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World Superbike: Entry List for the 2008 Season

In SBK

05 febbraio 2008

World Superbike: Entry List for the 2008 Season

With exactly one month to go before action gets underway in the 2008 season, the FIM has released the provisional entry lists for the Superbike World Championship, the Supersport World Championship and the Superstock 1000cc FIM Cup.

In the top Superbike category 28 permanent riders will be on the grid for the opening round of the championship at Losail in Qatar, riding for five different manufacturers and sixteen different teams. With James Toseland’s move to MotoGP, the # 1 plate remains absent so the top rider on the list, numerically speaking, now becomes Max Biaggi, whose privateer Ducati 1098R will have the # 3. The only other rider to sport a single-figure number on his bike is Spain’s Carlos Checa, who will be tackling his first ever World Superbike season for the title-winning Hannspree Ten Kate Honda squad with the # 7 plate.

Italy provides the lion’s share of the riders this year, a total of seven, with Roberto Rolfo, Michel Fabrizio, Lorenzo Lanzi, Luca Morelli, Vittorio Iannuzzo and Ayrton Badovini joining Biaggi as ‘tricolore’ representatives. Next on the list is surprisingly Japan, with six representatives, as SBK stalwart Noriyuki Haga is joined by BSB champion Ryuichi Kiyonari and fellow countrymen Yukio Kagayama, Shinichi Nakatomi, former Honda 250 GP man Shuhei Aoyama and WSBK and MotoGP winner Makoto Tamada. World Superbike’s growing success is Spain is confirmed by the presence of five riders from the Iberian peninsula nation, the ever-popular Ruben Xaus and Fonsi Nieto now flanked by another former BSB champion Gregorio Lavilla and the Checa brothers, Carlos and David.

Australia also has a powerful representation, with Troys Bayliss and Corser leading the way for Karl Muggeridge and Russell Holland. Régis Laconi, Loic Napoleone and Sébastien Gimbert make up the French line-up, while singleton entries come from Germany (Max Neukirchner), Turkey (Supersport champion Kenan Sofuoglu) and Czech Republic (Jakub Smrz). After winning a total of Superbike six titles over the years, British riders are conspicuous by their absence in the top category this year, but this is more than made up for by their presence in World Supersport.

The Supersport category has a full 36-strong grid and more riders than ever capable of lifting the trophy at the end of the year. Fourteen different countries are represented, Italy (7), Britain and France (5 each) being the most numerous. The impressive line-up includes two former Supersport World Champions (Andrew Pitt and Fabien Foret), three Superbike race winners (Pitt, Chris Walker and Garry McCoy), two Superstock champions (Didier Van Keymeulen and Lorenzo Alfonsi), a 125 Grand Prix World Champion (Arnaud Vincent) and a five-strong British contingent of Chris Walker, Jonathan Rea, Tommy Hill, Craig Jones and newcomer Graeme Gowland. The Big 4 Japanese manufacturers will be joined on the grid by a fifth competitor this year as four brand-new Triumph 675 triple machines will be run out of two separate outfits.

41 riders make up the Superstock 1000cc FIM Cup entry list, 14 of them coming from Italy and all aiming to repeat Canepa’s 2007 feat of taking the title. The rest of Europe is well-represented in this extremely hard-fought category, with riders from as far afield as Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Great Britain, Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland being joined by three Australians and one South African.

2008 World Superbikes Entry List

3	Biaggi Max	Sterilgarda Go Eleven	Ducati 1098R
7	Checa Carlos	Hannspree Ten Kate Honda	Honda CBR1000RR
10	Nieto Fonsi	Team Alstare Suzuki	Suzuki GSX-R1000 K8
11	Corser Troy	Yamaha Motor Italia	Yamaha YZF-R1
13	Iannuzzo Vittorio	Team Pedercini	Kawasaki ZX-10R
21	Bayliss Troy	Ducati Xerox Team	Ducati 1098R
22	Morelli Luca	Alto Evolution Honda	Honda CBR1000RR
23	Kiyonari Ryuichi	Hannspree Ten Kate Honda	Honda CBR1000RR
31	Muggeridge Karl	D.F. Racing	Honda CBR1000RR
34	Kagayama Yukio	Team Alstare Suzuki	Suzuki GSX-R1000 K8
36	Lavilla Gregorio	Paul Bird Motorsport	Honda CBR1000RR
38	Nakatomi Shinichi	YZF Yamaha	Yamaha YZF-R1
41	Haga Noriyuki	Yamaha Motor Italia	Yamaha YZF-R1
44	Rolfo Roberto	Hannspree Honda Altea	Honda CBR1000RR
54	Sofuoglu Kenan	Hannspree Ten Kate Honda	Honda CBR1000RR
55	Laconi Régis	Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse	Kawasaki ZX-10R
57	Lanzi Lorenzo	R.G. Team	Ducati 1098R
76	Neukirchner Max	Team Alstare Suzuki	Suzuki GSX-R1000 K8
77	Napoleone Loic	Grillini Racing Team	Yamaha YZF-R1
83	Holland Russel	D.F. Racing	Honda CBR1000RR
84	Fabrizio Michel	Ducati Xerox Team	Ducati 1098R
86	Badovini Ayrton	Team Pedercini	Kawasaki ZX-10R
88	Aoyama Shuhei	Alto Evolution Honda	Honda CBR1000RR
94	Checa David	Yamaha - GMT 94	Yamaha YZF-R1
96	Smrz Jakub	Guandalini Racing by Grifo's	Ducati 1098R
100	Tamada Makoto	Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse	Kawasaki ZX-10R
111	Xaus Ruben	Sterilgarda Go Eleven	Ducati 1098R
194	Gimbert Sébastien	Yamaha - GMT 94	Yamaha YZF-R1