WSBK Season Review

This has been a vintage year for the World Superbike championship, with Troy Bayliss bidding farewell to motorcycle racing by winning the WSBK title for the third time.

The season started in the desert at the bland, featureless Losail track in Qatar. It was a great start to the year, with Max Biaggi on the Sterilgarda Ducati immediately getting into a battle with Santander Yamaha's Noriyuki Haga. The battle ended when Max chopped Haga's nose off into a corner. The furious Japanese star lifted his left hand from the bars to remonstrate and promptly highsided, landing on his head. Troy Bayliss was riding like a madman, never using the same piece of astroturf twice, causing his team boss Davide Tardozzi to have kittens on the pitwall. The Aussie fought to the end with Max Biaggi, the Italian passing but running wide in the last corner, allowing Bayliss to cut back inside, taking a long look over his shoulder at Biaggi before taking the chequered flag. The second race saw Fonsi Nieto winning thanks to the sheer speed of his Suzuki on Losail's long straight, beating Ducati duo Ruben Xaus and Max Biaggi into second and third places...

Read my whole World Superbike Season Review at Motorbikesport.