Toprak Razgatlioglu is to remain in WorldSBK for two more seasons. The Turkish rider agreed a deal with Yamaha that will see him continue with the factory World Superbike squad through the 2023 season.
American racing fans will see a familiar face on the MotoGP grid this weekend, at the Dutch TT in Assen, as Garrett Gerloff will be filling in for Franco Morbidelli on the Petronas Yamaha SRT squad.
Making waves already in the WorldSBK paddock, Gerloff’s race debut in the MotoGP Championship could be a sort of audition for the 25-year-old, showing off his skills for the grand prix paddock for the first time.
Episode 211 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one is a WorldSBK show, which means that this one sees Steve English and Gordon Ritchie on the mics.
The pair talk about the WorldSBK round at Misano, and the superbike racing action that ensued at the Italian track.
The venerable Suzuki GSX-R1000 is set for an update during the next model year, so say our Bothan Spies.
With the current generation now in its fifth-year (and second revision), the Japanese brand is seeing it fit to offer a “new” model of its popular superbike.
Team Classic Suzuki is known for making some impressive vintage-inspired machines, but today’s example might be the pinnacle of their prowess.
With racing basically non-existent during the early days of COVID, the team found itself with an abundance of time on their hands…and idle hands are the Devil’s workshop.
So, taking an ex-Alstare Racing WorldSBK-spec Suzuki GSX-R1000 from the garage, Team Classic Suzuki created this very attractive (and potent) Katana.
Episode 211 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one is a WorldSBK show, which means that this one sees Steve English and Gordon Ritchie on the mics.
The pair talk about the WorldSBK round at Estoril, and the superbike racing action that ensued at the Portuguese track.
As always, the conversation is insightful and lively, and it helps prime us for the start of the MotoGP season this weekend.
Episode 208 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one is a WorldSBK show, which means that this one sees Steve English and Gordon Ritchie on the mics.
The pair talk about the WorldSBK season-opener at Motorland Aragon, and the superbike racing action that ensued at the Spanish track.
Episode 177 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one is a WorldSBK show, which means that this one sees Steve English and Gordon Ritchie on the mics.
Joining our dynamic WorldSBK duo is Ducati Corse rider Scott Redding, who sat down with Steve for a one-on-one about his time in the World Superbike paddock, and what he’s looking for from the 2021 season.
The 2021 WorldSBK calendar has been updated once again in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After delaying the Australian round provisionally until the end of the season, the Phillip Island event has now been postponed until 2022. And a race in the Czech Republic, in Most, has been added in the middle of the calendar.
The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed back the start of the WorldSBK season even further. After the Assen SBK round, which had been due to kick off the 2021 WorldSBK season, was postponed until July, Estoril had taken over as season opener.
Now, however, the number of Covid-19 cases and the prevalence of the Brazilian variant in Portugal has meant that travel restrictions imposed to combat the virus make holding the Estoril round on the proposed dates extremely uncertain.
As a result, the Estoril round has also been postponed until later in the year. At the current point in time, a new date for the Portuguese round has not been set, but the most likely timing for the race is around July or August.
The start of the 2021 WorldSBK season will have to wait for another two weeks.
The Dutch round of WorldSBK, scheduled to take place at the TT Circuit Assen from April 23-25th, has been pushed back to July 23-25th due to COVID-19 restrictions. The season will now start at Estoril, on the weekend of May 9th.