Motorcycle Road Racing Championship
It’s that time of year again. I just finished watching the very first motorcycle championship race of 2007 kicked off by Superbike World Championhip aka SBK. There are three championships that I watch religiously every year, the MotoGP, SBK, and AMA Superbike. The MotoGP is the race of all races… the best motorcyle road racing of all. A MotoGP bike uses sophistaced technology and can produce 250 horsepower. Only the brave ones dare to ride these beasts of the track. Modification to the bikes are almost unlimited (compared to superbikes) to reach a tremendous amount of horsepower. They have more freedom to improve the handling and characterisitcs of the bike. But this year, MotoGP was mandated to reduce its engine capacity from 990cc to a 800cc maximum displacement and a reduction of horsepower to 200 – 220. Last year, Nicky Hayden (an American rider and former AMA champion) won the championship and stole the crown from the Italian rider Valentino Rossi who had already won five consecutive championships.
SBK is also a world championship race but they don’t go to the US because of our own superbike championship here. While SBK bikes are close to a 1000cc production bike, they are allowed to be tuned to reach 210 to 215 horsepower. This closes the gap between the SBK and the current MotoGP bikes. In this season’s opener in Qatar, Max Biaggi (a former MotoGP rider) and James Toseland split the wins. SBK and AMA alike hold two races per race event to give a second chance to the other riders. Troy Corser (2005 champion), Troy Bayliss (2006 champion and former MotoGP rider) and Noriyuki Haga are among the fastest riders too this season.
AMA Superbike is a national championship race in US. There are other superbike championship in other countries but AMA Superbike stands as the world’s premier national superbike series. The AMA superbikes are allowed to use 900cc to 1000cc engines. These bikes produce close to 190 horsepower. Last year, the Texan Ben Spies took the championship from the Australian Matt Mladin who has been winning championships since 1999, which was only interrupted in 2002 by Nicky Hayden.
This year’s championship races are very exciting. Nicky Hayden needs to keep his consistency and take more wins. Valentino Rossi will definitely would want to take the crown back. Dani Pedrosa, Nicky’s team mate who almost ruin his championship last year will probably ride stronger this season. Hopefully he has learned something from last year’s mishap specially when it comes to team orders! In SBK, James Toseland has shown in the early stage of the race that he’s ready to win the championship. He’s very fast and consistent. But Max Biaggi is also showing some potentials. It is his first championship race in SBK so I guess it’s ok if he doesn’t win it this year. Ben Spies will need to prove this year to Mat Mladin that he’s really faster than him. I hope he wins again.
My TiVo and I will be busy again in this season of motorcyle racing.
