British Superbike Championship

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British Superbike Championship

Sport	Motorcycle sport
Founded	1988
No. of teams	5 manufacturers
Country(ies)	United Kingdom
Most recent champion(s)	Ryuichi Kiyonari (Rider) Honda (Manufacturer)

The British Superbike Championship (BSB) is the leading road racing superbike championship in the United Kingdom.

The championship is managed and organised by MCRCB-Events. The commercial and television rights have been delegated to MotorSport Vision.^[1] The Series and Race Director is Stuart Higgs. Event marshals are provided by the Racesafe Marshals Association.

Two annual championships are awarded, one for riders and one for manufacturers. A "Cup" class exists for riders running in privately owned teams; past champions of this include Shane Byrne in 2001, and James Ellison in 2004.

Ducati, Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki all participate in the championship. From 2008, the championship followed the Superbike World Championship in appointing Pirelli as the single control tyre supplier, until 2010. Previously most teams used Dunlop tyres, although the factory Hondas used Michelin and the factory Yamahas used Pirellis.

The championship's current title sponsor is Bennetts bike insurance.

1 History
- 1.1 2005
- 1.2 2006
- 1.3 2007
- 1.4 2008
2 British Superbike Champions
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

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.

[edit] 2005

Main article: 2005 British Superbike season

In 2005, the overall championship was won by Spanish rider Gregorio Lavilla on a Ducati 999 F04 (1000 cc vee-twin), ahead of 1000 cc in-line four Hondas ridden by Japanese rider Ryuichi Kiyonari and Michael Rutter. 2004 champion John Reynolds endured an injury-hit season, after which the veteran (he also won the 1992 and 2001 championships) announced his retirement from racing. The 2003 champion Shane 'Shakey' Byrne returned to the series for 2006 on the Suzuki Reynolds vacated.

[edit] 2006

Main article: 2006 British Superbike season

The 2006 British Superbike season was won by Kiyonari at the final round in Brands Hatch in front of a capacity crowd and a reported 1.5 million live TV viewers. Second was Leon Haslam with Lavilla third.

[edit] 2007

Main article: 2007 British Superbike season

In 2007 the championship featured 13 meetings, including a single overseas event at Mondello Park in Ireland, each featuring 2 races. Races were covered live by ITV and Sky Sports. Kiyonari won the rider's championship, with Jonathan Rea in second place and Haslam finishing third. Honda won the manufacturer's championship.

[edit] 2008

Main article: 2008 British Superbike season

The 2008 championship will feature 12 meetings, all taking place within the UK and each featuring 2 races. The series is now live on British Eurosport, with highlights on Channel 4 within the next few days.

The reining double-champion Ryuichi Kiyonari left the series to compete in the World Superbike Championship during the 2008 season, as did Lavilla. Rea, Chris Walker and Tommy Hill all now compete in World Supersport.

Early races have seen Ducati's Shane Byrne dominating over team-mate Leon Camier and the Hondas of Haslam and Cal Crutchlow.

[edit] British Superbike Champions

Year	Series	Rider	Country	Bike	Team	Notes
1988	750 cc / TT F1	Darren Dixon	England	Suzuki		Dixon went on to pilot sidecars alongside passenger Andy Hetherington
1989	Superbike	Brian Morrison	Scotland	Honda
1990	750 cc / TT F1	Terry Rymer	England	Yamaha
1991	750 cc / TT F1	Rob McElnea	England	Yamaha
1992	750 cc / TT F1	John Reynolds	England	Kawasaki
1993	Superbike	James Whitham	England	Yamaha	Fast Orange
1994	Superbike	Ian Simpson	Scotland	Norton rotary F1
1995	Superbike	Steve Hislop	Scotland	Ducati 916/955	Devimead	Whitham was suffering from/treated for Hodgkin's_Disease, a form of cancer
1996	Superbike	Niall Mackenzie	Scotland	Yamaha YZF750
1997	Superbike	Niall Mackenzie	Scotland	Yamaha YZF750	Cadbury's Boost
1998	Superbike	Niall Mackenzie	Scotland	Yamaha YZF750	Cadbury's Boost	387 points, 6 wins and 1 pole from 24 races
1999	Superbike	Troy Bayliss	Australia	Ducati 996	INS GSE	394 points, 7 wins and 6 poles from 24 races
2000	Superbike	Neil Hodgson	England	Ducati 996	INS GSE	422 points, 7 wins and 5 poles from 24 races
2001	Superbike	John Reynolds	England	Ducati 996 RS	Reve Red Bull	536 points
2002	Superbike	Steve Hislop	Scotland	Ducati 998 RS	Paul Bird MonsterMob	452 points, 8 wins, 5 poles and 17 podiums from 26 races (1 DNF)
2003	Superbike	Shane 'Shakey' Byrne	England	Ducati 998 F02	Paul Bird MonsterMob	488 points, 12 wins, 5 poles and 21 podiums from 24 races (1 DNF)
2004	Superbike	John Reynolds	England	Suzuki GSX-R1000	Crescent Q8 Rizla	446 points, from 26 races
2005	Superbike	Gregorio Lavilla	Spain	Ducati 999 F04	Airwaves GSE	Reynolds injured in pre-season testing. 461 points from 26 races
2006	Superbike	Ryuichi Kiyonari	Japan	Honda CBR1000RR FireBlade	HM Plant HRC	466 points, 11 wins from 26 races
2007	Superbike	Ryuichi Kiyonari	Japan	Honda CBR1000RR FireBlade	HM Plant HRC	433 points, 8 wins from 26 races
2008	Superbike