The ASBK champions from left to right: Josh Waters (SBK); Bryan Staring (SSP); Pat Medcalf (STK1000); Rick Olson (STK600); Mike Jones (GP-M); Blake Leigh-Smith (125GP). Image: IEG.

AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE
The 2009 title is over and what a final round it was with Team Joe Rocket Suzuki’s Josh Waters capturing a well deserved championship in what was his rookie season in the premier class.

Waters is the first rookie since Mat Mladin in 1992 to win the title, and at just 22, the world is now at his feet to go onto an international career with great success like many former Aussie champions.

Josh said in our Moto Talk yesterday that he’s likely to stay put with TJRS next year, but he did also say that he’d at least like to do a wild card in the world championship. Since Yoshimura’s Japanese team recently announced that it’s taking part in limited World Superbike rounds next year, why not give JW a shot at Phillip Island? Stranger things have happened…

You have to hand it to the Motologic Racing team for putting up a massive fight with both defending champion Glenn Allerton and ultra fast teammate Wayne Maxwell, because either one of those guys had the opportunity to get it done at the finale.

Maxwell’s spectacular crash (click here to watch) on the opening lap of the first race ruined his title hopes, but the good news is that X-Rays this week have revealed no signs of fractured bones in his left leg as suspected.

Allerton was understandably frustrated on Sunday afternoon after losing the number one plate, which was difficult for him to take in a lot of ways after leading the series for the majority of the season after winning five races of the first seven to start off the year.

By the way, standouts of the weekend had to be Shawn Giles and Robbie Bugden in really stepping it up for Suzuki, while Grant Hay took the honours of top privateer for the round with an exceptional performance to take fifth overall.

Congratulations to all of the other class champions including Bryan Staring, Pat Medcalf, Rick Olson, Blake Leigh-Smith, Mike Jones, Shane Soutar and Jeff Rowe. Craig Coxhell and Shannon Johnson also stood out as the top privateers in Superbike and Supersport respectively for the season.

More big news was the difficult weekend of the Yamaha Racing Team and Kawasaki Racing Team, with both of the teams ending their Superbike campaigns at least for the next 12 months out of the top 10 overall. There have since been rumours that both teams are considering re-entering in 2010 pending sponsorship dollars, but that is far from confirmed.

Although Yamaha had a difficult season in Superbike, you have to stand up and take notice of their results in the Supersport, Superstock 1000 and Superstock 600 classes, because there were number one plates all around for the boys in blue on Sunday evening.

What is confirmed though is that Motologic will not be using Honda machinery next year as we suggested weeks ago, and the tip that Ducati will be the team’s manufacturer of choice is still alive and well.

Evolution Sports Group were handing out flyers over the weekend that had KTM’s logo on it, pretty much confirming the Austrian manufacturer’s involvement for next year with the RC8 R as we also revealed many moons ago.

The forecast for the final race weekend of the season was a miserable one throughout the week leading into the final round, although clear skies emerged on Friday afternoon and remained for almost the entire weekend apart from Sunday morning much to the delight of all the championship contenders, competitors and series organisers IEG.

Last weekend marked the fourth time this season that the ASBK category had visited the best circuit in Australia, but this round was actually the first standalone event at the Island for the Aussie Superbikes since 2005 – where Josh Brookes was crowned Superbike and Supersport champion.

Interested observers over the weekend were British Superbike contender Brookes, as well as former World Supersport regular Russell Holland – both watching on with interest throughout Sunday’s action.

Victorian Glenn Taylor gave Aprilia’s RSV4 Factory its inaugural run in ASBK, riding a near stock privateer machine with support by Electronic Solutions. Taylor’s bike was standard with an Akrapovic full-system exhaust, also featuring a slew of carbon-fibre protectors throughout. Expect more on the grid for 2010.

Kris McLaren made his debut in the Superbike category at the Island, riding a G.A.S Honda-prepared CBR1000RR for the first time during Friday’s opening practice session and then racing to a brilliant eighth position overall.

Reigning Italian Superstock 600 Champion Andrea Boscoscuro was in attendance at the Island, an interested spectator checking out the Australian racing scene and even took part in a lap around the track in the safety car.

The Waters brothers – Josh, Brodie and Nick – have made names for themselves in various ASBK categories throughout the last few years, but it was mother Julie who stole the limelight during Saturday’s lunchbreak when she went on the back of the TJRS pillion bike with Giles. JW said she wouldn’t get on the back of him, but he was happy enough for her to get on the back of teammate Gilesy.

Just one day following the final round we received the provisional 2010 ASBK series calendar and structure (click here to check it out), with much interest surrounding next year’s series. It’s suitable for some, a nightmare for others, and frustrating for most, but in my opinion as a fan of the sport then I’d definitely like to see some mixed formats thrown in at the events where the series is visiting more than once.

Yes, it would mark potential hurdles to jump in regards to cost (endurance races) and safety (sprint races with multiple starts), but they do make it work in multiple other successful motorsport categories in Australia such as Super X, MX Nationals and V8 Supercars. If one thing’s for certain, It’d make the trip to Queensland Raceway three times much more exciting if we at least had fresh race formats to look forward to and bench race about.

That’s a wrap for our final round coverage of the ASBK, but check back for a gallery of images from the Island and well done to all of the competitors who braved the GFC to battle on throughout the year.

Carroll will wrap up his career on Saturday night in Brisbane. Image: Sport The Library.

AUSTRALIAN SUPERCROSS
With one major domestic motorcycle series wrapping up last weekend, we have another to look forward to this weekend with the seventh and final round of the Monster Energy Super X, Australasian Supercross Championship, at Brisbane’s QSAC Stadium on Saturday night.

MotoOnline.com.au will once again be there for news reports and will be bringing a gallery of images in the following days afterwards, in a weekend where it’s more than likely that Chad Reed will take out his first title for Monster Kawasaki – his second Super X crown in succession.

It’s set to be a massive weekend with Americans Josh Grant and Davi Millsaps making the trip out as replacements for James Stewart, who was initially scheduled to come before falling ill last month.

Global Action Sports announced this week that young gun PJ Larsen will also be making the trip over for JDR Motorsports, adding to the action as fans from throughout the country flock to see the event live.

It will be interesting to see Lites champ Matt Moss continue his adaptation on the Rockstar Motul Suzuki RM-Z450 in the Open class after making his debut in New Zealand, marking our last chance to see him compete on Aussie soil in quite some time before he embarks on a career in the U.S with Roger DeCoster’s team.

The event will also be the final time that we see Dan Reardon on a Honda for at least the foreseeable future, heading over to the States directly following the round to start testing with the MotoConcepts Yamaha team on the all-new YZ450F.

Keep in mind that two of the greats will be hanging up their helmets after the night’s racing, with Troy Carroll and Cameron Taylor both declaring this year’s Super X series as their final full season of racing. Thanks for the memories boys!

Juniors will once again be on the start gates in the Development Series, making an appearance in the afternoon proceedings and continuing as a great proving ground for our many talented youngsters in the Junior ranks.

There are some very interesting rider movements in the works behind the scenes at this point for 2010, but we’ll get through this weekend and see what pans out before making an premature predictions on the latest happenings in the sport.

MOTOGP
MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi was back on four wheels last weekend when he won the non-world championship Monza Rally event in his home country of Italy.

Rossi won the event in 2006 and 2007, but this year he was beaten by last year’s winner Rinaldo Capello. Rossi drove a Monster Energy-backed Ford Focus is the event and was joined by Loris Capirossi, Marco Simoncelli, Loris Capirossi and Mattia Pasini for the outing.

Further news this week is that Simoncelli will be taking part in the scheduled rookie-only test in Malaysia this month with Gresini Honda, and that Hector Barbera had his very own rookie test at Jerez last week – lapping almost two seconds off the pace of Rossi in unfavourable weather conditions according to European press reports.

WORLD SUPERBIKE
Queenslander Chris Vermeulen has been a busy man lately, testing his new ZX-10R in Japan and then most recently in Spain at Cartagena earlier this week. Time on the Superbike to develop it for Kawasaki is exactly what CV needs if he’s to be competitive in 2010, and there’s nobody more confident than him that he can get the job done on the green machine despite its recent struggles.

Apart from that there are the Superpole qualification revisions that have been introduced for next year (click here to see) and the adoption of extra an extra qualifying session for the Supersport riders.

BRITISH SUPERBIKE
The news that Jason O’Halloran will be riding for the TAG Triumph team in British Supersport next year comes as a relief for Aussies to see another one of our young talents to remain overseas next year, and the news that it’s on the highly competitive Daytona 675 is a positive step forward for him.

Is Maxwell BSB-bound for 2010?

It’s looking more likely that Brookes will remain with HM Plant Honda in the Superbike class as long as the team can produce the funding to compete, although the most surprising news in BSB this week is that the GSE Racing Yamaha championship-winning team may be abandoned if a sponsor to replace Airwaves isn’t sourced.

Speculation surrounded the ASBK finale at the Island that Maxwell is bound for the UK with good mate Brookes, potentially landing a ride with the Hydrex Honda team in rumours are to be believed. It would be a great ride to land for him if it is indeed true.

AMERICAN SUPERCROSS
Former multiple-time world and national motocross champion Grant Langston has signed for the J-Law Racing team in AMA Supercross and Motocross for 2010, joining Sean Hamblin and Ryan Newton in the team. The team is that of Jason Lawrence, who is currently serving time in jail, but it’s expected that he’ll be back in time for the outdoor Motocross Nationals.

WORLD ENDURO
We haven’t heard much about this one, but it’s said that Chris Hollis is going over to Europe to race in the world championship fulltime in 2010 with Husqvarna. Actually, I’m not even sure if the news has broken or even been announced, but it would be excellent to see another Aussie on the world stage in enduro.

That’s all for this week! Thanks for reading.