WSBK News

2008 World Superbike Championship leader Troy Bayliss and Ducati Xerox team-mate Michel Fabrizio have both been forced to miss the two-day test due to injury, as has Sterilgarda Go Eleven rider Max Biaggi.

The proposed Indonesian round of the World Superbike Championship and its support events has been canned, reducing the senior calendar to 14 rounds in 2008.

Reigning Spanish Supersport champion Graeme Gowland registered the first points of his 2008 World Championship season at the weekend, coming home a fighting 13th at Phillip Island.

There wasn't much in it in the end for the ex-Superbike racer - and previous winner at Phillip Island - Josh Brookes, but the Aussie was happy enough with second place to Andrew Pitt and now leads the World Supersport championship for Hannspree Stiggy Motorsport.

Team Pedercini endured a terrible day in Australia, highlighted by Vittorio Iannuzzo injuring his left wrist in a startline accident with Michel Fabrizio.

Italian Michel Fabrizio won his first podium in race one for Xerox Ducati despite a big start-line collision that ripped off his boot.

Superbike race action at Phillip Island was halted almost as soon as it had started after a startline accident involving Xerox Ducati's Michel Fabrizio. The sudden appearance of the red flags then created another incident at Lukey Heights that decimated the Honda contingent.

Andrew Pitt believes he has to win his home round of the World Supersport Championship at Phillip Island after being forced to retire from the season opener in Qatar last weekend.

Yukio Kagayama looks likely to miss the second round of the World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island after suffering a suspected broken collarbone in Qatar.

Team Alstare Suzuki might have worked flat out during the winter to find a replacement for departing sponsor Corona, but only on the eve of the season can general manager Francis Batta confirm the health of his squad.

Former double world champions Troy Corser and Troy Bayliss proved to be the men to beat in the opening qualifying session of the 2008 World Superbike season in Qatar, as they dominated a wind-affected first qualifying to leave their rivals wilting under the desert sun.

The Parkalgar Honda World Supersport team staged its official 2008 launch ahead of the official presentation of the venue it hopes to promote this season, the impressive Aut?dromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao.

Noriyuki Haga believes the 2008 World Superbike season will be more exciting than MotoGP.

The bike was unveiled during an official presentation at Jerez. Bayliss was absent from the event as he continues to recuperate from a fractured collarbone - but the Australian will return to the track at the next test session, to be held at Qatar on February 12.

Jones finished fifth in the hotly contested World Supersport Championship in 2007 and is a definite title contender this year after securing Factory Honda support and the backing of Parkalgar, the futuristic motor-sport circuit under construction in Portimao in Portugal that will host the final r

The list reveals that there will be six of the new 1200cc Ducati 1098Rs on the grid this year, with single-rider entries for former factory pliot Lorenzo Lanzi (R.G.Team) and Czech Jakub Smrz (Guandalini Racing) adding to the two-rider Xerox and Sterilgarda line-ups.

The Ducati Xerox rider's pre-season preparations have been thrown into turmoil after he fell while attempting to overtake PSG-1 Kawasaki rider Regis Laconi, during Thursday afternoon.

"It's gone very well. We spent the days testing new parts, the results are good so now I am just waiting for the race," began Haga, who finished the test sixth fastest but just 0.3secs behind Suzuki's Yukio Kagayama.

Former MotoGP star Biaggi, who finished third in the 2007 world championship on an Alstare Suzuki, will ride alongside Ruben Xaus for the satellite Sterilgarda Go Eleven team this season.

Biaggi, who hasn't ridden a Superbike since splitting from Alstare Suzuki shortly after the end of the 2007 season, will join most of the leading WSBK and WSS teams in testing at the challenging Australian race track from January 8-10.

Ducati Corse's superbike press officer and factory spokesman, Julian Thomas, has left the company to assume the role of communications director for World Superbike championship organiser's FG Sport.

2005 BSB champion Lavilla has joined forces with Paul Bird's team, which won the BSB crown in 2002 and 2003, for its graduation to WSBK next year - and completed almost 200 laps doing his first encounter with the Honda CBR1000RR.

Fellow Australian Steve Martin may have endured a torrid time with DFX Honda last season, but that hasn't stopped countrymen Karl Muggeridge and Russell Holland joining the outfit for 2008.

Gregorio Lavilla is to return to the World Superbike Championship in 2008 after being confirmed as the lone rider for the Paul Bird Motorsport team.