The 2013 British Superbike
Championship, sprinting off the line in April, goes for nine exciting
rounds of action, concluding over the weekend of September 6th at
Donington Park. Then comes three further races in The Showdown. At
the end of the regular season, all riders can then get rid of their
two worst scores for the season. With that settled, the top six in
the points standings become the Title Fighters, each starting the
three-round Showdown with 500 points plus bonus points for podium
finishes over the regular season added. This shake up was done to
ensure that excitement continues all the way to the end of the
season, while all the riders who are outside of the Title Fighters
places just continue to race for the BSB Riders’ Cup.
The 2012 season was the 25th edition
which saw some new regulations come in as well, notably being limited
to sixteen two bike teams. There was a fascinating three way battle
for glory last season, with Englishmen Shane Byrne and Tommy Hill
picking up the same amount of wins on the season as Australia’s
Josh Brookes. Those three really kept the British Superbikes
championship driving last season, each having their strong swings
through the season. Things really went to the wire last year, with
the championship not being settled until the final event of the
season, the three races at Brands Hatch. The meeting was dominated by
Shane Byrne on his Kawasaki, who won all three races to power himself
to the title.
The Englishman is favourite to take
another title this year. He turned down the chance of a return to
Moto GP as well, instead targeting an unprecedented fourth British
Superbikes title. After previous British Superbike titles, Byrne had
left the sport to try his hand elsewhere, so this will actually be
his first ever title defence season. He is hungry and he's the
favourite for the season with the bookmakers. Fellow countryman Alex
Lowes has been trading well after taking a fourth place finish in
last season’s British Superbikes championship. The 2011 Champion
Tommy Hill, who also has experience in the World Superbikes, will be
a popular rider to back ahead of the new season, challenging Byrne
well last season on his Yamaha, taking third overall in the final
standings.
Australia's Josh Brookes is going to be
the other main contender again this season and it is hard to see that
aforementioned triumvirate being broken up. Brookes came on strongly
through the middle and latter half of the 2012 season on his Suzuki,
where he finished 2nd overall, unable to make the impression at
Brands Hatch in the final Showdown meeting as he had wanted to. That
was the second time in four seasons of British Superbike racing that
he had finished second overall. There is a high probability that one
of those three are going to be crowned champion in 2013. For added
excitement this time around, three times British Superbike winner
Ryuichi
Kiyonari makes a return. The Japanese rider is back with his old
Samsung Honda team for the 2013 season and makes the best outside
shot of the strong three of Byrne, Brookes and Hill.
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