Superbike World Championship

Held under the FIM , the Formula TT from 1977 to 1989 once constituted the official motorcycle World Cup. Having proven itself both popular and commercially viable, it was decided by the end of the 1990 season to end the Formula TT and the Superbike World Championship would succeed it.

From 1993 to 1999 Carl Fogarty and Ducati dominated, Fogarty won the title a record four times and finished as runner-up twice on factory Ducatis. Troy Corser also won the 1996 title and finished as runner-up in 1995, both times on a Ducati.

Realizing that 1,000 cc V-twin engines suited the superbike racing formula more, Honda introduced its own V-Twin powered motorcycle the VTR1000 SPW in 2000 . The result was clear right away as Colin Edwards won the championship in the bike's first year of competition. Ducati regained the title in 2001 with Troy Bayliss . Colin Edwards again reclaimed the title in 2002 on the same VTR1000 SPW bike.

With MotoGP machines reduced in capacity from 990 cc to an 800 cc maximum displacement, 1,000 cc Superbikes, both at World Championship and top national championships ( AMA Superbike and British Superbike ) become the largest capacity bikes (but not the most powerful) being road raced in 2007 . While superbikes remained two or more seconds per lap slower than MotoGP bikes at most tracks where both raced, they had equal or more power. [ 15 ] [ 16 ] Troy Bayliss attempted to defend his title, ridi...

The combination of some uneventful races in MotoGP [ 17 ] [ 18 ] and some exciting [ 19 ] races in SBK saw the championship's popularity increase even more.

During the offseason, Yamaha lost Noriyuki Haga to Ducati , who signed him to replace the retired Troy Bayliss . His place was taken by 3-times AMA champion Ben Spies , who was expected to give Haga serious competition.

Ben Spies took a record 11 poles in the 14 round series and 14 wins (17 podiums) in 28 races; his main rival Haga was more consistent, finishing on the podium 19 times but winning only 8 races. 2009 also saw the debut of BMW and the return of Aprilia . Aprilia took a fourth final place in the championship with Max Biaggi , while BMW finished thirteenth with Troy Corser . [ 26 ]

The season saw the number of complete motorcycles in use limited to one per rider; this meant that the rules allowing bike changes during a race ( flag-to-flag ) were cancelled. [ 34 ] [ 35 ]

Kawasaki rider Tom Sykes was crowned champion after obtaining the third-place finish he needed to secure the title victory at Jerez.

Aprilia's Sylvain Guintoli became the Superbike World Champion at the last race, prevailing over Tom Sykes by six points in the standings. [ 39 ] But both Marco Melandri and Tom Sykes won more races than Sylvain Guintoli this season. With Sykes winning 8 and Melandri 6 compared to Guintoli's 5.

After changes in the standard weekend timetable, the first race, which was previously run on Sunday along with the second one, was scheduled to be held on Saturday. [ 42 ]

The season saw the revision of the starting grid format for the second race, which was previously based on qualifying results for both races: riders placed from fourth to ninth in Race 1 were promoted to the first two rows for Race 2; then the third, the second and the winner followed on the third row; the remaining riders were sorted from the tenth grid slot onwards according to Superpole results. [ 43 ] [ 44 ]

Jonathan Rea won his third Superbike world title for Kawasaki, by winning the Magny-Cours Race 1. His victory gave him an unassailable lead with five races remaining.

The season was marred by the death of Honda rider and former MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden , who succumbed to injuries sustained in a pedal-cycling accident near Rimini , Italy, on 22 May. [ 45 ]

Jonathan Rea won his fourth Superbike world title for Kawasaki.

Jonathan Rea won his fifth Superbike world title for Kawasaki.

In a season shortened by the Covid pandemic, Jonathan Rea won his sixth Superbike world title for Kawasaki.

Superbike racing motorcycles are derived from standard production models. In the past, however, manufacturers took advantage of loopholes in the rules to create "homologation specials" — motorcycles with low production numbers made especially for racing.

Current SBK motorcycle manufacturers:

Former SBK motorcycle manufacturers:

Starting grid.

To be eligible for World Supersport, a motorcycle must have a four stroke engine of between 400 and 600 cc for four cylinder , 500 and 675 cubic centimetres for triples and between 600 and 750 cc for twins and must satisfy the FIM homologation requirements.

World Supersport regulations are much tighter than in World Superbike. The chassis of a supersport machine must remain largely as production, while engine tuning is possible, but tightly regulated. As in world superbike a control tyre is used, although supersport regulations dictate that the tyres must be road legal and therefore race slicks are not allowed.

A World Supersport race takes place at every World Superbike round.

Motorcycles with the same displacement as superbikes can run in superstock 1000 (though 1,200 cc twins were allowed for 2007). Superstock rules are much more restrictive and most components on the bike remain stock. The bikes run on Grooved Pirelli tyres.