WSBK: Corser to BMW, Finally!

At last, Troy Corser has officially signed to race the new BMW bike in the World Superbike championship next year. The rumours had been very strong for a very long time, but as the time passed and no announcement was made, people were starting to wonder whether the Aussie would stay at Yamaha. Corser is a double WSBK champion, well known as being the best development rider in the business, which is why BMW have snapped him up.

He will ride alongside Catalan hero Ruben Xaus, who is hugely popular due to being a raving lunatic, and is sometimes nicknamed Ruben Chaos due to his erratic riding and crashes. It's a great strategy from the German company. Hire one guy who will turn your new superbike into a winner, and another guy who is loved for his rostrum or straw bales riding style. No publicity is bad publicity, after all. Xaus will either be competing with the leaders or tumbling through gravel traps. Either way, the commentators will keep saying the words bee, emm and doubleyou, which is the name of the game.

This means that the race for the second Yamaha Italia seat alongside Englishman Tom Sykes is still as mystifying as ever. There doesn't appear to be anyone available with a lot of WSBK experience and race-winning talent. Well, there is current Kawasaki crasher Regis Laconi, but he's infuriatingly hit and miss. This led him to losing the WSBK title to his team-mate James Toseland when they were riding for the factory Ducati squad. The serious rumours are currently about Ben Spies and his amazing technicolour pay packet, although a couple of other guys have tried out the bike in testing. We'll have to wait and see.