With five days to go until the opening round of the 2016 World Superbike Championship we get to grips with talent and prospects of the five blokes with season-long contracts in both the Superbike.
WSBK: Josh Brookes
Team: Milwaukee BMW
Bike: BMW S1000RR
From: Bringelly, NSW
Age: 32
Australia’s strongest title hope Josh Brookes is back in the World Superbike ranks for the first time since 2007, on the back of a brilliant 2015 which saw him clinch the super competitive British Superbike Championship in an utterly dominant campaign.
Also a multiple Australian road racing champion and two-time WorldSSP winner, Brookes is now in the best form of his life, mixing raw speed with phenomenal consistency — the razor-sharp formula that wins world championships.
Armed with the potent BMW, Brookes won’t be expecting anything less than mixing it with the established front-runners in 2016, particularly since he’ll be campaigning the season with the same team (Shaun Muir Racing) and sponsor (Milwaukee) that guided him to his British superbike success.
WSBK: Josh Hook
Team: Grillini Kawasaki
Bike: Kawasaki ZX-10R
Lives: Taree, NSW
Age: 22
At just 22-years-old, Josh Hook has packed a lot into his successful road racing career, from being selected to ride in MotoGP’s Red Bull Rookies Cup in Europe before spending four years back in Australia (first in 125GP followed by Supersport and Superbike) and more recently a season racing Japanese Superbike championship.
It was when he was here he scored the best result of his life with a superb second place in the famed Suzuka 8 Hour world endurance race. He saw out the back-end of 2015 with four rides in the Moto2 ranks deputising for an injured rider, but he now joins the WorldSBK caravan on the updated ZX-10R to form the other half of the ‘Super Joshes’ alongside the BMW-mounted Josh Brookes. The pair forms Australia’s most highly credentialed attack on the World Superbike Championship since the two Troys, Bayliss and Corser, back in 2008.
WSS: Glenn Scott
Team: Lorini Honda
Bike: Honda CBR600RR
Lives: Mangrove Mountain, NSW
Age: 24
Glenn Scott returns for a second season of World Supersport competition, switching to the experienced Italian Lorini Honda squad which has been a championship staple for a number of years. For the first time in the category, Scott will have a teammate during the season which he hopes will fast track development of the CBR600RR, and there’ll certainly be high hopes of knocking on the door of a top-10 finish at Phillip Island.
WSS: Aiden Wagner
Team: GRT Racing
Bike: MV Agusta F3 675
Lives: Wamuran, Qld
Age: 21
After competing as a wildcard at Phillip Island in 2015, the motocross-loving Wagner returns as a World Supersport full-timer in a new Spanish-based MV Agusta-supported team alongside Briton Gino Rea. Wagner has high hopes for starting 2016 with a bang after a full pre-season behind him and armed with the potent three-cylinder F3 675, which was particularly competitive in the hands of Frenchman Jules Cluzel in 2015 — including a victory at Phillip Island. Wagner finished 13th in the 2015 World Supersport race in Australia.
WSS: Lachlan Epis
Team: Response Real Estate
Bike: Kawasaki ZX-6R
Lives: Dural, NSW
Age: 16
Lachlan Epis is on the cusp of breaking a World Supersport record before he even throws a leg over his Kawasaki this year. All going to plan, he’ll become the youngest ever rider to compete in the series full-time. Epis, who turned 16 on 22 December, will eclipse the previous benchmark held by Frenchman Maxime Berger, who was around sixth months older (16 years and eight months) when he made his World Supersport full-time debut in 2006. Epis competed in the 2015 Superstock 600 European Championship but has made the jump to the World Supersport paddock with backing from his family businesses. Good news for Aussie fans, the team has committed to a three-year WorldSSP campaign.