Triumph

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.

Joan Lascorz topped the timecharts at the end of two days of testing at Phillip Island, getting within spitting distance of Kenan Sofuoglu's pole record from last year. The Spaniard had been strong all weekend, finishing as fastest in three of the four sessions the World Supersport class had at the Australian track, the final test in the run up to the opening round of the 2010 season.

A cluster of Hondas sit from 2nd to 4th, with Eugene Laverty's Parkalgar bike sandwiched between the Ten Kates of Kenan Sofuoglu and Michele Pirro. These four look the most likely title candidates, but the old guard of Katsuaki Fujiwara and Fabien Foret will give them a run for their money from time to time. 

With three Kawasakis and three Hondas in the top six, the prospect of a Kawasaki winning a world championship is looking increasingly realistic. Team Green have generally had a miserable time in all of the World Championship series they have entered, their last title coming in 2001 in this very class, with Andrew Pitt aboard a Kawasaki ZX-6R. But the World Supersport series is the only class where Kawasaki have shone, and with Joan Lascorz growing in maturity year on year, the Spaniard could be one to watch in 2010.

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

Results of the first session of practice for the World Supersport class on Monday: 

If Moto2 testing has been dogged by bad weather and poor conditions, the sun has smiled on the World Superbike and World Supersport classes. The men - and woman - of the WSBK paddock enjoyed the warm sunshine of the Antipodean late summer, but then again they did have to fly halfway round the world to enjoy it. Kenan Sofuoglu immediately made himself at home at Phillip Island, setting the fastest lap of the first day of testing during the morning session, and showing a similar turn of pace in the afternoon. Motocard Kawasaki's Joan Lascorz was quickest in the afternoon session, but his time was well off the time set by the Ten Kate Honda rider in the morning session.

The Ten Kate Hondas and Motocard Kawasakis dominated the timesheets, taking the top four spots with Sofuoglu and his new teammate Michele Pirro sandwiching Katsuaki Fujiwara and Lascorz between them. Another Kawasaki was 5th, the Lorenzini by Leoni bike of former WSS World Champion Fabien Foret. The Frenchman finished just ahead of last year's championship runner up, Eugene Laverty on the Parkalgar Honda.

Sebastien Charpentier was the fastest of the Triumphs, ahead of his BE1 teammate David Salom. Chaz Davies was the second fastest of the British riders in 10th place, 3 places ahead of newcomer Gino Rea, and two places ahead of his Factory Triumph teammate, American rider Jason DiSalvo.

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

Results of the first session of practice for the World Supersport class at the Phillip Island test: 

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.

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.

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:

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: