British Superbike Championship

British Superbike Championship

The official British Superbike logo
Category	Motorcycle sport
Country	United Kingdom
Inaugural season	1988
Riders	37 (2016)
Teams	19 (2016)
Constructors	6 (BMW, Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha)
Tyre suppliers	Pirelli
Riders' champion	2016, Shane Byrne (Be Wiser Ducati)[1]
Official website	britishsuperbike.com/
Current season

The British Superbike Championship (BSB), currently known for sponsorship reasons as the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, is the leading road racing superbike championship in the United Kingdom, and is widely acknowledged as the premier domestic superbike racing series in the world.^[2][3]

The championship is managed and organised by MotorSport Vision,^[4] who also own many of the circuits the series meets at. The Series and Race Director is Stuart Higgs, with event marshals provided by the Racesafe Marshals Association.^[5]

The series typically races over twelve rounds from April to October, with the series concluding in a three-round 'Showdown,' where the top six riders are awarded points based on their podium finishes from the previous nine rounds and then compete over three rounds and seven races for the title.^[6] The Showdown format was introduced in 2010 in order to prevent a rider from making a runaway victory in the championship.

From 2008, the championship followed the Superbike World Championship in appointing Pirelli as the single control tyre supplier.^[7]

History

2006 BSB Race at Thruxton Circuit

The British Superbike Championship began in 1988, with bikes conforming to 750cc TT Formula I regulations, which the championship used through to 1993, when Superbike regulations were adopted.

Niall Mackenzie was the most successful rider of the 1990s, with three titles. Other past champions include Neil Hodgson, Australian Troy Bayliss and Steve Hislop. Chris 'the Stalker' Walker has finished as runner up 4 times. Many riders from the series have gone on to race in the Superbike World Championship or MotoGP.

The 2006 British Superbike Championship was won by Ryuichi Kiyonari, in what was one of the most exciting climaxes to a British Superbike season in years. Kiyonari fought off the challenge of Ducati powered Leon Haslam and Gregorio Lavilla at the final round in Brands Hatch in front of a capacity crowd and a reported 1.5 million live TV viewers, with Kiyonari and Haslam each winning one race, and Lavilla crashing and having an engine problem in both races.

The 2009 British Superbike Championship was mainly dominated by the Yamaha of Leon Camier who set a new record of 14 race wins in a season at event eight of twelve, such was his domination of the championship, beating the previous record of 13 by Niall Mackenzie in the 1997 season.^[8] Guintoli, Brookes and Richards all missed races, allowing Stuart Easton of Hydrex Honda and Simon Andrews of MSS Colchester Kawasaki to challenge.

It was claimed that BSB was the biggest supported British racing series,

During 2009, 368,000 people attended BSB events across the country and 8,000,000 fans watched 310 hours of television on the live Eurosport and delayed ITV coverage^[9]

For 2010, the Privateers cup was replaced by the Evolution Class. MSVR stated that "It will be open to anyone in the series from the official manufacturer-backed teams through to independent entries and will allow homologated machines with full Superbike racing rolling chassis to retain the very important visual impression but engines will have to be built to very stringent "Stock" regulations. Along with standard engines a series specified control ECU device that eliminates any form of traction control, launch control and anti-wheelie devices will be compulsory"^[10][11][12]

Qualifying was also altered, with the "Roll for Pole" only setting the grid for race one of each weekend. This is due to the race two grid being set by the fastest laps of each rider in race one. Also introduced is a "second chance" system if a rider crashes on lap one, that rider will only drop eight places from where they started the first race. At the pair of triple-race meetings, the same rules apply for race two, but will also be applied for race three.^[13]

Perhaps the biggest rule change was the dividing of the championship into two parts, similar to the system used in three automobile racing series in the United States -- the United Speed Alliance Four Champions Playoff, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chase for the Sprint Cup, and National Hot Rod Association's Countdown to the Championship.

The first nine meetings (19 races) form the "Main Season" of the championship, before the final three meetings (seven races) make up "The Showdown". The championship change has been introduced after Leon Camier clinched the 2009 title with four races to spare, thus introducing a crescendo of competition.^[13]

The normal FIM point-scoring system still applies, with 25 for the winner and a single point for 15th. At the end of the Main Season, all riders then drop their two worst scores, which must be from events they have at least qualified for. From this points order, the first six riders in the championship standings will be elevated to a new base level and become the Title Fighters for the final three events and seven races of the championship.^[13]

Each Title Fighter will start The Showdown with 500 points, plus additional points for each podium position they have obtained in the Main Season; 3 for a win, 2 for a second, and 1 for a third, termed "Podium Credits".^[13] Using the first nineteen races of Camier's 2009 campaign, Camier would have had 547 points due to his fifteen wins and a second place out of the first nineteen races of the season.

The standard points scoring format from the Main Season then continues for The Showdown, with all points scores from the final seven races counting.^[13] All riders outside of the Title Fighters continue to race for the BSB Riders' Cup, continuing to add to their points total from the end of the Main Season. This also applies to the new Evolution class.^[13]

For the 2012 season, MSVR announced a number of changes to the technical regulations to enhance the spectacle of the British Superbike Championship. The championship was to be limited to 32 entries, 16 two-bike teams. This was intended to be a way to reward the teams that have raced in BSB, year in, year out. Teams within the current BSB were invited to enter their two bike teams initially, with teams who wish to graduate to the BSB class having to buy an entry.^[14]

Circuits

Being a national championship, the British Superbike Championship has visited circuits throughout the United Kingdom, as well as European venues, over its history. In 2014, the series visits nine different tracks in England, Scotland and the Netherlands. These tracks are: Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit, Knockhill Racing Circuit, Thruxton Circuit, Cadwell Park, Donington Park, TT Circuit Assen and Silverstone Circuit.

In the past, the BSB has visited Croft Circuit, Mallory Park and Rockingham Motor Speedway in England, Mondello Park in Ireland and Pembrey Circuit in Wales.

Types of motorcycles used

Superbike racing motorcycles are derived from standard production models. In the past, however, manufacturers took advantage of loopholes in the rules to create "homologation specials" — motorcycles with low production numbers made especially for racing.

Motorcycles that raced in the British Superbike Championship include:

• BMW Motorrad: BMW S1000RR (currently)
• Ducati: Ducati 916/955, Ducati 996 RS, Ducati 998 RS, Ducati 998 F02, Ducati 999 F04, Ducati 1098, Ducati 1199 (currently)
• Honda: RC30, RC45, RC51, CBR1000RR (currently)
• Kawasaki: ZXR750, ZX-7RR, ZX-10R (currently)
• Suzuki: GSX-R750, GSX-R1000 (currently)
• Yamaha: FZR750, YZF750, YZF-R7, YZF-R1 (currently)

Withdrawn Motorcycles

• MV Agusta: MV Agusta F4
• Norton: Norton rotary F1
• KTM: KTM 1190 RC8

Race weekend

• For 2010 a change to the qualifying system means that riders will only "qualify" for race one, (or race one and two if it is a 3 race weekend). The grid for the other race will be decided by the fastest lap in the previous race.^[9]

Support classes

Currently, the BSB is supported by four main support series. These being:

• The British Supersport Championship: acting as a lower division of the main BSB^[15]
• The National Superstock 1000 Championship^[15]
• The National Superstock 600 Championship^[15]
• The British Motostar Championship

TV coverage

The move to ITV vastly increased the viewing figures by a reported 450% over the figures for 2005.^[16]

During the 2006 season ITV1’s BSB coverage attracted an average UK adult audience of 962,000 per round with a peak audience of more than 1.5 million for the cliff-hanger final leg at Brands Hatch^[17]

Races were covered live by ITV and Sky Sports.

Over the twelve BSB rounds, the 'live' ITV1 coverage attracted an average adult audience of some 11,552,000, which equates to an average viewership of 962,000 per round and 10.68% audience share with 317,100 attending the twelve rounds, with 270,000 viewers on "delayed" Sky Sports transmission

For the 2008 championship, the series was now live on British Eurosport, with highlights on Channel 4 within the next few days.^[18] This was a step down from where the BSB had previously been having an effect on the viewing figures

The total UK BSB TV audience in 2008 was 7 million compared to 11 million in 2007 – which averages at 600,000 per round which was basically split 50:50 between Eurosport and Channel 4^[19]

Scoring system

British Superbike Champions

Season	Series	Rider	Bike	Team	Notes
1988	750 cc / TT F1	Darren Dixon	Suzuki RG500 (1)	Padgetts Racing	Dixon went on to pilot sidecars alongside passenger Andy Hetherington
1989	Superbike	Brian Morrison	Honda VFR750R RC30 (1)
1990	750cc / TT F1	Terry Rymer	Yamaha FZR750R 0W01 (1)	Team Loctite	Terry now runs Diablo 666 Endurance racing Team [20]
1991	750 cc / TT F1	Rob McElnea	Yamaha FZR750R 0W01 (2)	Team Loctite
1992	750 cc / TT F1	John Reynolds	Kawasaki ZXR750 (1)	Team Green
1993	Superbike	James Whitham	Yamaha YZF750 (3)	Fast Orange
1994	Superbike	Ian Simpson	Norton Rotary F1 (1)	Team Crighton
1995	Superbike	Steve Hislop	Ducati 916/955 (1)	Devimead	Whitham was suffering from/treated for Hodgkin's Disease, a form of cancer[21]
1996	Superbike	Niall Mackenzie	Yamaha YZF750 (4)	Cadbury's Boost
1997	Superbike	Niall Mackenzie	Yamaha YZF750 (5)	Cadbury's Boost
1998	Superbike	Niall Mackenzie (3)	Yamaha YZF750 (6)	Cadbury's Boost	387 points, 6 wins and 1 pole from 24 races
1999	Superbike	Troy Bayliss	Ducati 996 (2)	INS GSE	394 points, 7 wins and 6 poles from 24 races
2000	Superbike	Neil Hodgson	Ducati 996 (3)	INS GSE	422 points, 7 wins and 5 poles from 24 races Privateer Cup Champion: Dave Heal (Kawasaki ZX-7R) (Myco Motorsports)
2001	Superbike	John Reynolds	Ducati 996 RS (4)	Reve Red Bull	536 points
2002	Superbike	Steve Hislop (2)	Ducati 998 RS (5)	Monstermob Ducati	452 points, 8 wins, 5 poles and 17 podiums from 26 races (1 DNF)
2003	Superbike	Shane Byrne	Ducati 998 F02 (6)	Monstermob Ducati	488 points, 12 wins, 5 poles and 21 podiums from 24 races (1 DNF)
2004	Superbike	John Reynolds (3)	Suzuki GSX-R1000 (2)	Crescent Q8 Rizla	446 points, from 26 races
2005	Superbike	Gregorio Lavilla	Ducati 999 F04 (7)	Airwaves GSE	Reynolds injured in pre-season testing. 461 points from 26 races
2006	Superbike	Ryuichi Kiyonari	Honda CBR1000RR (2)	HM Plant HRC	466 points, 11 wins from 26 races
2007	Superbike	Ryuichi Kiyonari	Honda CBR1000RR (3)	HM Plant HRC	433 points, 8 wins from 26 races
2008	Superbike	Shane Byrne (2)	Ducati 1098 (8)	Airwaves GSE	474 points, 10 wins from 24 races, 5 poles, 3 doubles (1 DNF)
2009	Superbike	Leon Camier	Yamaha YZF-R1 (7)	Airwaves GSE	549.5 points, 19 wins from 26 races, 9 poles, 4 doubles & 1 treble (1 DSQ)
2010	Superbike	Ryuichi Kiyonari (3)	Honda CBR1000RR (4)	HM Plant HRC	First season of The Chase-style points system.
2011	Superbike	Tommy Hill	Yamaha YZF-R1 (8)	Swan Yamaha	Championship down to last corner of the last race - won by 2 points overall and 0.006 seconds.
2012	Superbike	Shane Byrne (3)	Kawasaki ZX-10R (2)	Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki	Championship down to the last race at Brands Hatch.
2013	Superbike	Alex Lowes	Honda CBR1000RR (5)	Samsung Honda UK	Championship down to the last race at Brands Hatch. Three wet races.
2014	Superbike	Shane Byrne (4)	Kawasaki ZX-10R (3)	Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki	Took the title after challenger Kiyonari broke his collar bone during practice at the final round.
2015	Superbike	Josh Brookes	Yamaha YZF-R1 (9)	Milwaukee Yamaha	703 points, 13 wins, 23 podiums & 6 doubles.
2016	Superbike	Shane Byrne (5)	Ducati 1299 Panigale (9)	Be Wiser Ducati	Championship down to the last race at Brands Hatch.

References

External links

• britishsuperbike.com Official website