There’s only four days to go until the lights go out on the 2016 World Superbike Championship season here in Australia and we give you four good reasons why Phillip Island is going to be a scorcher!
1. The Island produces the fastest and closest racing on the planet
It’s widely known that Phillip Island has the fastest average speed on the WSBK calendar, but did you know Phillip Island is the host of two of the three closest race finishes in WSBK history? The tightest was 2010 when Briton Leon Haslam crossed the line ahead of Italy’s Michel Fabrizio by just 0.0004 seconds. The third closest in the WSBK record books was also at Phillip Island. It was in 1999 when Australia’s very own Troy Corser defeated Carl Fogarty by just 0.005 seconds. And it’s not out of the question for an Aussie to beat a Brit home this year, too! Fingers crossed.
2. So many Aussies!
Reminiscent of the heydays of the 1990s, between wildcards galore and a handful of full-season campaigners, fence-lined Phillip Island fans will have a whopping 11 Australian riders to cheer on in the two world championship classes.
Two wildcards (Jed Metcher and Mike Jones) will join title hopefuls Josh Brookes (Milwaukee BMW) and Josh Hook (Grillini Racing Team, Kawasaki) in the Superbike category, while four wildcard riders (Ant West, Kane Burns, Mitch Levy and Alex Phillis) will grid up alongside World Supersport regulars Aiden Wagner (GRT Racing, MV Agusta), Glenn Scott (Lorini Honda) and Lachlan Epis (Response Real Estate, Kawasaki).
3. A certain American bloke
As well as all those Aussies, there’s a certain likeable American bloke joining the ranks this year who is going to do everything in his power to run at the front. Not only does Nicky Hayden have the opportunity to become the first bloke ever to claim both the World Superbike and MotoGP world titles, but he knows his way around the Island. He broke Valentino Rossi’s long-standing lap record at Phillip Island in 2005, bettered it again in 2006 and it remained untouchable until Casey Stoner broke it in 2008.
4. You could be one of the first people in the world to get their hands on the limited release AMCN heritage t-shirt!
Celebrating its achievement of being Australia’s oldest and most successful motorcycle media outlet, AMCN is using the Australian round of the World Superbike Championship to launch a limited release heritage T-shirt. Using one of the magazine’s longest-running and most recognisable mastheads from a history approaching 65 years, the AMCN heritage tee is your chance to own a piece of Aussie motorcycling history.
They’ll be available at the AMCN stand in the AMCN WSBK Expo and you’ll even get change from $30. Don’t miss out.