From a press release issued by FGSport:

World Superbike Championship 2004
Winter Tests
Phillip Island, January 13 – 15 (Australia)

Pre Season SBK Pace Hots Up

The countdown to another new era of World Superbike competition has continued apace over the winter months, with Valencia and Phillip Island playing host to some of the championship’s top teams.

The most recent test, a three-day marathon completed at Phillip Island in Australia on Thursday 15 January, saw two of the main factory teams, Ducati Fila and Foggy Petronas, in attendance.

With the World Superbike Championship opting for a spec tyre format, putting all riders in all classes on Pirellis, the Phillip Island test was a crucial one for all concerned. The abrasive Aussie tarmac provides the toughest test of the year for rubber, especially for the left hand side of the overworked rear tyres.

Weather conditions were most favourable in the morning sessions, and for Regis Laconi (Ducati Fila) the tests were seen as a success, with the Frenchman lapping hard on all three days, setting competitive single lap and race simulation times. Laconi’s best race long effort would have placed him on the podium in one of last year’s Phillip Island races, even without the spur of actual competition to boost his performance still further.

For his team-mate, James Toseland, the test was a generally positive one, but a heavy crash, exiting Honda corner on day two, put paid to his thoughts of completing full race simulations. He had to make allowances for three stitches on his leg, bruised and blackened fingers and a large amount of overall discomfort. Nonetheless, Toseland set a 1:34.8 lap and the young Briton is expected to be back to full fitness for the next planned SBK/Pirelli test at Valencia, from 11 to 13 February – a mere two weeks before the 2004 season kicks off at the same venue.

The unique Petronas FP-1 three-cylinder machines of 1996 World Champion Troy Corser and Chris Walker were also at Phillip Island, with both riders setting times within the 1:35 bracket, on a machine which is still to develop its full potential. A new cooling system helped the team keep the engine temperature under firmer control.

Corser, one of the best development riders in the world, as well as one of the fastest in competition, experienced some chatter during the tests, but declared that the lap times were about where he expected them to be at this stage of the evolution of the technically fascinating FP-1.

As the season approaches the final line up of riders in the series now includes another pilot who has proved his global credentials time and again – Australian Garry McCoy. Now resident in Andorra, McCoy drove to the pre-Christmas SBK/Pirelli test to join his new 2004 team, NCR Ducati. Having injured his right radius in a celebrity Supermoto race a short while beforehand, McCoy completed only a handful of laps on his Ducati 999 RS but with at least one further test scheduled before he makes his competitive debut in SBK at Valencia on 29 February, he is expected to be on pace from the first outing.

The next Valencia test will see the public debut of the all-new Honda Fireblade, prepared by Ten Kate and ridden by reigning World Supersport Champion Chris Vermeulen.

Other notable 2004 SBK entries include the Zongshen Chinese team, featuring experienced pilots Warwick Nowland and Piergiorgio Bontempi on Suzuki GSX-R1000 machinery, plus the competitive DFX Ducati squad, featuring Steve Martin and Marco Borciani on customer 999s.

In World Supersport another year of intense competition beckons, with top class entries from Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha all preparing for another dip in the Supersport crucible.

In the Ducati camp, Lorenzo Lanzi was testing the new-to-World-Supersport 749 factory machine at Phillip Island, suffering a crash on oil on day one. His eventual best lap proved to be a 1:37.08, as he too fought against the effects of high winds in the afternoons.

In the previous Valencia tests Ten Kate Honda riders Karl Muggeridge and Broc Parkes, plus Klaffi Honda pilot Sebastien Charpentier were in attendance, setting quick lap times throughout. The Yamaha line up for 2004 will be spearheaded by Jurgen van den Goorbergh and Fabien Foret from the Belgarda team and Christian Kellner and Kevin Curtain from the Yamaha Motor Germany outfit. Suzuki’s usual dynamic duo of Stephane Chambon and Katsuaki Fujiwara will have an updated 2004 machine to compete with in Supersport.


In 2003 the Superbike World Championship achieved the following:

– More than 2-billion worldwide television viewers

– Live broadcasts on 85 television networks covering 170 countries

– 1,950 broadcast hours with a television media value in excess of US$ 590-million

– 1,000,000 race spectators

– More than 32-million Internet page views on www.worldsbk.com