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The World Supersport field is ripe for change, and that shouldn’t be new or surprising information for anyone following the space.

This is because the 600cc inline-four market has disappeared, especially in Europe, leaving the middleweight class with an uncertain future in racing.

Where there is an absence, there is a vacuum, and the space being left behind by the Japanese supersports is being filled rapidly by European twin and three-cylinder offerings.

Tom Sykes will remain in the Hospital General de Catalunya in Barcelona, for further examination, after his Race 2 crash at the WorldSBK round this past weekend.

The BMW Motorrad rider was involved in a Turn 1 crash on the second lap of Race 2 at Catalunya, where he lost consciousness and suffered a severe concussion.

Accordingly, the doctors at the Hospital General de Catalunya are keeping Sykes for observation, and he is expected to be discharged from the hospital on Wednesday. Sykes is unlikely to race this coming weekend at Jerez.

The first piece of Ducati’s World Superbike puzzle was revealed today, as the Italian brand is welcoming back Alvaro Bautista to its ranks for the 2022 season.

Alvaro Bautista is set to replace Scott Redding (who is headed to the BMW Motorrad squad for more money), and all signs point to Chaz Davies also leaving the Italian brand at the end of the season (Davies is currently 10th in the WorldSBK Championship).

Links between Jonathan Rea and the MotoGP paddock happen every year, and it probably has something to do with the Northern Irishman’s complete dominance in the World Superbike Championship.

For 2021, the situation is no different – though Rea’s absolute reign in WorldSBK is certainly under question from the results posted by Toprak Razgatlıoğlu, now that the Turk is on the PATA Yamaha YZF-R1.

Still, Rea is perhaps the most deserving rider of a GP ride in motorcycle racing right now, and there are hints that the six-time World Champion could be headed to MotoGP.

Episode 223 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this show takes us back to the WorldSBK paddock, as the production series ramps back up its 2021 racing.

On the mics, we have Steve English and David Emmett, as they trade notes on an insider and outsider’s perspective on the World Superbike paddock, and what has been transpiring thus far in the championship.