PHILLIP ISLAND A POPULAR STOP OFF FOR LATEST SBK WORLD TOUR Australia Beckons: The magnificent environs of the Phillip Island Circuit will be the sometimes-interactive backdrop for the second round of the 2005 World Superbike Championship, with raceday taking place on 3 April. One of the most popular tracks and destinations in World Superbike, Phillip Island boasts an outstanding layout, undulations aplenty, and some of the biggest rider challenges on the whole SBK tour. Situated on the coast of the gorgeous holiday destination of Phillip Island, two hours south of Melbourne, the circuit has played a pivotal role in many a World Superbike title race of yesteryear. 2004 Formbook: Ducati ruled the PI roost in 2004, with first Regis Laconi and then Garry McCoy winning races. Laconi continues in the factory Ducati squad for 2005, now running Xerox sponsorship, but McCoy has embarked on a new adventure for 2005, in conjunction with the Foggy Petronas squad. James Toseland (Xerox Ducati 999F05) is the reigning World Champion, and continues his 2004 partnership into a new season with Laconi. Out of luck and suffering crashes in testing during the opening Losail event in 2005, Toseland nonetheless scored two good finishes under race conditions in Qatar, underlining the tough character and determination that earned him the 2004 crown at the very last race of the season. 2005 Formbook: After an excellent start to the 2005 campaign at Losail, the factory Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki team are best placed of all on the eve of round two. Current championship leader, after a superb win and a second place, is SBK new regular rider, Yukio Kagayama. Alongside him in the Suzuki squad is Qatar podium finisher Troy Corser, the 1996 World Superbike champion and a former Phillip Island race winner in his own right. Variety of Options: Ranged against the top Ducati and Suzuki entrants in Australia will be an astoundingly strong line up of competitors, equipped with machinery from a total of six manufacturers. The top four-cylinder runner in 2004 was 2003 WSS champion Chris Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) and he is back again to make an even bigger impression than his overall fourth in last year’s contest. Karl Muggeridge, 2004’s WSS champion, is his team-mate, in what is his own first season of Superbike competition. Yamaha Forces Amass: Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) has had to take some time to adapt at the forefront of the 2005 Yamaha challenge but yet another Aussie with a World Supersport championship in his trophy cabinet, Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia), has shown his true pace already. On home tarmac, Pitt has always been a force, but he is only one of a whole raft of quick R1 riders collecting at Phillip Island. Jose Luis Cardoso (Yamaha DFX Extreme Sterilgarda), Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) and Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) have already unveiled glimpses of their pace and power, and that of the 2005 R1. In numerical terms, the R1 predominates in SBK this season, with Yamaha riders into double digits on the grid. Kawasaki On the Up: Chris Walker and Mauro Sanchini (PSG-1 Ducati) are two of the main driving forces for the Kawasaki concern, riding the awesome ZX-10 Superbike. Walker showed that he will be a force to be reckoned with now he is back on a four-cylinder machine, but after luck deserted him in Losail he is not as high up the points charts as his obvious speed would indicate. The Bertocchi squad, represented by Giovanni Bussei and Ivan Clementi, has one more year of experience of the ZX-10 Superbike, having taken advantage of the 1000cc ceiling for four-cylinder Superbikes, first introduced in 2004. More Honda Hopefuls: Pierfrancesco Chili (Klaffi Honda) rode his heart out to almost earn a podium finish in race two at Qatar, in his latest SBK incarnation as a Honda rider. His young team-mate Max Neukirchner joins him in the Klaffi Superbike squad, having already made a swift transition from WSS rookie in 2004 (still in the Klaffi squad) to SBK rookie in 2005. Another new team in SBK 2005, the Klaffi outfit has already made a double-barrelled impact. Ben Bostrom (Renegade Honda Koji) had extreme misfortune at Losail, but with more time for his team to prepare the machinery, he can expect greater things in Australia. Big Names On Big Ducatis: The factory Ducati squad for 2005 remains as was in 2004, but in the privateer ranks there have been big name signings in the off season. Fonsi Nieto and Lorenzo Lanzi, each from the Scuderia Caracchi team, had challenging first outings on their Superbike steeds in Qatar, but each has shown talent in other categories of racing; talent that is expected to shine under an Aussie sun. Petronas Perspective: The aforementioned Garry McCoy is teamed with a fellow Aussie in 2005, the experienced and versatile Steve Martin. Their Petronas FP-1 is unique in several ways, its design featuring a 900cc, three-cylinder engine, but with the usual configuration reversed. The exhausts thus exit from the rear of the engine, while the intake is at the front. At the fast Phillip Island circuit, it may be a particularly tough challenge for the Petronas boys, but in front of their home crowd, the interest in their progress will be immense. Supersport: Winston Ten Kate Honda rider Katsuaki Fujiwara headed off what appeared to be a certain disappearing act from his team-mate Sebastien Charpentier in Qatar, taking his first win for Honda in WSS. Hondas are well represented in WSS 2005, with Team Megabike runners Fabien Foret and Michel Fabrizio, plus WSS rookie Tatu Lauslehto (from the Klaffi Honda team), all on fully supported machinery. Aussie pairing Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes, from the Yamaha Motor Germany team, will feel strong support from the understandably partisan Phillip Island crowd. In the Ducati camps, Gianluca Nannelli had the best showings at Losail, on his Scuderia Caracchi 749. With two days of qualifying culminating in the exciting Superpole discipline on Saturday 2 April, World Superbike racing itself gets underway on Sunday 3rd, with two SBK rounds sandwiching a single Supersport outing.