You can start to work out a scenario here: Were
James Toseland to depart to
MotoGP in 2008, Ten Kate and Honda could form a dynamic Superbike pairing consisting of Edwards and Kenan Sofuoglu, the 22-year-old Turk who is leading the World Supersport series for the Dutch team. Or maybe this is just paddock theorising spiralling out of control. Big Gerrit Ten Kate, boss of the Dutch operation, denied at
Silverstone that a deal was being cooked up. So did Honda. We’ll see.
All-New for WSBK: Tracks, Bikes and Business Partner.
This season the World Superbike Championship looks like a series that’s desperately grabbing at any track that will host a round, with three events in Britain and three in Italy. But appearances may be deceptive, and WSBK may soon be improving in terms of the shape of its calendar and the quality of the grid.
"Ideally we would like two rounds in Italy and two in Britain," said Paolo Ciabatti, the series’ project leader. "We’re trying to get a US round in 2008 and a round in Asia. We would be happy with a championship with maybe 15 rounds."
For the US round WSBK owners FGSport are looking at the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, and the new Miller Motorsports Park in Utah, a venue that offers four circuits ranging from 2.2 to 4.5 miles in length.
There are hopes that, at a meeting at the Mugello MotoGP round in Italy next weekend, the factories involved in WSBK will accept the new 1,200cc ruling for twin-cylinder bikes. That means that Ducati - synonymous with the championship since its inception in 1989 - will continue in the series with its new 1098 model, and that KTM will compete with a V-twin. MV have already signed a deal with Carl Fogarty to run a team of their 1,000cc fours, and there are rumours that
BMW might arrive.
