FIRST ROUND SET TO OFFER THRILLING START – LOSAIL ONCE MORE THE VENUE FOR FIRST ROUND OF SBK SEASON As the build-up to the 20th year of World Superbike competition hardens into actual competition for points at the 5.4km Losail circuit on Saturday 24th February, anticipation is already at fever pitch for what is expected to be one of the most competitive seasons ever. Three former champions, and half a gridful of potential race winners, will line up for first practice at Losail on Thursday 22 February, all hoping to make strong starts to the season. BAYLISS SET TO RESIST PRESSURE FROM WITHIN AND WITHOUT Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) may have swept to victory in his comeback year in 2006 but few observers feel that he will have as clear a path this season. With his team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) making serious strides in winter testing, and the riders of the latest generation of four-cylinder 1000cc powerhouses from Japan showing strongly over the winter months, Bayliss faces threats to his supremacy on many fronts. Ducati will field another proven SBK race winner in the shape of Ruben Xaus (Team Sterilgarda 999F06) plus the exciting new SBK talents of Jakub Smrz (Team Caracchi Ducati SC 999F05) and Dean Ellison (Team Pedercini 999RS). Ellison has competed in SBK races before, as a wildcard at previous British rounds, but this is his first full season. BIAGGI STARTS HIS SBK CAREER AT QATAR ROUND Max Biaggi (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) will have his first ever SBK race, at Losail, on February 24th, with the four-times 250GP champion looking make as strong a start as possible in the tough SBK world. Sometimes fast in testing, Biaggi will be looking to Losail to get good early points on the board, before the championship moves onto another of his favourite circuits, Phillip Island in Australia, right after Qatar. His team-mate, Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) cannot be thinking of anything less than a podium place for the Qatar meeting, as his past record at the track is one of tremendous achievement, interspersed with simple bad luck when in leading positions. Suzuki’s participation in 2007 includes the limitlessly talented Max Neukirchner (Suzuki Germany) and the reigning Superstock 1000FIM Cup champion, Alessandro Polita (Celani Team Suzuki Italia). HONDA SIX RIDE POTENT FOURS The list of potential 2007 champions features all three previous SBK champions still active in the series, and as runner up on 2006, James Toseland (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) is in with a real chance to repeat his championship win in 2004. Roby Rolfo (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) will possibly be looking to the future rounds to try and take his first win in SBK, but his move from privateer Ducati to factory Honda machinery will have helped his cause no end. Honda are impressively armed with talent in 2007, with Steve Martin and Michel Fabrizio on DFX Corse Honda CBR1000RR machines, while a very welcome new name in SBK racing, Alto Evolution Honda, field 2004 World Supersport Champion Karl Muggeridge and former WSS race winner Josh Brookes to complete a powerful Honda line-up. HAGA AND CORSER READY FOR THE OFF A total of four full-time Yamaha riders will be in attendance at the 13-rounds of World Superbike this year, with the Yamaha Motor Italia team featuring one old hand (Noriyuki Haga) and one two-time SBK champion (Troy Corser) on the all-new Yamaha R1s. Further Yamaha entries come from Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha YZF team) and Jiri Drazdak (Yamaha Junior Pro SBK team). ZX-10R TOP TEAM TRIMMED AND READY TO GO Regis Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) and Fonsi Nieto (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) return to their 2006 team and the latest version of the ZX-10R, each with high hopes of their best ever season on four-cylinder machinery. Laconi has the better long-term SBK formbook but the ever-improving Nieto is tipped by some to be not far away from race-winning pace this season, with increased support from Kawasaki as a manufacturer. MV AGUSTA IN FOR A FULL SEASON ON A MODEST SCALE Austrian Christian Zaiser from the LBR team has the honour of becoming the first full-time MV Agusta entry to the SBK championship, although he will be running in a one-man privateer team. SBK CIRCUS MAKES A BREATHLESS DASH TO OZ FOR ROUND TWO A mere eight days after the first round of the World Superbike championship gets underway at Losail on 24th February the second round will take place on Sunday 4 March, at the spectacularly-appointed Phillip island circuit in Australia. SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Few seasons in the World Supersport Championship are ever set to be as closely contested as the forthcoming one, despite Sebastien Charpentier (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) making history last year by becoming the only man ever to retain the title. His own team-mate Kenan Sofuoglu is mounted on the same new CBR600RR as Charpentier in 2007, and is in superb form after testing, while Yamaha R6 competitors Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes (Yamaha SSP Racing) are as formidable foes as any that could be imagined. A whopping 36 riders will compete in this class this year, and adding to the strength in depth, the GIL Kawasaki team will field former champion Fabien Foret and Pere Riba, while the Lightspeed Kawasaki squad from Italy will run rookie Davide Giugliano. Gianluca Nannelli (Team Caracchi Ducati SC 749R) will no doubt ride the best-placed Ducati in the opening two rounds, while Suzuki can count on Barry Veneman and Vesa Kallio from the Hoegee Suzuki team.