9 things to know ahead of this month’s opening round of WorldSBK

1. There’ll be four Aussies lining up on the world championship grids
Sydney-born Josh Brookes will be the only Australian and the only wildcard lining up on the WorldSBK grid at the season-opening event at Phillip Island later this month. The 2015 British superbike champion will be reunited with his title-winning YZF-R1 for the event after Melbourne-based construction company owner Deon Coote recently acquired the bike and, according to Brookes, “wanted to do something good with it,” he said. “It’s been years since the Australian public have had someone to cheer for with a real chance, so hopefully we can fill that void.” Three Australians will be flying the local flag in the World Supersport event this year, too, with former GP rider Ant West again gaining a wildcard entry on a Yamaha. The 35-year old will join supersport regulars Aiden Wagner (Honda) and Lachlan Epis (Kawasaki) in the opening round at Phillip Island.

2. Race two’s grid formation is causing controversy
Which means it is doing exactly what it is meant to do. Designed to shake things up and lift the on-track spectacle in a bid to attract more spectators, the new race-two grid format isn’t pleasing everybody. Factory Kawasaki rider and 2016 runner-up Tom Sykes described the changes as “getting penalised to try to make the race better without considering safety.” As of the first round at Phillip Island, the race two grid will be formed vastly differently. The podium finishers from the opening race will be moved back to the third row of the grid and their positions will be reversed to see Race One’s winner having to start from ninth on the grid. The riders who finished fourth, fifth and sixth will be promoted to the front row in the same order, while riders who finished seventh, eighth and ninth will leapfrog the third row and start from the second row of the grid in fourth, fifth and sixth place. Riders who finished Race One lower than 10th place will start where they originally qualified during Superpole. Clear as mud?

3. You can witness the world’s best for $30
A full-paying adult can watch all of Friday’s practice action for just $30. A Sunday-only pass will set you back $50 but the best value for motorcycle racing fans is the three-day pass which is priced at $75. All tickets are available now through Ticketek.

BUY WORLDSBK TICKETS HERE

4. Kiwi Avalon Biddle will compete in the inaugural Supersport 300 World Championship
While Kiwi rider Connor London will join Wagner and Epis in the Su-persport category, the 2015 and 2016 European Women’s Cup winner Avalon Biddle will be battling for supremacy in the inaugural FIM Supersport 300 World Championship. Riding for the Sourz Foods-Benjan Racing team, the 24-year-old New Zealander will be one of two women riders competing in the newly formed series, with Biddle joining ex-Moto3 rider Ana Carrasco in what will be a tough title fight on 300cc machinery. Stick-ing only to the European-based events, the Supersport 300 series will be run over nine of the 14 World Superbike championship rounds.

5. Honda’s new Fireblade needs sharpening
Despite the hype, it’s not all smiles from Red Bull Honda World Su-perbike riders Nicky Hayden and Stefan Bradl. The two former grand prix riders struggled to find a decent set-up at the recent test held in Portimao, Portugal. The 2006 MotoGP world champ finished the test 1.679sec off the pace of factory Ducati rider Chas Davies who topped the test. “The power is still not delivered quite smoothly enough so it wasn’t easy to find the grip and keep the bike calm under acceler-ation,” Hayden said. Bradl, who described the 2017 Fireblade as “nervous”, finished the test 1.883s off the pace of the British rider.

6. Split throttle bodies are banned for 2017
In what Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes has referred to as a rule aimed to “dumb down the class and amplify the gap” to MotoGP and give the prototype-based series “all the glory”, the use of split throttle bodies in WorldSBK is no longer allowed. Split throttle bodies allowed the ma-chines to fire cylinders independently which could provide enormous advantages if used correctly. Kawasaki and MV Agusta were beneficiaries of the technology with the latter’s Leon Camier attributing much of his 2016 success to the now-banned tech. “We have to be realistic with our goals for this year because the change from split throttle bodies has caused us some problems,” he said. “I think that it will continue to cause us problems and, even though we might be able to mask it with electronics, it’s not right with this bike.” The reigning world champ Jonathan Rea agrees: “We’re using a single motor which means that all four butterflies are working at once and, of the changes [for 2017], that probably has the greatest influence on the bike.”
7. Kenan Sofuoglu is confident he’ll be good for Australia
Five-time world supersport champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) is con-fident he’ll be able to defend his world championship crown from the very first race in Australia despite breaking his wrist in an off-season Supermoto crash. The injury required surgery and ruled the Turkish rider out of the Jerez pre-season test but the 32-year-old rider, who is no stranger to hard luck, is looking for the positives his situation could bring him. “I want to protect my championship as world champion of 2016,” he said following his surgery just over a week ago. “Sometimes these difficulties make us stronger during the season and I have had difficulties in my previous championships.”

8. The 2017 series calendar has been finalised
Just weeks out from the curtain raiser at Phillip Island, the series’ official schedule has finally been confirmed. As suspected, the 12th and penultimate round of the 2017 World Superbike Championship will be held at the Jerez Circuit in Spain from October 20-22, the same weekend that the Australian round of the 2017 MotoGP title descends on Phillip Island.

9. The next official test is at Phillip Island
The last official test before the season officially gets underway will be held at Phillip Island, just days before the opening round. The three-day test will be held from February 20-22, giving the riders one day’s break before pit lane opens for the first practice session on February 24.