The Australian contingent are primed and ready to take on the best at the 2012 World Superbike Championship Australian Round, beginning at Phillip Island tomorrow.

Speaking at the event launch at Phillip Island, the six-strong crew of Aussie riders expect to put on a show for the home fans on what shapes as a brilliant weekend of racing action at the iconic Island circuit.

Leading the charge in the Superbike class is Mark Aitchison, who after a tumultuous off-season of injury rehab and a team change appears set to start off his 2012 campaign with a bang.

“At the end of last season I had quite a big fall in Magny-Cours, so my off-season has been focused on injury rehabilitation and in the midst of that I’ve been negotiating a new deal which is fantastic,” Aitchison said.
“New challenges, new team, new people and new situation, I’m looking forward to that.”

The Grillini BMW rider is one of four Aussies in the premier class, with injury replacement riders Bryan Staring (Team Pedercini Kawasaki) and Josh Brookes (Crescent Fixi Suzuki) getting late call-ups, while David Johnson (Rossair AEP BMW) fills the Wildcard position.

For Staring this weekend’s season-opener will be his second consecutive appearance in the WSBK at Phillip Island after competing as a Wildcard last year, while Brookes got the nod just last week to replace Englishman John Hopkins who was injured during private testing.

After burning up the track at the Official Testing event earlier in the week, Queenslander Broc Parkes has an eye on going one-better than his second in last year’s World Supersport Championship race.

Parkes returned to the Ten Kate Honda team for this season, with an eye on claiming his elusive first World title.

At the other end of the spectrum Victorian young gun Jed Metcher is hoping to continue his rise through the ranks with the RivaMoto Yamaha team, after winning the 2011 European Superstock 600 Championship.

Eager to impress, Metcher is happy to be a part of a fresh team that shares the same ambitions he harbours for the 2012 season.

“We have a lot of work to get me comfortable and the bike to the level that we can be competitive in the Supersport class,” Metcher said.

“It’s a big job, but we’re looking to have a whole season of success not just Phillip Island, so we’re going to work on it as hard as we can.”