2017 World Superbike Season Preview: Part Two

Unknown quantities add spice to racing. Fortunately for World Superbike, it has plenty of it going into 2017. There are still front-runners within the top two factory squads – Kawasaki Racing Team and Aruba.it Racing Ducati – including defending champ Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki teammate Tom Sykes and Ducati's Chaz Davies who was on a hot streak at the end of 2016 (CLICK HERE to see WSBK Part One). But at the same time, there are also a bunch of riders chomping at the bit to rain on the British trio's parade. Riders and emerging top teams that could shake things up a bit. Throw in a new grid format for race two… It could get pretty wild; or at more mildly put, unpredictable.

The nice thing about racing, is that it's not on paper. There can always be surprises, wild cards in the deck if you will. Within that deck, it's hard to rule out Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team's Nicky Hayden list as one of the top three's biggest threats in 2017.

The 2006 World Champion was the only rider to win a race last season not riding a Kawasaki or Ducati. Hayden's win came in the wet at Sepang, but it was an inspired ride to show that the Owensboro native still had what it took to dig deep and take a win. There's also no question about the former MotoGP riders work ethic or motivation, but there are some question marks. Will Ten Kate's team armed with a new CBR1000RR and a big new sponsor – Red Bull – be enough to go against the factory four in 2017?

While many expect the new Honda to be an improvement and that Red Bull money should help give Ten Kate a boost in his battle against the factory squads, they haven’t had much time to develop the bike. So the team head to the first two rounds on their back foot with very little upgrades, awaiting the return to Europe to do some serious testing. The Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team is a wild card in itself.

Another wild card squad in the mix is the Pata Yamaha Official Superbike Team. Yamaha made its big return to the World Championship with the R1 last season, but wasn’t able to repeat the success Yamaha has seen in the National Superbike Championships. With another year under the team’s belt, everyone is waiting to see what they can accomplish in their sophomore season.

Yamaha has brought with them a pair of young guns – Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark. Former British Superbike Champion Lowes has shown glimpses of brilliance, but has so far lacked the consistency. If the Brit can keep it on two wheels, he can challenge for podiums and wins. As for his new teammate, Van der Mark, the former World Supersport Champion was already fighting for podiums last season on the Honda. Van der Mark has set his eyes on the win. Many view the Dutchman as the sport’s top up-and-coming rider and 2017 could very well be the year he rises.

Milwaukee Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori is another one of the sport’s top up-and-coming riders. The Italian had an impressive 2016 season and was often in the mix. Although he stays on an Aprilia team, it’s under new management – Shaun Muir Racing. Last season was the squad’s first effort on the World Superbike stage and they struggled a bit with BMW. In 2017 the British Superbike Championship proven has aligned themselves with Aprilia for 2017 and look to be much more competitive. They also have Eugene Laverty on board to make things interesting.

But there are still BMWs in the mix as well. Althea BMW’s Jordi Torres has what it takes to be competitive and his teammate, two-time German Superbike champ, Markus Reiterberger could be a threat as well if he can regain his confidence after his nasty spill last year at Misano. Barni Racing Ducati’s Xavi Fores is also a contender. The Spaniard was fighting in the lead pack last season and has had good results in pre-season testing.

Last but not least is MV Agusta Reparto Corse’s Leon Camier. The Brit has had some rough seasons in the past, but he impressed last season as MV’s lone rider in Superbikes. He’s also impressed in pre-season finishing sixth overall behind Fores at the Phillip Island test.

Forget about wild cards, how about wild rules? Or shall I say new format for the grid in race two that could have some very wild results. To simplify it, race one will be gridded based off of traditional qualifying results. Race two, however, will be an inverted grid based on race one results.

Here's where it gets a bit more complicated… So the top nine riders in race one occupy the first three rows in race two. The podium finishers get a reversed order (second place still in the middle, winner and third place swap spots) and are pushed back to the third row of the grid. As such, fourth through ninth move up a row. (CLICK HERE to see the race two grid formation on the WorldSBK Twitter page.)

It’s a change that is nonconventional for motorcycle racing, and will certainly spice things up a bit. How will it work out? We’re about to find out. Put simply, Marco Melandri’s projection was: “For sure is going to be critical the first turn in race two.”

There are technical rule changes as well, the most notable being no more split throttles. It’s a rule to help close the gap and bring them more in line with production machines, but it doesn’t appear to be much of a handicap, according to Hayden, “Well, it was supposed to hurt other guys more because truthfully last year we were running with very little split, so I don’t really think it’s going to change much.”

Whether it changes or not, there's an interesting mix of known and unknown factors going into the new season of World Superbike. Known front runners and potential challengers. Some proven machines and new ones. Add a little shake up in the rules… There's basically only one guarantee – It will certainly be interesting to see how it all plays out.