While there’s no major events that have applied to us last weekend or this one coming, there’s been a flurry of activity taking place that show just how quickly the season is approaching. In terms of the Australian Superbike Championship, it’s mind-blowing just how good 2017 is shaping up to be.

On Monday it was made official – as anticipated – that Yamaha Motor Finance (YMF) will be remaining the naming-rights partners of the ASBK for the next two seasons, which only adds to the confidence stakeholders can take in the series at this point. Stability means a lot after the turbulence the sport’s experienced over the years.

You have to admire the commitment that YMF has shown toward the ASBK, not only just as the series title sponsor, but also by supporting a wide-range of competitors at the factory, privateer and development levels. They even support us at CycleOnline.com.au as a valued advertiser, which we’re extremely grateful for.

Image: Andrew Gosling (tbgsport).

Yesterday Phillip Island released the entry lists for Phillip Island’s opening round alongside the World Superbikes – which Yamaha Finance is also behind! – and there’s no less than 147 riders due to line-up in the national classes. 43 of those riders are listed within the premier Superbike class, ranging from national champions, internationals, newcomers and more.

Of course, being staged on the world championship weekend at one of the greatest race tracks on the planet no doubt helps boost entries, but at the same time it appears the Motorcycling Australia (MA) series will sustain many of those competitors throughout the seven-round series.

That release actually let the cat out of the bag early that Suzuki Australia is returning to the ASBK in an official capacity, however the full details were revealed last night during Suzuki’s technical briefing at the GSX-R1000R world launch, which our very own Matthew Shields was fortunate enough to attend this week.

To have those guys back, thanks to Canberra Motorcycle Centre, in the form of Team Suzuki Ecstar with Josh Waters and Phil Tainton reunited is a great recipe for success, but most of all, a real treat for us onlookers who always want to watch and cover the best racing possible.

Following that came conformation that Pirelli, Dunlop, Michelin and Bridgestone have all homologated tyres for the season ahead, despite earlier discussions of a control tyre potentially being introduced, and that’s good news as well. When it came to the crunch, aside from probable commercial advantages for the series, it was deemed an open policy is best.

MV Agusta Australia also made the surprise announcement this week that it will be behind Chas Hern – who works at Urban Moto Imports – as he returns to the ASBK grid on-board one of the beautiful F4 RCs, which fans of the Italian marque will be well-pleased with. And don’t be surprised if he upsets more than one of the more youthful newcomers when the chequered flag falls!

Source: Supplied.

We had an update from Mike Jones as he prepares to take-on the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup series in 2017 with the Aruba.it Racing Ducati Junior Team and so far, so good for the 2015 ASBK champion. He very well may establish himself on the world stage once and for all via this opportunity (remember when mentor/manager Troy Bayliss got the call-up to Ducati’s WorldSBK squad in 2000?).

So all is good at the moment, it’s been typically nice to be able to focus on the competitive nature of the sport in Australia, rather than the politics that have clouded it over much of the past decade. The last few years have definitely been positive, though this year is shaping up to be something else!

That’s it from me for this week, thanks for stopping by as usual! Make sure you check out all of CycleOnline.com.au’s social networking channels and be sure to Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for even more behind the scenes insights. Just search CycleOnline.