AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE
This weekend marks the biggest date of the year in Australian motorcycle road racing as the season finale of the 2009 Woodstock Bourbon Australian Superbike Championship takes place at Phillip Island.

MotoOnline.com.au will be live at the circuit for those who want to check in and keep an eye on our race updates directly after each of the races to coincide with the live timing over at Computime, so check it out.

Maxwell, Waters and Allerton will battle for the 2009 ASBK title this weekend. Image: IEG.

The series is down to the wire between Oleon Motologic Racing’s defending champion Glenn Allerton, Team Joe Rocket Suzuki’s Josh Waters and second Motologic rider Wayne Maxwell, with just nine points separating the trio.

Who is the favourite? That’s a hard one to call because despite Maxwell proving the in-form rider in recent rounds, Waters actually won the last race of the weekend at the MotoGP event and you can never rule out Allerton when it comes to the crunch.

Allerton has said that he feels more confident in his performance at the Island after finding a few things with his Fireblade in testing last week, relieved to make a step forward at the most important time of the year.

As for Waters and Maxwell, those two have been sharing the lap record at the Island in the ASBK Open and MotoGP events, with both seemingly coming on strong right when it counts at the end of the season.

There’s also a host of other titles up for grabs including Supersport, Superstock 1000, Superstock 600 and the 125cc Grand Prix categories, not to mention the return of the Sidecars and Aussie Racing Cars.

The Harvie Wiltshire Trophy race will also be held during the weekend, making for a big few days of ASBK action.

Despite a lot of uncertainty surrounding the series at this point, we all can agree that it’s an exciting time to watch our leading stars go head-to-head for the title in a three-way fight.

As for the off-track happenings, our well-informed friend Caprice has said in the Forum that the rumour is the 2010 calendar will be announced on Sunday evening at the Island, but there is no confirmation of that from IEG.

The 6 Hour was run and won at Oran Park last weekend and the event organisers, marshals, competing teams and spectators have to be commended on toughing it out in temperatures of over 40 degrees including a heated wind.

It was a great atmosphere during the event, especially during the closing stages of the race as the laps wound down, and the winning Demolition Plus team of Craig Coxhell, Russell Holland and Gareth Jones did a superb job to beat out many experienced World Endurance riders including double world champion Warwick Nowland and the Cudlin brothers, Damian and Alex.

MOTOGP
The MotoGP season is really winding down at this point and, to be honest, we have next to nothing to report on this week regarding the sport’s pinnacle as riders rest up at home during the testing ban.

Well, not all riders have been resting, because Valentino Rossi drove a Ferrari 430GT with good friend Alessio Salucci and Andrea Ceccato to third position on debut at the 6 Hours of Vallelunga Sportscar race.

The Doctor again proved his talent on four wheels in the Ferrari, and it’s still expected that a Formula One test will take place over the holiday season again this year.

One last thing for MotoGP, Euro press are beginning to indicate that the new 1000cc engine regulations may in fact be introduced in 2011, a year earlier than the current 800cc agreement expires. Watch this space.

MOTO2
The news that Aprilia is abandoning its Moto2 World Championship project comes as a massive blow to the class, but let’s face it, a factory Aprilia using a Honda engine would have looked a bit strange wouldn’t it?

The good news is that there are plenty of competitive chassis available at this point for the four teams committed to using an Aprilia chassis – Aspar, AJO Motorsport, Cardion AB and Team Speedup – so we don’t expect to see the grid shrink at all.

If you ask me, Aprilia quitting the Moto2 class is almost certainly due to the fact that they’re planning on building a prototype chassis for the MotoGP category when (and if) it switches back to 1000cc engines – with manufacturers expected to able to use their own production-based engines in the premier class if it actually goes ahead.

The RSV4 engine revised for a MotoGP bike would be pretty cool, but some would argue that the very adjustable production RSV4 is already knocking on the doors of being a MotoGP chassis.

In other mid-class news, Bradley Smith was awarded a test on the Aprilia 250cc Grand Prix machine following the final race of the season as a reward for finishing second in the 125cc World Championship behind Julian Simon, who is stepping up to Moto2 with Aspar.

WORLD SUPERBIKE
While on the subject of Aprilia, we’ve all been waiting to hear the news regarding who the second rider next to Max Biaggi on the World Superbike RSV4 is going to be.

It’s reported that Leon Camier has finally signed for the ride, which is great news for the new British Superbike Champion, and on the back of Aprilia’s announcement that it’s quitting Moto2, a second team with Alex de Angelis is quickly gaining steam.

We reported this week that Chris Vermeulen rode the Kawasaki ZX-10R for the first time in Japan last week, but the real story will unfold when he makes his European debut on the World Superbike in Spain at the end of the month.

Japanese rider Yukio Kagayama will be back in World Superbike for at least three rounds next year along with campaigning the entire British Superbike Championship, riding for Yoshimura Suzuki in his WSBK outings.

Yoshimura has pulled out of Japanese racing due to regulations that they’re not satisfied with, opening the budget for them to make an assault in WSBK with the Japanese veteran.

AMERICAN SUPERBIKE
A teams test at California Speedway in Fontana was held late last week, where the Yamaha and Rockstar Makita Suzuki teams took to the track for two days by themselves – a test which usually is full with factory and satellite teams.

The test saw Josh Hayes as the lone Yamaha Superbike rider alongside Daytona Sportbike riders Josh Herrin and Tommy Aquino, while Suzuki had Tommy Hayden and Blake Young onboard its factory Superbikes.

Missing in action was Ben Bostrom, although he has been in the news recently for finishing fifth in what many are saying is the world’s toughest mountain bike race over there. It’s unknown if Bostrom will be on the Yamaha team in 2010.

One interesting thing next year will be watching defending Daytona Sportbike Champion Danny Eslick defend his title on a Suzuki GSX-R600. Eslick won the title on a Buell this year with many saying the high-capacity bike had an unfair advantage, so it’s now time for Eslick to prove he has what it takes on a 600cc four-cylinder. His confidence is high and I think he can put on a good showing again.

AUSTRALIAN SUPERCROSS
This weekend marks the first off-weekend for the Monster Energy Super X series since it commenced in October, with just one round left to run at Brisbane next weekend.

Last weekend’s New Zealand round was significant for a number of reasons, with two-time Lites champion Matt Moss stepping up to the 450 with plenty of outright pace, while Jay Marmont suffered a terrible night to take 14th overall and move from first to third in the series standings.

Marmont lost the red plate in NZ, but he'll be back for Brisbane. Image: Sport The Library.

Marmont suffered a big crash in the last final and couldn’t finish, looking very down and out as he was carted off the track by the Suzuki RACESAFE medical team, but the good news is that he’ll be back for Brisbane. Here’s what the report from RACESAFE said about Jay’s injuries:

Heavily winded in the crash, the RACESAFE team quickly responded to him and also transported Jay to the onsite medical facility for further treatment and assessment. After care from the RACESAFE team, Jay was released with only bruising and a general soreness. He should be back to his normal pace in two weeks in Brisbane.

Meanwhile Chad Reed dominated again and stated that it’s time to get serious, and Marmont’s bad luck has almost certainly handed Reed the title when the series wraps up next week.

Who says Reed’s only advantage is in the whoops? The Hamilton track didn’t have any at all due to the very soft soil that was used to construct one of the most challenging tracks of the year.

It will be sad to see the series finish for another year, with this year’s series proving spectacular from many angles, and many in the industry will have to find new things to do every Saturday night for the next 10 months or so.

As for who will be James Stewart’s replacement, we still have no idea. Everybody from Ryan Villopoto, Ryan Dungey, Josh Grant and Justin Brayton has been mentioned, although we’re not sure at this point. McGrath has said he wants to come, and he’s filling in for Stewart in Italy, so maybe it is just him coming – which wouldn’t be a disappointment at all for me following his Parramatta podium.

Heck, even Ricky Carmichael has been rumoured, and in my eyes, he’s the only one who could truly fill the shoes of Stewart despite not racing anymore. The GOAT’s an icon of the sport, but it’s very unlikely you’ll see him on the gates next week.

AMERICAN MOTOCROSS
The American Motocross Championship calendar was released this morning, with New Zealander Ben Townley hoping to enter the series after sitting out the Supercross season.

One of the most interesting things is that Townley has registered a number in the Motocross World Championship, where it’s expected he’ll compete in a few rounds to get in shape for the AMA Nationals – a similar schedule as to what American Mike Alessi will be doing in 2010 with KTM.

AUSTRALIAN SUPERMOTO
This weekend will see the HWE Maintenance Services Australian Supermoto Championship take place in at Wanneroo in Western Australia for the second year in succession, where defending champion Angus Reekie will go head-to-head with world championship regulars Davide Gozzini and Christian Iddon. Can’t wait to see this one play out after what has been a very quiet year in Aussie Supermoto on the east coast.