World Superbike

Roberts in action at Valencia

South Australian Brendan Roberts could be in danger of losing his ride in the Superbike World Championship, because European sources have revealed that Spaniard Gregorio Lavilla was on the Guandalini Ducati at Misano’s opening round of the Italian Superbike Championship last weekend.

If it is true that the team is looking at replacing Roberts in the world championship with Lavilla as the speculation suggests, it would be a serious disappointment for Roberts in his maiden SBK season – especially since he had his best performance of the year at the most recent round at Valencia.

They say where there’s smoke there’s usually fire and that seems to be the case in the Lorenzo Lanzi to replace Tommy Hill at Althea Honda saga, because Lanzi has mysteriously been let out of his SC Caracchi KTM contract that he was locked in for this year’s Italian Superbike Championship. We haven’t had confirmation that Lanzi will in fact replace Hill, but since the rumours emerged last week it is quite strange that Lanzi has been release from his KTM deal to pursue other opportunities.

But other sources now also have Lanzi joining Frenchman Regis Laconi at DFX Honda, which would also be a reasonable opportunity for Lanzi to rejoin the world championship ranks. Either way, expect him back for the fifth round of the series at Monza next month.

We’ve been posting up various press releases over the past few days regarding the Assen round of the Superbike World Championship, and if there’s one thing that becomes repetitive throughout the releases it’s that riders miss the old layout of the Dutch circuit.

Since its revision in 2006, Assen has somewhat lost its attraction as one of the favourite circuits on the calendar and the same goes in MotoGP as many used to love the fast and flowing nature of the old circuit.

British Superbike
Speculation is doing the rounds on selected British based websites and forums that former British Superbike Champion Lavilla is also on standby should Josh Brookes not get his visa approved to return to the UK in order to race for HM Plant Honda, which would be a massive blow to the Australian’s 2009 prospects.

Brookes impressed in the Supersport World Championship last year by taking victory at the Donington Park round of the series and scoring multiple podium finishes, but the temptation of a factory ride in BSB lured him back into the domestic scene. It’s uncertain what Brookes will do if he isn’t permitted entry into the UK in the coming weeks.

Regular HM Plant Honda Supersport rider Steve Plater stood in for Brookes at the opening Brands Hatch round and did a worthy job by crashing out of the lead in race one and finishing on the podium in race two.

Australian Superbike
International Entertainment Group has made refinements to the official website of the Australian Superbike Championship at ASBK.com.au, making it a lot easier to navigate through. Compared the series’ website in recent years when run by other promoters, the ASBK site is world class and is something that shouldn’t be underestimated when corporate Australia wants to check out the series for sponsorship opportunities. I’ve long said that the British Superbike Championship website is the leader in domestic road race championship websites, but the ASBK site is right up there with the best now for both competitors and fans.

Bostrom was quickest on both days in AMA testing

American Superbike
The American Superbike Championship contenders have been testing at Infineon Raceway over the past two days, with Ben Bostrom topping the timesheets on both days onboard his factory big-bang Yamaha YZF-R1.

The former Superbike World Championship race winner set the quickest time in Yamaha’s first real glimpse of speed in the AMA championship, which is expected since the new R1 has been so competitive in the World and British championships.

Rockstar Makita Suzuki riders Blake Young and Mat Mladin were second and third fastest respectively, with Young surprisingly outpacing his elder teammate in their return to riding the 2009 model GSX-R1000.

Attack Kawasaki’s Jamie Hacking also posted the top time for the second day among the Daytona SportBike riders with a 1:39.3, followed by Graves Yamaha’s Josh Herrin and local favourite Steve Rapp.

Check out the full rundown of the test in our Press Releases section.