Another Wednesday afternoon and another mad rush to complete this column, along with MX Hub on MotoOnline.com.au and All Access on Autofore.com.au, which is our brand new all-inclusive motorsport website that we’re in the midst of releasing.

Foremost Media’s third website will primarily cover V8 Supercars and other four-wheel categories around the planet, but we’ll also feature our fair share of bike news (some of which will be slightly revised versions of what you see on CycleOnline).

As I said though, it’s only new, we’re still ironing out the kinks, but the ultimate plan is to offer a quality motorsport site that we can also showcase the top two-wheel racers of the country on to compliment our car content.

Spurce: Superprestigio DTX.

This week is usually when the pace begins to pick up after a decent holiday period, as the majority of people in the industry head back to work and begin final preparations for the 2014 season. It should be mega this year!

Many eyes this weekend will be on the now annual Troy Bayliss Classic, which will feature some of the world’s best flat track racers amongst a host of road and dirt bike riders, so if you;re anywhere near Taree’s Old Bar circuit it’ll be worth checking out.

Following the highly publicised battle between MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez and American champion Brad Baker at last weekend’s Superprestigio event in Barcelona (pictured above), dirt track is certainly in a strong place right now.

This week it’s been confirmed that the factory MotoGP teams will test at Phillip Island in early March in a bid to solve Bridgestone tyre woes from October’s race weekend, and with that test a week or so after the World Superbike opener, it makes you wonder if any of the top contenders will head to Australia a little bit early. Unlikely, but it’d be good to see.

And how about Bimota’s World Superbike comeback with Alstare for 2014 as part of their fresh new collaboration? I remember pretty clearly when my eldest brother Anthony unexpectedly won at Phillip Island in mixed conditions, which was awesome for the brand in 2000, but lets hope they stick around a little longer this time.

The Bimota BB3 (pictured below), which was unveiled at EICMA just a couple of short months ago in November, looks like a really nice bike and powered by the potent BMW engine, it could be a real factor in the EVO class of WSBK if Alstare can get everything aligned in time for Phillip Island.

With the Island Classic right around the corner next weekend, Australian Superbike testing at Phillip Island next month and Australasian Superbike testing at Wakefield Park as well, there will be plenty of on-track activity to cover over the next few weeks.

The Island test for Aussie Superbikes will be vital for many as Pirelli technicians will be on hand, getting set to take charge as the official control tyre of the ASBK series in 2014 and beyond. The tyres are no doubt very competitive at the Island, so we’ll be keeping a close check on their progress on a variety of machinery come 13-14 February.

And if that’s not enough, just days before the WSBK first round at Phillip Island, Dorna will host a two-day test of its own on the scheduled date of 17-18 February as usual for teams to prepare for that weekend’s racing.

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.