Features 8 Jan 2014

Cycle Central: 1

An all-access view of Australian road racing, presented by Alpinestars.

New year, new possibilities and a lot of anticipation lies ahead. Welcome to 2014, a year that many of us are hoping will finally see some great strides in the right direction when it comes to domestic superbike racing.

This time of the year can be relatively quiet depending who you speak to, because apart from behind the scenes scoops, very little on-track action is taking place. Of course, the Troy Bayliss Classic is right around the corner and World Superbikes at the Island late next month.

What is beginning to form now though are the teams of local racing, with Yamaha Motor Australia yesterday announcing a mammoth four-rider Australasian Superbike Championship campaign – all in the premier class with the YZF-R1.

The big news there was Robbie Bugden’s transfer from Team Suzuki in the Australian Superbike Championship, where he won the Queensland Raceway round in 2013 and stormed to third in the championship in style.

Bugden’s switch to Yamaha and the ASC isn’t a move to be taken lightly, because when all’s said and done, the ASBK and Suzuki just lost one of it’s brightest personalities and most popular riders in the Sunshine State.

Alongside Bugden will be returning Yamaha Racing Team riders Kevin Curtain, Rick Olson and Cru Halliday (pictured below), which will make for an interesting inner-team rivalry featuring both experience and youth.

Image: Keith Muir.

Image: Keith Muir.

Kawasaki’s commitment to ASC through the Ninja Cup is exceptional and the prizes on offer there including a ZX-6R and Ninja 300R are definitely great incentives, plus by supporting a number of private teams it looks like they’ll have a major presence in the series.

The ASC series is looking promising for this season as a stable national championship, perhaps without the promised exposure that ASBK will get with the V8s (although very good exposure nonetheless), but competitors can mostly rely on the steady stream of information released.

Meanwhile in the ASBK things are concernedly quiet, as we await the final 2014 calendar. There was the initial release late last year, but clashes with both a Champion’s Ride Day at Queensland Raceway’s opener and the Shannons Nationals at Phillip Island’s scheduled second round cast that calendar into doubt.

Have those issues been resolved? From what we hear, yes, but from what’s been communicated, we’re not so sure. Plus, we’re still awaiting confirmation of round five altogether (click here for a look at the calendar released in December).

In reality, right now there has been no standalone dates cemented and announced (ones without confusion due to clashes anyway), but you do have to give credit to International Entertainment Group and Motorcycling Australia for announcing both a control tyre deal with good contingencies and a solid amount of prize money.

The fact that the ASBK now has a Pirelli tyre deal in place and the ASC is retaining Dunlops will be interesting to keep an eye on, because now for those switching back and forth between series, they’ll have to adapt to different brands.

Image: Andrew Gosling.

Image: Andrew Gosling.

We’ve heard all kinds of rumours regarding the futures of Team Suzuki, Team Honda Racing and Next Gen Motorsports in recent weeks, which are essentially delayed by the series’ pending announcements. Some are privileged to the latest info, but it’s hard to make definite plans until information is set in stone.

What usually happens is the select few are notified of the latest information (mostly as a soundboard from what we understand), but rarely is much confirmed long before announced. And if you’re out of that circle – which most privateers are – then chances of planning for the 2014 ASBK season are minimal. It’s a shame, but fact.

In terms of who’s riding for who in the ASBK, you’d expect number one plate holder Wayne Maxwell will defend with Team Suzuki, but will he have a teammate? Next Gen would be smart to continue with the Glenn Allerton/HP4 combination now the series is on Pirellis considering their experience as a package, and as for Team Honda Racing, we’re not entirely sure what the deal is and neither was Paul Free last time we spoke before Christmas.

The ASBK needs existing privateer teams such as InsureMyRide Racing, CM Racing, Cube Racing, Racer’s Edge Performance, and more, to return and really fill superbike grids with quality entrants, but we’re yet to see exactly where the chips will fall. Some have been linked to ASC, others uncertain if they’ll race at all.

Regardless of the roller coaster final few months of 2013, we’re excited to see the racing commence again and look forward to seeing both series excel in their own rights during the new season. There’s no doubt the action will be as entertaining as ever up the pointy ends and throughout the fields.

That’s it for this week. Check out CycleOnline’s social media profiles for more updates and news from the domestic and international series’. Just search ‘CycleOnline’ on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to follow us.

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