British Super Bikes championship 2006

[Mylo]

This years BSB is going to be where the bike action is. Lots of team changes and the return of Shakey to British racing. And Michael Rutter racing for Stobart against the HRC factory team

[Mindcrime]

I really, really miss the BSB The Canadian equivalent is just too darned boring, only Pascale Piquotte wins races. And the AMA is usually good for the first 2 races and then Mladin makes them all look like fools. I wonder if Shakey will run away with the season? Does Smart stand a chance this season? He was doing excellent on the Kwakka before I came over here and looked like he could be a challenger.

[Mylo]

Smarty tried and failed to get on with the Rizla gixxer last season and was Crescents no1 whilst JR was being rebuilt, for some reason he couldnt make the bike competetive. Maybe having the biggest team in the championship behind him didn't allow him the freedom he was used to. Most riders leave the Suzuki factory settings as they come out of the box and find altering them can have a negative effect

Shakey is going to be interesting to watch, his early testing has resulted in a fair amount of tumbles, some including myself feel his championship win was more down to the Mob and the Ducati than his ability alone. He's a proven race winner on Suzuki's though as thats what he raced succesfully as a privateer. With James Hayden as his team mate there is certainly going to be some very fast and aggressive riding this season.

I am a very very biased Rutter fan though for good reason and can't wait to see him racing the Stobart bike against the british boys and his old team.

This year for sure Michael will be champion, hopefully

[Mylo]

new thread to avoid me hijacking the Moto GP one

[Soundwave]

Looking forward to it this year.

Do Sky still hold the rights for the Races??

I'm in trouble if they do...I'm moving out this month & wont have Sky for a few months while I count the cost of the move
So unless it's on BBC2 I'll be relegated to trying to get my parents to tape it for me

Should be an interesting season though, especially since Moto GP just seems to be going the same way as Forumula 1 did until recently (i.e. Rossi winning everything)

Stupid bit of Trivia Shakey has the same surname as me
No relation though

[Uridium]

Believe Sky only again

Although last year C4 did show it as well at stupid o'clock on the Sun night/mon morning (2-3am ish)

[Mylo]

Did I not mention, every race is live on terrestrial TV this year

BSB live on ITV1
British Superbikes has received what could be its biggest boost in popularity for years after securing coverage of all 13 rounds on ITV1.
The deal, which is still subject to contract, sees the terrestrial channel giving Sunday afternoons over to British Superbikes plus three Bank Holiday Mondays.
The format of the programme is still to be confirmed but Tony Partis, managing director of Dorna UK, the series owner, has said he expects the programs to be live.
Mark Sharman, ITV Controller of Sport, commented: "The British Superbike Championship provides genuine sports entertainment – high quality racing with plenty of thrills. We also have some exciting young riders coming through, so I’m delighted to bring this series to a wider audience.

[Soundwave]

While getting on terrestrial TV is indeed a bonus

Why oh Why did it have to be ITV????

What we will most likely get now is completley screwed up racing with hundreds of ad breaks ala F1

At least it wont be cut down & ruined cooverage like they did with WRC
I mean an hour programme for 3 days worth of rallying & lots & lots of adverts which basically meant we only really got 30 minutes of actual footage & lots of pointless talking

I seriously hope they sort this out this time & give us proper coverage
I know Sky ran lots of ads as well but they seemed to space them out pretty well so it didnt really affect too much of the action.
Lets hope ITV have learnt from their F1 mistakes.

Fingers crossed for an enjoyable season

Neil

[Uridium]

Dread to think which useless commentators ITV will get to present it as well. I can picture it now..........



.......welcome to round one of the British superbike championship here on ITV1 presented by Fern Britton and Paul O'Grady!

[SeaneyC]

Finally BSB on terrestrial, finally something decent to watch on a Sunday when i'm hungover!!

(Assuming i'm not at the races anyway)

Come on Shakey!!!

[Mylo]

I'll be expecting you to post a few more race piccys this year then sean
I should be at quite a few races as usual so will try an capture the action myself as well.
I'm normally too busy being a very noisy Rutter fan to take pics

[stevegreen]

Great news that it's on normal TV

I might even get to watch a few races this year. I'm so out of it now though, last time I watched with any vigor was in the Fogarty years.

[Uridium]

And I've just moved bang between Donington and Mallory 10 miles to both!!

That's 2 rounds I'll definitely being seeing without ITV

[stevegreen]

Originally Posted by uridium

I once hit 192 on the A1M (sorry officer)

You really shouldn't have been using a mobile to get directory enquiries whilst you were driving you know

[Mylo]

Mallory is great, walk up from the bus stop and you come to a brilliant pub just outside the gates