World Superbike convoy heads to America

The 2011 Superbike World Championship makes its only American stopover next Monday (May 30) at the energy-sapping Miller Motorsports Park in Utah, which is located 1300 metres above sea level.

This will be the fourth time the WSBK title has visited the 4.907km long Miller layout, where power loss is estimated at 10 percent in the high altitude environment. The circuit is situated on the edge of the Great Salt Lake basin, not far from the world-famous Bonneville Salt Flats.

Three Australians will joust at Miller, with Troy Corser (BMW) joined by Mark Aitchison (Kawasaki) and Mildura’s Josh Waters, who will be making his second wildcard appearance in this year’s championship for Yoshimura Suzuki.

Chris Vermeulen (Kawasaki), who has already made a few abortive attempts to race in 2011, has elected not to compete in America, and will instead continue testing in Europe ahead of round six at Misano (San Marino) on June 12.

Corser is determined to make the top three at Miller, where he fell just seconds short of a dais finish in both races last year.

“I hope that on the back of two solid results in Monza we can really push and go for the podium in Salt Lake City,” said Corser. “Last year we had a few minor issues there, which held us back slightly. But now the bike feels a lot more balanced and I am hopeful we can do better this time around.

“I enjoy riding at this circuit. It is quite technical and fast and similar to Assen and Monza in some respects. So for sure I am looking forward to getting out there and seeing what we can do.”

Following the last round at Monza, Corser joined team-mate Leon Haslam in a two-day test session at Misano, while a number of other teams also used the three-week break to hit the development treadmill.

One of the factory teams, Honda, tested at Miller during that period, so its star rider Jonathan Rea should make his intentions clear from the very first practice session on Saturday (the event always runs one day later than other WSBK rounds to coincide with “Memorial Day” in the United States).  

Rea will have to be on his game, as championship leader Carlos Checa (Ducati) and reigning world champion Max Biaggi (Aprilia) are both extremely fast around Miller, with Checa the current lap record holder. Haslam, Noriyuki Haga (Aprilia), Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki) and Leon Camier (Aprilia) have also finished on the podium in recent years.

Checa currently leads the championship by 27 points (145 to 118) over Italian Marco Melandri after four of 13 rounds, followed close behind by Biaggi (117). Then it’s Rea (89) and Eugene Laverty (Yamaha, 85), who is coming off a sensational clean sweep at Monza.

History suggests that whoever wins the opening 21-lap race at Miller will then be odds-on to make it a clean sweep, with Checa (2008), Ben Spies (2009) and Biaggi (2010) all going the double since Miller joined the WSBK calendar.

Miller represents another golden opportunity for the gifted Australian, Josh Waters, to make a strong impression on the world stage. The 2009 Australian Superbike champion was far from out of his depth in his first wildcard ride at Phillip Island’s round one – with 18th and 13th places - and he’ll be upbeat after performing with distinction at a recent Superbike test session in America.

The addition of Waters certainly goes some way towards compensating for the loss of Vermeulen, who still remains remarkably unruffled despite a litany of injury setbacks.

“It is disappointing to not race in America but my injuries are still healing,” Vermeulen said. “The good thing is they are improving. The decision was taken with the team and Kawasaki to miss the race and concentrate on testing.

“That’s not only for me to get some time under my belt away from the racing, but also to get more information about the bike.

“That means I should hopefully come back strong at Misano which is a track I know quite well. I have never ridden at Aragon before so it will be good to get some track time in and learn the track before we go there after Misano.”

The world Supersport title hasn’t made the Atlantic crossing to America, which means Aussie Broc Parkes – currently running third – won’t race again until Misano on June 12.

SPEED’s live coverage of round five begins at 3:30am on Tuesday, May 31.

WORLD SUPERBIKE STANDINGS (AFTER ROUND 4 OF 13):
1 Carlos Checa, Spain, Ducati 145
2 Marco Melandri, Italy, Yamaha 118
3 Max Biaggi, Italy, Aprilia 117
4 Jonathan Rea, Great Britain, Honda 89
5 Eugene Laverty, Great Britain, Yamaha 85
6 Leon Haslam, Great Britain, BMW 84
7 Michel Fabrizio, Italy, Suzuki 74
8 Leon Camier, Great Britain, Aprilia 58
9 Jakub Smrz, Czech Republic, Ducati 55
10 Noriyuki Haga, Japan, Aprilia 47
11 Troy Corser, Australia, BMW 46
18 Mark Aitchison, Australia, Kawasaki 9