Portimao, Portugal

Garry McCoy's unseemly ejection from the Triumph World Supersport team has cast a shadow over Jason DiSalvo's arrival at the team. This is unfair on the young American, who had nothing to do with McCoy's dismissal, and even thought that he would be partnering McCoy at Triumph. The excellent OnTheThrottle TV took the opportunity to talk to DiSalvo after he returned from his first test on the Triumph 675 at Portimao, and asked him about the situation in the team, how he found the Triumph, and his experience of the outstanding Portimao circuit.

Just how big is the British invasion of the World Superbike series? It's easy to overlook just how many British riders are on the provisional World Superbike and World Supersport grid, but sit down and count them and you see 7 Brits in WSBK out of 26 entries - that's over a quarter of all riders. Exactly how much of a factor they are going to be is obvious from the video below, which was made during a Motorcycle News photoshoot, and filmed by Redwing Media, the press agency for Honda in the World Superbike series: 6 of the 14 factory riders are from Britain, with only Shakey Byrne forced to look to a private - though heavily supported - Ducati ride.

Two men born just a few miles and a few months apart stamped their authority on the first official World Superbike test of 2010. Johnny Rea and Eugene Laverty, both from County Antrim in Northern Ireland, ended the three day test under the lap record time, Laverty beating the race lap record while Rea shattered Ben Spies' qualifying record set on soft tires.

Laverty and Rea are the tip of a British resurgence in the World Superbike series. The Brit revival is most obvious in the World Superbike class, where the top four times were set by British riders, James Toseland missing out on making it 5 out of 5 by just two hundredths of a second to Michel Fabrizio. While Johnny Rea's top time was unsurprising, given the Ulsterman's strong end to the 2009 season, few had expected Leon Haslam to show quite so strongly. His talent was not in question, scoring two podiums last year on the privateer Stiggy Honda, but the Alstare Suzuki team struggled in 2009 and the Suzuki GSX-R 1000 is not generally regarded as a race-winning machine.

Johnny Rea ended the final session of testing for the World Superbike class at Portimao where he had spent so much of the weekend: On top of the timesheets, just ahead of Leon Haslam. Althea Ducati's Shakey Byrne rounded out another British 1-2-3, a couple of tenths ahead of Ducati's Michel Fabrizio.

The two Sterilgarda Yamahas ended the day in 5th and 6th, Cal Crutchlow fractionally ahead of MotoGP returnee James Toseland. Last year's runner up Noriyuki Haga finished the final session in 7th, ahead of the second Ten Kate bike of Max Neukirchner.

Results of the final Sunday afternoon session for the World Superbikes:

Eugene Laverty finished the final session of testing with a bang, setting the fastest lap of the session and of the weekend with just a few minutes of the session left to go. The Parkalgar Honda rider finished ahead of his chief rival for the weekend, Joan Lascorz, the Motocard.com Kawasaki nearly three tenths slower than the Irishman. Michele Pirro underlined the wisdom of Ten Kate's decision to sign the young Italian, finishing the session and the weekend in 3rd, ahead of an outstanding Miguel Praia. The Portuguese rider struggled for top 10 finishes in 2009, but has been a consistent feature in the fast group at this first test.

Sunday afternoon's session was a template for the entire weekend. Everyone finished the session in the same position they finished overall during the three days of testing. Eugene Laverty underlined his position as one of the favorites for the title, along with Joan Lascorz and Michele Pirro. Kenan Sofuoglu was absent due to injury, but once the Turkish Ten Kate rider returns, he is sure to figure in the championship chase.

World Supersport times from the final session at Portimao:

With the weather rapidly improving on Portugal's Algarve coast, the World Superbike riders took to the track at the Portimao circuit en masse, unlike their World Supersport counterparts who had elected to stay in their pit garages earlier this morning. At the end of the two hour session, it was once again Johnny Rea who topped the timesheets, staking his claim as a favorite for the 2010 World Superbike championship. His lead over 2nd placed man Leon Haslam could barely have been smaller, though, the Alstare Suzuki rider finishing just one thousandth of a second behind his Ten Kate Honda rival. The Ducatis scored a marked improvement, with Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio both finally getting into the top 4.

The test will finish this afternoon.

Times from session 1 on Sunday for the World Superbike class:

The World Supersport riders arrived at the Parkalgar circuit to find a soaking track, and most of them decided to sit the Sunday morning session of testing out. Just five men took to the track, and Ten Kate's Michele Pirro came straight back in again, without setting a time. The lack of competition was a fillip for Swedish rider Alexander Lundh, ending the session on top, and ahead of championship candidate Joan Lascorz. The track is now drying out nicely, and the World Superbike riders are down into the 1'43s, so the final afternoon session of testing for the World Supersport class should see more traffic out on the track.

Times from Sunday morning for the World Supersport class at Portimao:

The track continued to dry out at Portimao, but the World Supersport class still ran their afternoon session on a damp surface. Michele Pirro continued his strong debut with the Ten Kate Honda, beating Kawasaki's Joan Lascorz by over three tenths of a second. The two Parkalgar Honda riders - sponsored by the Portimao circuit - Eugene Laverty and Miguel Praia finished in 3rd and 4th, while Chaz Davies was first the Triumphs in 5th. Despite the drying track, times were a couple of seconds down on Friday's times.

Times from the second session from Saturday for World Supersport:

The track is still wet at Portimao, but the World Superbike class managed to take 6 seconds off their times from this morning. Once again it was Ulsterman Johnny Rea who was quickest, mastering the wet conditions ahead of Leon Haslam on the Suzuki, while this Troy Corser made a big leap forward in the wet, taking nearly 8 seconds off his time from this morning.

Saturday afternoon times for the World Superbike class: