BMW

There was much disappointment around the world when it was announced, shortly before the first round at Phillip Island, that the 2010 World Superbike season would not be shown live online on the World Superbike website, as it has been done in previous years. The reason was simple: TV companies - who had paid sizable sums to Infront Motor Sports to screen the races live - were fed up of losing their audiences (and therefore their advertising income) to the website of the company they had handed their money over to.

Fortunately, the World Superbike series can lend at least some succour to racing fans. For Infront has placed highlight reels of both World Superbike and the World Supersport race up on the World Superbike series' Youtube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/sbk. So fans who have missed the races can at least get a taster of the action from Down Under before their local TV stations show the races - if they are being shown in those territories.

Just three more days to go before the World Superbike season kicks off in earnest, and to further enhance your already over-stimulated anticipation of the new season, the Italian Superbike TV has another short video on their website. The video was shot on the second day of testing at the final WSBK test, and contains a brief summary (in Italian) of how the riders performed at Phillip Island. See all of the 2010 World Superbike season's protagonists in action, and get ready for Sunday. Enjoy!

If there was any doubt that Ducati has set its sights on reclaiming the 2010 World Superbike title, then the last test of the preseason before racing starts in earnest will have put those doubts to rest. After allowing Leon Haslam and Suzuki top honors in the first session on Sunday, a Ducati has topped the timesheet ever since, ending the session with five bikes in the top six. Fastest over both days was Michel Fabrizio, the factory Xerox Ducati rider shattering Troy Corser's race lap record on Monday morning, after the track had dried and before the wind picked up too strongly.

Photo copyright Andrew Gosling

Results of the second and final session of testing for the World Superbike class at Phillip Island: 

Results of Monday's first session of practice for the World Superbike class at Phillip Island. The session was delayed due to overnight rain, which took a while to dry out: 

The first day of testing for the World Superbike class at Phillip Island was a chance for Ducati to stamp their authority on the series they have so often dominated. The Italian factory tackled this challenge with gusto, putting five bikes in the top six of the morning test session, and taking three of the four top spots in the afternoon. It was not the factory bikes that took top honors, however: In the morning session, Xerox Ducati riders Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio had to cede that honor the the Alstare Suzuki of Leon Haslam, while in the afternoon, it was the turn of the privateer Carlos Checa on the Althea Racing 1098R, edging the factory bikes into 2nd and 4th.

Checa's time in the afternoon was extremely impressive, just over a tenth off Troy Corser's official lap record, and nearly four tenths of a second faster than the next fastest man Fabrizio. Leon Haslam is continuing his apparently trouble-free transition to the Suzuki GSX-R 1000, claiming a permanent spot at the top of the field, though the Englishman was half a second slower during the afternoon session. The two Xerox Ducati teammates are once again closely matched, raising the specter of a repeat of last year, when Fabrizio stole valuable points from Noriyuki Haga in the Japanese rider's failed attempt to conquer the 2009 WSBK title.

Results of the second session of practice for the World Superbike class at Phillip Island: 

Results of the first session of testing for the World Superbike class at Phillip Island: 

With just over two weeks to go until the 2010 World Superbikes season kicks off at Phillip Island in Australia, the ever-assiduous staff at World Superbike headquarters have put together a video preview of the season to whet your appetite for the racing - as if that was necessary after a long cold winter. The video features a rundown of the teams and riders participating in the upcoming season, interviews with most of the protagonists, and highlights of the fantastic racing that made up the 2009 season.

So pour yourself a fresh beverage, pull up a chair and enjoy 25 minutes of World Superbike action. It's very nearly time to go racing again. 

You can also watch this video in high resolution on the World Superbike Youtube channel.

After two days of sitting in garages watching the rain fall, the World Superbike and Moto2 riders still left at the Valencia circuit finally got a chance to test their bikes in anger. The relief was tangible; as the formerly idle riders broadcast their happiness to be riding on Twitter.

With conditions suitable for riding - dry, sunny, but still cold - the teams still remaining at the circuit made the most of the little time they had. It was Althea Ducati's Carlos Checa who came out on top, setting a surprisingly good 1'33.8 given the cool conditions, two tenths of a second ahead of Noriyuki Haga on the factory Xerox Ducati. Worrying for the factory Ducati effort, Shane Byrne on the other Althea Ducati was just a tenth behind Haga, and a couple of tenths ahead of Haga's teammate Michel Fabrizio. Czech rider Jakub Smrz also finally got some track time, riding the Guandalini-Borciani Ducati, now that the team has found some funding from Pata, and Italian snack manufacturer.

The BMW's had the worst of the test, with both Ruben Xaus and Troy Corser down in the 1'35s, and Xaus running the same time as Alex Hofmann on the Aprilia. Aprilia will be glad of the track time, as their factory riders Max Biaggi and Leon Camier were already making their way back to Italy to the Noale factory.

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:

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: