World superbike preview: Aragon

The first European round of the 2014 Superbike World Championship takes place this weekend (April 11-13) at the MotorLand Aragon circuit. The track has been on the calendar since 2011, with Max Biaggi and Marco Melandri sharing victories in the first two editions while in 2013 Briton Chaz Davies stole the show by taking the double.

The 27-year-old Welshman showed great pace again on the track during winter testing, while his factory Ducati teammate Davide Giugliano recently went quickest in a private test at the other Spanish venue on the calendar, Jerez.

Championship leader, Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team), leads the 2014 chase with a 10-point advantage over compatriot Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) and 13 over new teammate Marco Melandri.

Reigning world champion Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) is equal fifth alongside Eugene Laverty (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki), one point in arrears of fourth-placed Giugliano.

Phillip Island race one winner Laverty hopes for a change in fortunes from last year when he finished with two DNFs at Aragon. Despite his ankle still not being 100 per cent, Laverty's teammate Alex Lowes hopes to post strong results on a track where he has never raced before.

After almost one week of testing between Cartagena and Jerez, the Pata Honda Team heads to Aragon with the aim of making that further step forward that would help both Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam to compete for top three positions.

Team Hero EBR will have Aaron Yates and the returning Geoff May, who broke his collarbone at Phillip Island. The American marque continues its learning curve in the championship, hoping for an improvement in performance in its second ever WSBK round. Same target for the MV Agusta RC – Yakhnich Motorsport Team, which fields Claudio Corti.

Meanwhile, Bimota, which was expected to begin a fresh SBK assault at Aragon with riders Christian Iddon and Italian Ayrton Badovini,  is still not ready to compete.

On the EVO side of the championship, Spaniard David Salom (Kawasaki Racing Team) is going to try and race despite the right hand injury suffered during the first day of testing at Jerez last week. Salom’s main challenger for the race wins at Phillip Island, Niccolò Canepa (Althea Racing Team Ducati), will be determined to edge out the Spaniard on his home track.

With Sylvain Barrier out due to the road accident he had three weeks ago, the BMW Motorrad Italia Superbike Team has selected former WSBK full-timer Leon Camier to replace the injured Frenchman.

In world supersport, Aussie Bryan Staring’s tenure with the Rivamoto Honda team is over, so there won’t be an Aussie on the grid at Aragon.  Championship favourite Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) will be looking to get his season back on track after a crash at Phillip Island, while Frenchman Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta) will be pushing for two wins in a row.