OFFICIAL PROGRAMME the novelty of racing at a new track every now and again ? And in relative terms Navarra itself is quite new . Just ten years , or so . And of course all the tracks were new for WorldSBK at one time , remember ? Way back in the beginning , Donington Park got the ball rolling , but on the ‘ National ’ layout , not the longer version we see now with the Melbourne Loop hairpin , etc ., A right / left final chicane was used instead and some have argued that although it was just too short to use for full FIM events in the future , it was an even better , more logical layout than the full circuit . As an all-new racing creation , taking over from the occasionally real roads based TT-F1 championship , WorldSBK went to some far away places in its early years , with a calendar that was both wide-ranging and occasionally disjointed . Special prize for you if you guessed that the Hungaroring was the venue for the second ever round ? And we went back twice more ? Yes , we did . Then the mightily fast Hockenheimring in Germany was approached , with a mix of anticipation and trepidation of course . It was FAAAAST out in the back sections there . We had no fewer than 24 individual Hockenheim races , where the run through the forest at absolutely full speed was suddenly interrupted by a slower speed Stadium section that led onto the finish line . And the crowds went wild every time the bikes came back into view . Germany has hosted WorldSBK at four different tracks now , Hockenheim ,
Nurburgring , Oschersleben and Lausitzring . The Osterreichring in Austria , which became the A-1 Ring and now the Red Bull ring that hosts MotoGP™ races , was another early arrival . We went to all its iterations several times in the first decade or so . There was that Ione high speed time we also raced at the Salzburgring too , a high speed ballet of beautiful risk . The Austrian tracks have been arguably the most scenic locations imaginable , although there are many candidates for that honour in WorldSBK . The only forays for WorldSBK to Japan came at Sugo , Yamaha ’ s track high the hills above the city of Sendai . That city area would later become famous and infamous as one the centres that was so badly affected by the recent huge Tsunami . The ‘ Sportsland Sugo ’ track itself was in another beautiful location .
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For those latter Japanese rounds that took place right after the seasonstarting trip to Australia , providing an instant two-step change in culture for the mostly European teams and riders . Springtime in Japan is ‘ cherry blossom time ,’ when the national flower was in full bloom . The road to the track was lined with precisely manicured and sweet-smelling trees . There was even an on-site putting green at Sugo if you got bored between sessions … Back to Europe and that first year we also raced at Le Mans - a one-time deal - and then Estoril . That first season saw the first forays down under , as the long-since defunct
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