WSBK final season shakedown at Phillip Island

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The Phillip Island circuit south of Melbourne, Australia will be the scene on Monday and Tuesday for the final session of pre-season testing in view of the opening round of the FIM Superbike and Supersport World Championships, taking place here next weekend. World Superbike has been coming to the Victoria State circuit every year bar one since 1990, making it the longest-running event in the calendar at a single circuit. In addition to being the venue for the final Infront Motor Sports collective test session, Phillip Island has also been used for testing over the winter by several of the championship's top teams: Aprilia Alitalia and Yamaha at the start of December, and most recently BMW Motorrad and Castrol Honda last week.

Following his 2010 title victory, all eyes will clearly be on the world champion Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia), who went some way towards resolving the problems that his RSV4 Factory had encountered during last year's opening round, where the Italian could only finish fifth and eighth. Following December testing Biaggi should now be quick straight out of the box. Britain's Leon Camier lines up for his second full year with the team and will be looking to produce the results.

Leon Haslam, Biaggi's main rival last year, has now changed team and manufacturer and during the recent tests he was able to put his new BMW S 1000RR through its paces. The German team has been busy throughout the winter and next week it will be possible to gauge exactly how competitive the bike has become. Last year Haslam won one of the Australian races and with his team-mate, seven-times Phillip Island winner Troy Corser, alongside him, the German team will be looking to bring home the results in their third season of WSBK.

The other 2010 race was won by Carlos Checa (Ducati Althea Racing), who now spearheads Ducati's attack in a championship where it is no longer officially present. But the Spaniard will enjoy all the technical and engineering support possible from Borgo Panigale. Checa was right on the pace in Portimao and Aragon testing, while Jakub Smrz on the factory-assisted Effenbert-Liberty Racing Ducati was quickest in Portugal. The Czech Republic rider will be flanked by Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli.

The Big 4 Japanese manufacturers will again be at the forefront, with their various levels of factory involvement. At the moment the leading candidate is Jonathan Rea, who together with Ruben Xaus, brings the legendary Castrol Honda red, white and green colours back to life on the Ten Kate-run CBR 1000RR. All change this year for Yamaha, who after a world title for Ben Spies in 2009 and a transitino year in 2010, line up for the new season with Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty. The Italian is anxious to return to the victory podium in a totally new category for him, while his Irish team-mate has already shown he is one of the best young stars in the category.

A real surprise could come from Kawasaki, another manufacturer to have been very active over the winter, during which it carried out a series of tests on several different circuits. Tom Sykes, Joan Lascorz and Chris Vermeulen (still recovering from last year's injuries) have all looked convincing and the team has carried out a lot of development work on the new ZX-10R, turning it into a competitive machine.

For its part Suzuki Alstare are campaigning with only one GSX-R1000 machine for one rider, Michel Fabrizio who this year has switched from the factory Ducati squad to Francis Batta's Belgian outfit. The Italian has trained hard over the winter and is pushing the undoubtedly competitive Japanese four-cylinder machine to its limits.

A further boost for BMW's hopes for glory could come from the satellite BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team which, after winning the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup with Badovini, will line up on the grid for its Superbike debut with the Italian and the two-times world champion James Toseland.

Mark Aitchison also makes his debut in the category with the Kawasaki Pedercini Team, while the grid at Phillip Island will be filled out by wild-cards, both Australians and both domestic champions, Bryan Staring (Kawasaki Pedercini) and Joshua Waters (Suzuki Yoshimura).