subject: Three New Teams Hoping For Beginners Luck In The 2010 British Superbike Championship [print this page] Traditionally in the British Superbike Championship, there have been no more than five individual teams competing in the event. Usually consisting of Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha (although Ducati did not enter into the 2009 competition), each of the teams enter a selection of riders to compete on around a dozen circuits from approximately March through to October.
Whilst this may be the case historically, things have changed in the 2010 season as three new teams have entered the tournament, all hoping to claim a final podium finish with one of their riders.
It has not come as much of a shock for those involved in the British Superbike Championship (both in terms of business and as a spectator), as all three of the new teams, BMW, Aprilia and KTM, are well-known names in most other bike racing events around the world.
Out of the three new teams, only one, KTM, does not have experience in the Superbike racing field as BMW and Aprilia have both competed in, amongst other similar sized bike racing events, the World Superbike Championship in recent years.
Whilst BMW and Aprilia may be more experienced with producing bikes of this size and entering them into competitions, it is not to the extent where they have a distinct advantage over KTM.
For example, the official World Superbike Championship figures show that the 2009 season was the first year that BMW entered a team into the World Superbike Championship and Aprilia have competed in less than a third of the possible seasons. In addition, both BMW and Aprilia are yet to win a title at the SBK, taking home neither the rider or manufacturer title in any year that they have competed.
In addition, although KTM may not have much experience at Superbike level, they have been involved in bike racing in general for many years, particularly off-road and rally raid championships.
The famous Dakar Rally, for instance, has been a particular highlight for KTM in recent years, as every winning rider of the event since 2001 has rode to victory on a KTM bike
As all three teams are new to the championship, on first looking it may seem that none of them are likely to succeed immediately in any of the different categories apparent in the championship. However, looking a little closer and it is obvious that a lot of the more established teams will definitely need to ensure that they do not take BMW, Aprilia or KTM for granted.
BMW, for instance, have teamed up with Jentin Racing to enter two riders, Steve Brogan and Richard Cooper, into two separate events; the Evo class and the National Superstock 1000 class respectively.
It is obvious that the team holds their new allegiance with BMW and the riders in high regard, as the team boss of Jentin Racing, Bernie Toleman, explained "I have been aware of Richard and his career and truly believe he is a star of the future, he has a strong association with BMW and his performances speak for themselves."
As the leading bike racing event in the UK, it provides excitement for the hundreds of thousands of fans that the sport has, particularly as all of the bikes used can be purchased for public road use, meaning that the bike insurance premiums which the policy holder receives will be a lot less than if they were trying to insure a bike from another racing event, such as the World Superbike Championship. Whilst this is not a major reason for the following that the sport has, for a spectator to be able to ride a bike that they see in a competition with full bike insurance, it makes it all that more exciting.
