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:

Parkalgar Honda's Eugene Laverty was the fastest rider in this morning's damp World Supersport session, finally getting some practice in the rain, something the Irishman complained of lacking all last season. Laverty finished ahead of Triumph's Chaz Davies and the sole Ten Kate rider at the test, Michele Pirro - Kenan Sofuoglu is still recovering from a broken ankle he suffered while training. The session was red-flagged 12 minutes before the end, when Swiss rookie Bastien Chesaux crashed out.

Times from the morning session for World Supersport:

Rain moved in to cover Portugal's Algarve coast on Friday night, drenching the Portimao circuit and limiting action on the track. For some of the teams, the action has moved indoors, where crews are hard at work mopping out flooded pit garages, in the hope of better whether.

Of the riders how went out this morning, Johnny Rea was quickest, putting his Ten Kate Honda ahead of Leon Haslam's Suzuki, while the unsurprising name of MotoGP's rainmaster Chris Vermeulen has moved into third spot on the timesheets, the Australian fast as ever in the wet.

Times from session 3 for World Superbikes at Portimao:

Leon Haslam continues to lead the charge of the Brit Brigade on the first day of testing for the World Superbike field at Portimao. The young Briton took a quarter of a second off his time from this morning, but remains out of reach for the rest of the field. Another young British upstart finished the day 2nd fastest, Cal Crutchlow doing a sterling job of filling Ben Spies' shoes at Yamaha. The reigning World Supersport champion edged out Ulsterman Johnny Rea on the Ten Kate Honda by less than a tenth, making a British 1-2-3. Indeed, if the MotoGP refugee James Toseland had been just 0.014 seconds quicker, it would have been a top four for British riders, the Yamaha man ending the day just a tiny fraction behind Aprilia's Max Biaggi.

Championship runner-up Noriyuki Haga ended the first day of official testing as 7th fastest, nearly 0.8 seconds behind Haslam, and less than two tenths ahead of his teammate Michel Fabrizio. Ex-Yamaha man Tom Sykes was fastest of the Kawasakis in 12th, fractionally ahead of the quickest BMW man Troy Corser. Testing continues tomorrow.

Times from the second session for the World Superbikes at Portimao:

At the same time as they announced the provisional entry lists for World Superbike and World Supersport, the FIM also released a revised calendar for the series. The revisions consist of a single change: The British round at Donington has been moved to Silverstone.

The move is the final episode in a long saga, both tragic and farcical in equal measure. It started with the ambitious plans of altering the Donington Park circuit to allow the return of Formula One, and ended with the bankruptcy of DVLL, handing the lease and a torn-up track unsuitable for racing back to the circuit's owners, the Wheatcroft family. It also sees Silverstone completely replace Donington as the main venue for world-class motorcycle racing.

The contrasts between the plans of the two circuits are key to their outcomes. DVLL, the company that ran Donington Park, had a huge and ambitious plan to build a new track and new world class facilities, at a cost of over 130 million pounds. Silverstone, on the other hand, made a few strategic changes to the track layout and spectator areas at an estimated cost of just 5 million. DVLL is bankrupt, and Silverstone has MotoGP, Formula One, World Superbikes and BSB. Such is the price of hubris.

Joan Lascorz finished the first day of official testing for World Supersport comfortably astride the timesheets. The Spanish Kawasaki Motocard rider continued his form from this morning's session, extending his lead over the surprise of the day, Michele Pirro. The Italian has put on a very strong showing on his first outing with the Ten Kate Honda team, after showing much promise on a Yamaha last year. Pirro beat out another surprise rider, local boy Miguel Praia on the Parkalgar Honda. Praia finished ahead of his team mate Eugene Laverty, the man who was runner up in last year's Championship, the Portuguese rider coming within a few tenths of his pole time at last year's race here.

American rider Jason DiSalvo got off to a reasonable start, setting the 10th fastest time on the Triumph 675, ahead of World Supersport veteran Sebastien Charpentier. But DiSalvo still has plenty of room for improvement, finishing nearly three seconds behind his teammate, Chaz Davies. Testing continues tomorrow.

Times from Friday's second session of testing for the World Supersport class at Portimao: