersport World Championships & FIM Superstock 1000cc Cup

New round on the 2013 calendar

A new round will be included in the FIM Superbike & Supersport World Championships. It will be held on the circuit of Intercity Istanbul Park near Istanbul (Turkey) on September 15, 2013. The 2013 updated calendar is the following:

1993 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz is to lead a charity bicycle ride from Donington Park in the UK to Misano in Italy, in memory of Marco Simoncelli and to raise money for the Simoncelli Foundation and other charities. Below is the press release issued by the organizers of the event:

SCHWANTZ READY TO LEAD 'CYCLE OF WISHES' FROM DONINGTON TO MISANO

The British Superbike Championship and MotoGP World Championship paddocks will be linked by a very special event this week as the global motorcycling community unites to remember the life of Marco Simoncelli ahead of the late Italian rider's home Grand Prix at Misano.

A whole host of commemorative fundraising events will be held at the San Marino Grand Prix next week but the festivities get underway on British soil this Sunday, with the 'Cycle of Wishes' due to depart from Donington Park ahead of the day's second BSB race.

A team of thirteen riders led by 1993 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz will begin their mammoth bicycle journey with a partial lap of the East Midlands circuit just moments before race two gets underway, before heading off on a 1800km route to the newly renamed Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli via France, Switzerland and, of course, Italy.

Champ

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BMW have been waiting for a win in World Superbikes for a long time. Ever since they entered the series in 2009, the German factory has been edging ever closer to podiums and a victory, but they have always proved elusive. At Donington, they finally got what they had been waiting for for so long, and more: Not only did Marco Melandri become the first ever rider to win a World Superbike race on a BMW, but his teammate Leon Haslam finished 2nd, making it a historic 1-2. The duo could even have repeated the feat in the second race at the British track, if not for some rather excessively enthusiastic riding on the part of the two leaders and Johnny Rea.

After the victory, BMW issued a press release containing an interview with Melandri and Haslam, talking about their historic result at Donington. It is reproduced below:

After the first one-two: Double-interview with Marco Melandri and Leon Haslam.

Press releases from the World Superbike and World Supersport teams after Sunday's races at Donington Park:

Donington Park is renowned for giving fans exciting races. 48,500 of them turned up over the weekend to brave the cold wind and watch the most exciting racing Superbike races of the year. Crashes, surprises, upsets and spills were the order of the day while history was made and old enmities revisited.

The weekend started on Thursday with a white water rafting experience at Hole Pierpoint watersports centre. Leon Haslam, Chaz Davies, Eugene Laverty and Sam Lowes all messed about in a dinghy while facing the artificial rapids. Every one of the racers fell in at some point and Sam Lowes may have ingested the local water and contracted food poisoning that ravaged his insides and threatened to ruin his weekend.

World Superbikes race two at Donington Park was a five-way dice that was settled in the last corner of the last lap in thrilling fashion.

A long fought battle with three riders fighting for the win.

25 years ago, Donington Park was host to the first ever World Superbike race weekend. A quarter of a century on, it still provides exciting racing and the opening World Superbike race was no exception.

A day of cold weather but clear skies and dry track gave us qualifying sessions that broke lap records and hinted at the promise of tomorrow's racing.

World Supersports qualifying took place on a cold dry day, with riders breaking last year's lap records.