Australian Superbike

ASBK top guns Curtain, Allerton, Giles and Waters in Tasmania

International Entertainment Group’s Yarrive Konsky has shed some light on the remainder of the 2009 Australian Superbike Championship calendar, revealing that the series dates won’t be changing at this stage, although there will be changes implemented from the Queensland round and beyond.

It’s not yet decided whether or not Barbagallo Raceway in Western Australia will be the replacement round for the final round of the series if Calder Park isn’t going to be ready in time, and it’s also been known in recent weeks that Oran Park in NSW was a potential replacement too.

The major thing that Konsky has revealed is that the date announced for the final round on 12-15 November will remain no matter what circuit it’s held at, and IEG is still conducting a feasibility study as to whether it will be viable for the series’ competitors to make the long trek over to WA.

“We will maintain the current calendar dates and in due time we will inform everyone where the final round is,” said Konsky.

Sources are now suggesting that Winton Motor Raceway, a long time favourite on the calendar, is also a possibility to take over if the Calder round is indeed replaced, which would actually prove a very popular alternative to the calendar if it was to be added.

A massive revelation from Konsky is the addition of a second round scheduled to take place on the Queensland Raceway weekend, with the event transformed into a four day double-header event in order to make up for the loss of races at the abandoned Symmons Plains round.

“In light of the unfortunate circumstances that happened in Tasmania, the Queensland round will be a double header,” explained Konsky.

IEG considered the earning capacity of riders and their contingencies in regards to missing the Tasmanian races, and have added the double-header format to give riders who are on contingency another chance to earn money, as well as a greater chance to earn more prize money over the weekend.

It’s expected that IEG will release final details of the latest series structure in the coming weeks as they finalise the minor details.

One thing that remains uncertain is if the points scored at Tasmania’s opening round for the few races run will be counted toward the championship? This has yet to be confirmed by either Motorcycling Australia or IEG as we mourn the death of Judd Greedy, but it is an important factor in regards to the outcome of the weekend.

Since the event was abandoned, does that mean no points will be awarded overall? Is Glenn Allerton going to be paid the point for pole position that tied him with Josh Waters in the series? I think that all points earned before the abandonment of the round should be awarded at least. Watch this space.

MotoGP
MotoGP 2009 is finally ready to rock and roll, with the first press conference of the season taking place overnight in Qatar. With Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Chris Vermeulen, Andrea Dovizioso and Sete Gibernau on hand, the welcome addition to Sete back in the series is proven by Dorna’s invite for him into the first press conference of the year.

In fact, the press had a good chuckle when Rossi and Gibernau, who were very fierce rivals earlier this decade, shook hands following the occasion and Rossi admitted that the pair could be friends as long as Sete doesn’t beat him – tongue in cheek of course. Gibernau is officially back.

Another cool thing about the press conference for Australians was the involvement of both Stoner and Vermeulen, our only two Aussies in the premier class this year, but both are in very good form heading into the new year and will give us plenty to cheer about on Sunday.

A press release came through this morning that said Randy DePuniet and his LCR Honda team won’t be wearing a Playboy livery for the first GP of the year after the local officials deemed that the magazine sponsorship would be “frowned upon” in Qatar.

The ironic thing in all of this is that Qatar is one of the only circuits on the season that allows cigarette sponsorship to be clearly displayed, with Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden’s Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedicis sure to be running the full livery.

Practice begins tonight, although it will be later than usual thanks to the meeting being the lone event on the calendar that is run under lights.

World Superbike
Testing for the Superbike World Championship at Monza in Italy took place overnight, with Ducati Xerox rider Michel Fabrizio leading the way just ahead of teammate Noriyuki Haga and Yamaha’s rookie wonder Ben Spies, who was making his first visit to the historic circuit. Spies’ teammate Tom Sykes matched his time, with Suzuki’s Max Neukirchner ahead of BMW’s Troy Corser, Yukio Kagayama, Karl Muggeridge and Ruben Xaus.

The test will continue tomorrow in the lead up to fifth round of the championship to be held at Monza on 9-11 May.

Would Ducati's 1198 attract Mat Mladin to WSBK?

American Superbike
An interview with six-times AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin yesterday revealed that he has been contacted by teams from the Superbike World Championship in regards to next season, with many looking for the next great hope to replicate the success of Ben Spies.

Since Mat has been Ben’s long term rival in the AMA it is only natural that teams would look at him to be the next big thing (even at 37 years old!) to storm WSBK, but Mladin was gracious in the interview by stating that just because Ben is winning races doesn’t mean that he would.

Mat is on a massive pay cheque in the USA and said he wasn’t really interested in WSBK for now, but when asked if he’d be tempted if Ducati Xerox team boss Davide Tardozzi called him up today, he simply chuckled and said that he’d very much have to consider that.

One interesting thing that Mat said was that he believes if Spies was on Noriyuki Haga’s 1098 R the field wouldn’t see which way the Texan went – Mat believes the Ducati is that much more superior to the Yamaha.